Abstract:
A rotary machine is powered by a drive shaft having a bore extending through it. A single piece lubricant flinger is disposed within the bore to form a lubricant pump. The lubricant flinger includes an upper plate located within the bore and a washer located adjacent the opening of the bore. The washer is connected to the upper plate by a connection section and the washer defines an aperture which allows fluid to flow into the bore of the shaft.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to oil distribution within a rotating machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a unique oil flinger disposed with a bore of a drive shaft which pumps oil through the bore of the drive shaft to the various components of the rotating machine.  
       BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     For exemplary purposes, the unique oil flinger of the present invention will be described in association with a scroll machine. It is to be understood that it is within the scope of the present invention to utilize the unique oil flinger of the present invention with any device having a rotating shaft.  
         [0003]     A class of machines exists in the art known as “scroll” machines for the displacement of various types of fluids. Such machines may be configured as an expander, a displacement engine, a pump, a compressor, etc., and the features of the present invention are applicable to any of these machines. For purposes of illustration, however, the disclosed embodiments are in the form of a hermetic refrigerant compressor.  
         [0004]     The concept of a scroll compressor has been known for some time and it has been recognized as having distinct advantages. For example, scroll compressors have high isentropic and volumetric efficiency, and, hence, are relatively small and light weight for a given capacity. They are quieter and more vibration free than many compressors because they do not use large reciprocating parts (e.g., pistons, connecting rods, etc.) and because all fluid flow is in one direction with simultaneous compression in plural opposed pockets, there are less pressure-created vibrations. Scroll compressors also tend to have high reliability and durability because of the relatively few moving parts utilized and the relatively low velocity of movement between the scrolls. Scroll compressors which have axial and radial compliance to allow fluid leakage have an inherent forgiveness to fluid contamination.  
         [0005]     Generally speaking, a scroll compressor comprises two spiral scroll wraps of similar configuration, each mounted on a separate end plate to define a pair of scroll members. The two scroll members are interfitted together with one of the scroll wraps being rotationally displaced 180° from the other. The compressor operates by orbiting one scroll member (the orbiting scroll member) with respect to the other scroll member (the fixed scroll member or the non-orbiting scroll member) to make moving line contacts between the flanks of the respective wraps, defining moving isolated crescent-shaped pockets of fluid. The spiral scroll wraps are commonly formed as involutes of a circle, and ideally there is no relative rotation between the scroll members during operation, i.e. the motion is purely curvilinear translation (i.e. no rotation of any line on the body). The fluid pockets carry the fluid to be handed from a suction zone located at the outer periphery of the scroll compressor where a fluid inlet is provided to a discharge zone located centrally in the scroll compressor where a fluid outlet is provided. The volume of a sealed pocket is continuously reduced as it moves from the suction zone to the discharge zone. At any one instant of time, there will be at least one pair of sealed pockets and where there are several pairs of sealed pockets at one time, each pair will have a different volume from the other pairs.  
         [0006]     Two types of contacts define the fluid pockets formed between the scroll members. First, axially extending tangential line contacts are formed between the spiral wrap faces or flanks of the wraps caused by radial forces (flank sealing) and second, area contacts (tip sealing) caused by axial forces are formed between the plane edge surfaces (tips) of each wrap and the opposite end plate. For high efficiency, good sealing must be achieved for both types of contacts.  
         [0007]     While scroll compressors have relatively few moving parts, lubrication for these moving parts is a necessity for the durability of the scroll compressor. In a low-side compressor, a portion of the lubrication is suction gas flow which is allowed to pick up the overspray of lubricant from the moving components of the compressor and circulate the lubricant throughout the compressor. Suction gas is baffled and routed through the compressor in such a way as to control the amount of lubricant that is picked up by the suction gas to a tolerable level for compressor operation at rated operating conditions. The lubricant which is picked up by the suction gas primarily lubricates the two contacts which define the fluid pockets (flank sealing and tip sealing).  
         [0008]     The lubricant that is supplied to the other moving components and thus the sprayed lubricant that is picked up by the suction gas is supplied by a lubricant supply system which utilizes a lubricant sump located in the lower or bottom portion of the shell. The drive shaft extends into the sump to pump lubricant through a bore extending through the drive shaft to all of the various moving components of the compressor which require lubrication. Typically a lubricant flinger is disposed within the bore of the drive shaft and the bottom of the drive shaft rests on a thrust washer secured to the bearing housing rotatably supporting the drive shaft. The thrust washer includes a hole for the lubricant which is smaller than the bore supporting the lubricant flinger. The lubricant flinger and the thrust washer together as an assembly make up the lubricant pump which pumps the lubricant through the bore in the drive shaft to the moving components requiring lubrication.  
         [0009]     While the above designed lubricant pump works well when the drive shaft is supported by the thrust washer, a problem arises when the design for the compressor supports the drive shaft in a different manner and thus, the thrust washer is not available as a component of the lubricant pump. While it may be possible to supply the thrust washer and its associated retention components solely for the purpose of creating the lubricant pump, this option is costly in both additional components as well as additional machining to accommodate these additional components.  
         [0010]     The continued development of scroll compressors in general and lubrication systems in particular have been directed towards the design and simplification for the lubricant pump for the lubrication system.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  illustrates a vertical cross-sectional view of a scroll compressor incorporating the lubricant flinger in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the lower end of the drive shaft of the compressor illustrates in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the lubricant flinger illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a plain view of the lubricant flinger illustrated in  FIG. 3  prior to the forming of the lubricant flinger;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is a side view of the lubricant flinger illustrated in  FIG. 3 ; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is a top view of the lubricant flinger illustrated in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.  
         [0019]     There is illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a scroll compressor which incorporates the unique lubricant flinger in accordance with the present invention and which is designated generally by the reference numeral  10 .  
         [0020]     Compressor  10  comprises a generally cylindrical hermetic shell  12  having welded at the upper end thereof a cap  14  and at the lower end thereof a base  16  having a plurality of mounting feet (not shown) integrally formed therewith. Cap  14  is provided with a refrigerant discharge fitting  18  which may have the usual discharge valve therein (not shown). Other major elements affixed to the shell include a transversely extending partition  22  which is welded about its periphery at the same point that cap  14  is welded to shell  12 , a stationary main bearing housing or body  24  which is suitably secured to shell  12 , and a lower bearing housing  26  also having a plurality of radially outwardly extending legs, each of which is also suitably secured to shell  12 . A motor stator  28 , which is generally square in cross-section but with the corners rounded off, is pressfitted into shell  12 . The flats between the rounded corners on the stator provide passageways between the stator and shell, which facilitate the flow of lubricant from the top of the shell to the bottom.  
         [0021]     A drive shaft or crankshaft  30  having an eccentric crank pin  32  at the upper end thereof is rotatably journaled in a bearing  34  in main bearing housing  24  and a second bearing  36  in lower bearing housing  26 . Crankshaft  30  has at the lower end a relatively large diameter concentric bore  38  which communicates with a radially outwardly inclined smaller diameter bore  40  extending upwardly therefrom the top of crankshaft  30 . Disposed within bore  38  is a lubricant flinger  42 . The lower portion of the interior shell  12  is filled with lubricating oil, and bore  38  in conjunction with lubricant flinger  42  acts as a pump to pump lubricating fluid up bore  38  in crankshaft  30  and into bore  40 , and ultimately to all of the various portions of the compressor which require lubrication.  
         [0022]     Crankshaft  30  is rotatively driven by an electric motor including stator  28 , windings  44  passing therethrough and a rotor  46  pressfitted on the crankshaft  30  and having upper and lower counterweights  48  and  50 , respectively. A counterweight shield  52  may be provided to reduce the work loss caused by counterweight  50  spinning in the oil in the sump. Counterweight shield  52  is more fully disclosed in Assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,356 entitled “Counterweight Shield For Scroll Compressor”, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0023]     The upper surface of main bearing housing  24  is provided with a flat thrust bearing surface on which is disposed an orbiting scroll member  54  having the usual spiral vane or wrap  56  on the upper surface thereof. Projecting downwardly from the lower surface of orbiting scroll member  54  is a cylindrical hub having a journal bearing  58  therein and in which is rotatively disposed a drive bushing  60  having an inner bore  62  in which crank pin  32  is drivingly disposed. Crank pin  32  has a flat on one surface which drivingly engages a flat surface (not shown) formed in a portion of bore  62  to provide a radially compliant driving arrangement, such as shown in aforementioned Assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,382, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. An Oldham coupling  64  is also provided positioned between and keyed to orbiting scroll member  54  and bearing housing  24  to prevent rotational movement of orbiting scroll member  54 . Oldham coupling  64  is preferably of the type disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,382; however, the coupling disclosed in Assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,506, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, may be used in place thereof.  
         [0024]     A non-orbiting scroll member  66  is also provided having a wrap  68  positioned in meshing engagement with wrap  56  of orbiting scroll member  54 . Non-orbiting scroll member  66  has a centrally disposed discharge passage  70  communicating with an upwardly open recess  72  which is in fluid communication with a discharge muffler chamber  74  defined by cap  14  and partition  22 . An annular recess  76  is also formed in non-orbiting scroll member  66  within which is disposed a seal assembly  78 . Recesses  72  and  76  and seal assembly  78  cooperate to define axial pressure biasing chambers which receive pressurized fluid being compressed by wraps  56  and  68  so as to exert an axial biasing force on non-orbiting scroll member  66  to thereby urge the tips of respectively wraps  56 ,  68  into sealing engagement with the opposed end plate surfaces. Seal assembly  78  is preferably of the type described in greater detail in Assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,539, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Non-orbiting scroll member  66  is designed to be mounted with limited axial movement with respect to bearing housing  24  in a suitable manner such as disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,382 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,316, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0025]     Referring now to  FIGS. 2-5  lubricant  FIG. 42  is illustrated in greater detail. Lubricant flinger  42  comprises an upper plate  90 , and a washer  92 . Upper plate  90  defines a positioning plate  94 , a first angular plate  96  and a second angular plate  98   
         [0026]     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , upper plate  90  and washer  92  of lubricant flinger  42  are stamped from a flat piece of sheet metal as a single integral component. Upper plate  90  has a positioning plate  94  attached to a first angular plate  96  along a first fold line  100 . Upper plate  90  has positioning plate  94  attached to second angular plate  98  along a second fold line  102 . Second angular plate  98  is attached to washer  92  using a connecting link  104  to attach washer  92  to upper plate  90 . The integral one piece design for lubricant flinger  42  enables lubricant flinger  42  to be manufactured form a simple stamping process.  
         [0027]     Once stamped, lubricant flinger  42  is formed into the configuration illustrated in  FIGS. 3, 5  and  6 . First angular plate  96  is bent along first fold line  100  in a first direction, second angular plate  98  is bent along second fold line  102  in a second direction opposite to the first direction and washer  92  is bent at connection link  104  to a position where the plane of positioning plate  94  of upper plate  90  is generally perpendicular to the plane of washer  92 .  
         [0028]     The formed lubricant flinger  42  is then pressed into large diameter bore  38  until washer  92  is located adjacent the opening of bore  38  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Washer  92  defines a centrally disposed aperture  106  which allows lubricant to move from the lower portion of shell  12  which is filled with lubricating oil into bore  38 . Washer  92  performs the same function as the thrust washer in the prior art systems but washer  92  does not support crankshaft  30 .  
         [0029]     Upon rotation of crankshaft  30 , lubricant which is located within bore  38  due to aperture  106  is pumped up bore  38  and into bore  40  and ultimately all of the various portions of compressor  10  which needs lubrication by lubricant flinger  42 . Thus, lubricant flinger  42  disposed within bore  38  forms an oil pump for the lubrication of compressor  10 .  
         [0030]     The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.