Patent ID: 8038415
Filing Date: 2011-10-18
Classification: F04B

Abstract:
1. A variable capacity swash plate type compressor comprising: a cylinder block having a plurality of cylinder bores; a front housing mounted in front of the cylinder block and having a crank chamber formed therein; a rear housing mounted in rear of the cylinder block and having a defining wall defining a suction chamber and a discharge chamber inside the rear housing; a valve unit installed between the cylinder block and the rear housing for inhaling and exhausting a refrigerant; a driving shaft in which a refrigerant communication passage communicating with the suction chamber is formed and which is rotatably installed on the cylinder block and the front housing; a rotor connected to the driving shaft inside the crank chamber and rotating together with the driving shaft; a swash plate connected to a hinge arm of the rotor to be movable and connected to the driving shaft so that an angle of inclination with respect to a change in the pressure of the crank chamber is changed; an elastic body installed between the rotor and the swash plate and returning the swash plate to its initial position; and a plurality of pistons interlocking with rotation of the swash plate and making a reciprocating motion within the cylinder bores, wherein at least one oil separation passage having two ends is provided for communicating the crank chamber with the refrigerant communication passage, such that one end of the two ends is open at a position on a circumferential surface of the rotor and the other end of the two ends is open to the refrigerant communication passage in the driving shaft, and the oil separation passage includes at least one step portion in a middle portion thereof such that a cross-section of the at least one step portion is reduced toward a direction of the refrigerant communication passage from the crank chamber, so that oil is centrifugally separated from a refrigerant gas flowing inside the driving shaft as the driving shaft rotates.