Hermetic Compressor Oil Separation Using a Rotary Pressure Riser
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hermetic compressors face challenges in effectively separating oil from refrigerant gas during high-speed rotation, leading to oil discharge into the refrigerant circuit, which degrades heat exchanger performance and causes insufficient lubrication, resulting in reliability issues.
Innovation Solution
A hermetic compressor design featuring a rotary pressure increasing mechanism with a centrifugal impeller and cylindrical lateral wall to separate refrigerant and oil, using rotation to increase pressure and prevent oil inflow into the discharge pipe, while maintaining efficient lubrication within the compressor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fan and partition walls are used to separate refrigerant and lubricating oil by centrifugal force, then oil separation effect is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the oil separation function from the complex fan-partition wall system and implements it through a simplified oil separation plate with stirring vanes. The oil separation plate is positioned to face the rotor end ring across a predetermined clearance, and the stirring vanes are arranged upright only to a lower surface of the oil separation plate, creating a simple yet effective structure that separates oil from refrigerant without requiring multiple components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by arranging stirring vanes upright only to a lower surface of the oil separation plate rather than both surfaces. This localized arrangement is sufficient to achieve the oil separation function while reducing the overall complexity of the structure. The vanes are positioned specifically where needed to interact with the oil-refrigerant mixture during high-speed rotation.
2Productivity
If high-speed rotation is used to compress refrigerant, then productivity is improved, but oil separation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by arranging the oil separation plate and stirring vanes in advance to counteract the oil separation difficulty caused by high-speed rotation. The stirring vanes are pre-positioned to actively mix and separate the oil-refrigerant mixture before it can be discharged, ensuring that even during high-speed compression, oil is effectively separated and returned to the oil reservoir.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes mechanical vibration through the stirring vanes that are arranged upright to the lower surface of the oil separation plate. During high-speed rotation, these vanes create vigorous mixing and turbulence in the oil-refrigerant mixture, enhancing the separation effect through mechanical agitation. This vibration-based separation mechanism effectively addresses the oil separation difficulty caused by high-speed rotation.
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 design effectively reduces oil discharge into the external circuit, enhances energy-saving performance, and prevents reliability degradation due to insufficient lubrication by optimizing oil separation and pressure management.
Implementation Method 1
a rotary pressure increasing mechanism arranged on an upper portion of the rotator, for increasing a pressure of refrigerant gas by allowing the refrigerant gas to flow through the rotary pressure increasing mechanism while rotating about the drive shaft
Implementation Method 2
how the refrigerant and the lubricating oil flow and how the oil separation occurs during high speed rotation of the electric motor in the hermetic container are significantly complicated
Data Source
AI summary
A hermetic compressor, includes a hermetic container having a bottom portion in which lubricating oil is stored; an electric motor including a stator and a rotator; a drive shaft attached to the rotator; a compression mechanism for compressing refrigerant by using rotation of the drive shaft; a rotary pressure increasing mechanism for increasing a pressure of refrigerant gas, the rotary pressure increasing mechanism being arranged on the rotator; a cylindrical lateral wall for partitioning a space above the electric motor into an outer space and an inner space in a manner that the a cylindrical lateral wall surrounds the rotary pressure increasing mechanism; and a discharge pipe for allowing the refrigerant to flow out from the inner space into an external circuit that is external to the hermetic container.