Linear Compressor Piston Flexible Coupling Friction Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Linear compressors face efficiency issues due to friction between the piston and the cylinder wall, and maintaining a uniform air gap between the magnet and the driving coil is challenging, leading to suboptimal performance.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a piston slidably received within a cylinder assembly with a flexible coupling, including a flat wire coil spring and a wire, to reduce friction and maintain a single air gap, ensuring efficient operation by transferring motion from the mover to the piston while minimizing side pull forces and maintaining air gap uniformity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a piston is used to compress refrigerant in a linear compressor, then refrigerant compression is achieved, but friction between the piston and chamber wall reduces efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
A flexible coupling is introduced as an intermediary element between the mover and piston. This coupling allows for relative motion and alignment adjustment, reducing direct contact and friction between the piston and chamber wall while still transmitting the necessary compressive force for refrigerant compression.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible coupling provides dynamic alignment adjustment during operation, allowing the piston to maintain optimal positioning within the chamber. This dynamic adaptation reduces friction losses by compensating for misalignment and wear over time, while maintaining effective refrigerant compression.
2Device complexity
If multiple air gaps are provided in the linear compressor, then magnetic field transmission is interrupted, but structural design flexibility is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The inner back iron and outer back iron are merged into a single continuous magnetic circuit structure. This eliminates the intermediate air gap between them, ensuring continuous magnetic field transmission from the driving coil through the magnet while still allowing structural design flexibility in other areas of the compressor.
3Reliability
If a uniform air gap is maintained between the magnet and driving coil, then magnetic field transmission is optimized, but manufacturing difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible coupling enables dynamic adjustment of the air gap during operation, compensating for manufacturing tolerances and wear. This allows the use of less precise manufacturing while still achieving optimal magnetic field transmission through operational self-adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible coupling allows the air gap parameter to vary dynamically within an optimal range during operation, rather than requiring a fixed precise dimension. This transforms the design from requiring precise static dimensional control to allowing operational parameter adaptation, simplifying manufacturing.
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 configuration enhances the efficiency of the linear compressor by reducing friction and maintaining a consistent air gap, leading to improved performance and reduced energy losses.
Implementation Method 1
A driving coil extends about the inner iron assembly along the circumferential direction. The driving coil is operable to move the inner back iron assembly along a second axis.
Implementation Method 2
The driving coil engages a magnet on a mover assembly of the linear compressor in order to reciprocate the piston within the chamber.
Implementation Method 3
A flexible coupling includes a flat wire coil spring that extends between the inner back iron assembly and the piston along the axial direction
Data Source
AI summary
A linear compressor is provided. The linear compressor includes a piston slidably received within a chamber of a cylinder assembly and a mover positioned in a driving coil. The linear compressor also includes features for coupling the piston to the mover such that motion of the mover is transferred to the piston during operation of the driving coil and for reducing friction between the piston and the cylinder during motion of the piston within the chamber of the cylinder.