Piston Ring Joint Layout for Compressor Blow-By Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing compressors face issues with blow-by gas leakage from the joint gap of the piston ring, which affects efficiency and requires improvement.
Innovation Solution
A compressor design featuring a piston with a curved outer surface, a piston ring with a stepped joint and rotation stopper, and a crankshaft configuration that separates the cylinder's center axis from the crankshaft's rotation axis, with the joint gaps positioned on the load side to minimize leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If a conventional piston ring with a simple joint structure is used, then the device complexity is low, but blow-by gas leaks out from the joint gap
Solution Approach 1:
The piston ring is divided into multiple segments with a stepped joint structure, creating multiple sealing surfaces instead of a single gap. This segmentation allows the gas pressure to act on multiple surfaces, pushing the segments together to reduce leakage while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The joint structure transitions from a simple linear gap to a three-dimensional stepped configuration with multiple levels. This dimensional change creates overlapping sealing surfaces that prevent gas leakage paths while the rotation stopper adds rotational constraint in another dimension, controlling piston ring orientation to further reduce blow-by gas
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the piston ring joint gap is positioned without specific orientation, then the ease of manufacture is high, but blow-by gas leaks out from the joint gap
Solution Approach 1:
The stepped joint structure creates an asymmetric configuration where the different levels of the steps provide natural positioning features. This asymmetry ensures that the joint gap assumes a specific orientation relative to the piston ring groove, with the rotation stopper providing additional asymmetric constraint to prevent rotational movement that would expose the gap to gas leakage paths
Solution Approach 2:
The rotation stopper is pre-positioned in the piston ring groove to establish the correct orientation of the piston ring before operation begins. This preliminary positioning action ensures that the stepped joint structure is always oriented favorably to minimize blow-by gas leakage, eliminating the need for complex real-time adjustment mechanisms during manufacturing or operation
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the piston ring is allowed to rotate freely in the piston ring groove, then the ease of operation is high, but blow-by gas leaks out from the joint gap
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation stopper provides a preliminary counter-action to any rotational movement of the piston ring that would bring the joint gap into a position conducive to gas leakage. By preemptively constraining the rotation, the design prevents the harmful condition before it can occur, maintaining sealing effectiveness throughout the operating cycle
Solution Approach 2:
The stepped joint structure creates different local qualities at different levels of the step, with each level providing a specific sealing function. The rotation stopper locally constrains rotation at the joint gap region, allowing the rest of the piston ring to maintain its sealing contact with the cylinder wall while preventing the specific rotational movement that would expose the gap to gas leakage
Data Source
AI summary
A compressor has a piston that has a piston ring groove in an outer circumferential surface formed of a curved surface and reciprocates while rocking in a cylinder, a piston ring that is mounted in the piston ring groove and slides on an inner circumferential surface of the cylinder, and a crankshaft that reciprocates the piston through a connecting rod. A center axis of the cylinder is disposed at a position separate from a rotation axis of the crankshaft. A rotation stopper for the piston ring is disposed in the piston ring groove. Joint gaps of the piston ring are located on a side of the outer circumferential surface of the piston pressed against the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder in a compression process.