Scroll Compressor Bellows Liquid Cooling and Tip Seal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing scroll compressors and vacuum pumps face challenges with single-stage compression complexity, oil-free manufacturing precision issues leading to leakage, and limited cooling options, particularly in confined spaces like boats or spacecraft.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of two bellows for liquid cooling and an improved tip seal design using a plunger-actuated seal with a spring, along with a coating method that eliminates the need for epoxy, providing hermetic sealing and efficient cooling without excess coating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If oil is used to lubricate the scrolls, then friction and wear are reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase and leakage control becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A bellows is introduced as an intermediary component between the scrolls and the external environment. The bellows provides a flexible sealing mechanism that accommodates scroll movement while maintaining hermetic sealing, eliminating the need for precise scroll-to-housing clearances and reducing reliance on oil lubrication for sealing purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes a bellows mechanism that operates on pneumatic principles to provide sealing and cooling functions. The bellows expands and contracts with pressure changes, maintaining contact with the scrolls to prevent leakage without requiring high manufacturing precision, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliability and manufacturing precision.
2Device complexity
If ambient air cooling is used, then the compressor structure is simple, but cooling efficiency is insufficient in confined spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The bellows component is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides hermetic sealing of the scroll device, facilitates liquid coolant circulation for efficient cooling, and accommodates scroll movement. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by integrating sealing and cooling functions into a single component, improving cooling efficiency without significantly increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements liquid cooling through the bellows by utilizing hydraulic principles where coolant flows through channels in the bellows structure. This allows efficient heat removal in confined spaces where ambient air cooling is inadequate, while the bellows design keeps the overall system complexity manageable through integrated functionality.
3Reliability
If epoxy coating is applied to seal the scrolls, then hermetic sealing is achieved, but excess coating is generated and requires cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The bellows serves as an intermediary sealing mechanism between the scrolls and the external environment, replacing the need for epoxy coating on the scrolls themselves. The bellows provides hermetic sealing through its flexible structure that moves with the scrolls, eliminating the harmful effect of excess epoxy coating and the associated cleaning requirements.
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 enables efficient liquid cooling and hermetic sealing of scroll devices, enhancing their performance and efficiency, particularly in applications where air cooling is limited, while reducing manufacturing complexity and minimizing wear on the seals.
Implementation Method 1
a spring upon the plunger. The spring and plunger combine to maintain the seal in positive contact with the scrolls
Implementation Method 2
One bellows serves as an inlet and a second bellows serves as an outlet for coolant from the orbiting and fixed scrolls
Data Source
AI summary
Modifications of a scroll compressor provide a bellows suitable for liquid cooling and a plunger actuated seal for the scroll tips of various equipment. A bellows spans the fixed and the orbiting scrolls and hermetically seals the scroll device. Using two bellows, the present invention allows for liquid cooling of a compressor with an inlet and an outlet to exhaust heated coolant to a heat exchanger. Then the scrolls have a spiral upon a plate that ends in a tip. A seal upon the tip that abuts the fixed scroll upon a biased plunger modifies existing scroll designs to maintain the seal in contact with the fixed scroll. The modifications also provide an improved coating that seals the fixed and orbiting scrolls to each other without the use of epoxy, disassembly, and cleaning.