Compressor Inflow Chamber Atomizes Refrigerant Droplets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerant compressors often have issues with liquid droplets of condensed refrigerant entering the scroll compressor, which are not fully atomized, leading to inefficiencies and suboptimal performance.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an inflow chamber within the compressor where the refrigerant flows through before reaching the drive motor, featuring a heated surface that deflects the refrigerant flow, promoting turbulence and atomization of liquid droplets, thereby ensuring they are fully evaporated before compression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the refrigerant flows directly into the scroll compressor without pre-treatment, then the compressor structure remains simple, but liquid droplets are not adequately atomized leading to poor compression performance
Solution Approach 1:
The inflow chamber is integrated into the space between the outer housing and motor housing, merging the atomization function with the existing compressor structure. The motor housing wall serves as the heated surface, combining the motor cooling function with the droplet atomization function, thus improving atomization quality without significantly increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor housing wall serves multiple functions: it acts as a structural component of the compressor, a heating surface for atomizing liquid droplets, and a cooling surface for the drive motor. This multi-functionality allows the system to achieve better droplet atomization without adding separate dedicated components.
2Temperature
If a heated surface is added to promote evaporation, then liquid droplet evaporation is enhanced, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The drive motor itself provides the heat for evaporating liquid droplets through its normal operation. The motor housing wall, which would otherwise just be a structural component, automatically serves as a heated surface due to the motor's operational heat, eliminating the need for separate heating systems or energy input.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat generated by the drive motor during operation, which would normally be waste heat to be dissipated, is recovered and utilized to evaporate liquid droplets in the inflow chamber. This converts a potentially harmful thermal effect into a useful function for improving refrigerant quality.
3Duration of action of moving object
If the refrigerant flow path is extended through the motor housing, then droplet atomization time is increased, but the compressor volume increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inflow chamber is nested within the existing space between the outer housing and motor housing. The refrigerant flow path utilizes the available volume in this annular space, allowing the refrigerant to flow along the heated motor housing wall without requiring additional external space, thus extending atomization time without increasing overall compressor volume.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of extending the flow path in a straight line which would increase volume, the refrigerant is made to flow in a spiral or circumferential direction along the motor housing wall. This utilizes the radial and axial dimensions of the existing motor housing space to create a longer effective flow path within the same volume envelope.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively minimizes the presence of liquid droplets in the refrigerant entering the compressor, enhancing the efficiency of the compression process by ensuring that only vaporized refrigerant is compressed, thus improving the compressor's performance and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The wall section of the motor housing, which is heated by the drive motor, promotes the atomization of the liquid droplets even further before they flow around the drive motor, since this also already supports evaporation of the liquid droplets as a result of the heat.
Implementation Method 2
The wall section of the motor housing, which is heated by the drive motor
Implementation Method 3
the refrigerant in particular impinging on the surface with a flow direction running transversely to the surface that is flowed against. Even such a direction deflection by a surface that is subjected to the flow causes at least partial turbulence of the sucked-in refrigerant and thus atomization of liquid droplets.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a compressor for refrigerant, having an outer housing, having a spiral compressor with a first fixed compressor body arranged in the outer housing, and a second compressor body which can be moved relative to the first compressor body, which engage in each other in such a manner that, to compress the refrigerant, the second compressor body can move with respect to the first compressor body on an orbital path about a middle axis, having a drive unit for the second compressor body with an excentric drive, having a drive shaft, having a drive motor which is arranged in a motor housing and around which flows the refrigerant sucked into the system, and having a bearing unit for the drive shaft, which comprises a first bearing element which is connected to the outer housing. The invention proposes to improve such a compressor in such a manner that the smallest possible fraction of fluid droplets is present in the refrigerant to be compressed by the spiral compressor, and proposes that before flowing around the drive motor, the refrigerant flows through a fluid droplet-atomizing inflow chamber which is arranged between the outer housing and a motor housing of the drive unit.