Abstract:
A scroll fluid machine includes: a casing; a fixed scroll having an end plate, a spiral wrap part provided on the end plate, and a flange provided outside the wrap part and fitted to the casing; and an orbiting scroll having an end plate and a spiral wrap part provided on the end plate with a plurality of compression chambers formed in a space up to the wrap part of the fixed scroll, which is provided to perform an orbiting motion, wherein the flange is provided with a deformation absorbing part which absorbs deformation due to thermal expansion of the end plate. The scroll fluid machine is improved in reliability while the compression efficiency is maintained by preventing the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll from coming into contact with each other without increasing a clearance between the wrap parts of both scrolls.

Description:
This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2011-013572, filed Jan. 26, 2011, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a scroll fluid machine, which is used as a compressor, for example. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally in the scroll fluid machine, deformation is caused in the wrap parts of a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll due to compression heat of a fluid, so that the wrap parts of the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll come into contact with each other to cause lowering of reliability due to abrasion and generation of noise. 
     JP-A No. 2003-97462 discloses a scroll fluid machine, which prevents contact by making smaller the wrap tooth thickness on the cooling air downstream side rising to a high temperature and largely deformed, and enlarging a clearance between the wrap parts. 
     JP-A No. 2008-51034 discloses a scroll fluid machine, in which an inner peripheral side groove, an outer peripheral groove and a communicating groove are formed in a sliding surface on the outer peripheral part of a fixed scroll with an orbiting scroll. 
     In the scroll fluid machine described in JP-A No. 2003-97462, since a flange of the fixed scroll is fastened to a casing, a fixed scroll end plate is bent due to thermal expansion and the wrap inclines inwards. This deformation is largest on the outermost peripheral side integrated with the flange, so machining for preventing contact between the wraps should be made larger as compared with the inner peripheral side. This machining is decided depending on the maximum deformation amount at the highest temperature when the compressor is continuously operated approximately at the maximum allowable working pressure. Consequently the clearance between the wraps is large in an operation mode in which the wraps do not reach the assumed highest temperature such as the operation immediately after starting of the compressor and the intermittent operation of repeating the operation and the stop, so that it is impossible to maintain the compression efficiency. 
     In the scroll fluid machine described in JP-A No. 2008-51034, a projecting part is not formed on the back of the inner peripheral side groove, an outer peripheral side groove and the communicating groove formed in the sliding surface of the outer peripheral part of the fixed scroll with the orbiting scroll. Consequently when the fixed scroll end plate is thermally expanded, deformation due to the thermal expansion cannot be absorbed in the flange part, so that the wrap inclines inwards to come into contact with a wrap part of the orbiting scroll. Therefore, in order to secure the reliability, for example, machining for preventing the wrap contact as in JP-A No. 2003-97462 is needed, and it is impossible to maintain the compression efficiency. 
     The present invention has been made in the light of the above problem and it is an object of the present invention to provide a scroll fluid machine, which is improved in reliability while the compression efficiency is maintained by preventing a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll from coming into contact with each other without increasing a clearance between wrap parts of both scrolls. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to address the above-mentioned object, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a scroll fluid machine including: a casing; a fixed scroll having an end plate, a spiral wrap part provided on the end plate, and a flange provided outside the wrap part and fitted to the casing; and an orbiting scroll having an end plate and a spiral wrap part provided on the end plate with a plurality of compression chambers formed in a space up to the wrap part of the fixed scroll, which is provided to perform an orbiting motion, wherein the flange is provided with a deformation absorbing part which absorbs deformation due to thermal expansion of the end plate. 
     According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a scroll fluid machine, which is improved in reliability while the compression efficiency is maintained by preventing a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll from coming into contact with each other without increasing a clearance between wrap parts of both scrolls. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent when considered in reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail based on the followings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a sectional view of a scroll fluid machine; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the flow of cooling air of the scroll fluid machine; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of a fixed scroll according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a back view of the fixed scroll according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram showing thermal deformation of the fixed scroll in the case where any recessed groove is not provided; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram showing thermal deformation of the fixed scroll in the case where any projecting part is not provided; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram showing thermal deformation of the fixed scroll according to the first embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a sectional view of a fixed scroll according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a diagram showing the flow of cooling air of the fixed scroll constructed so that an inclined part is not provided on a flange; 
         FIG. 10  is a diagram showing the flow of cooling air of the present invention in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 11  is a diagram showing the analysis result of speed of cooling air flowing in the periphery of the fixed scroll; 
         FIG. 12  is a back view of a fixed scroll according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 13  is a back view of the fixed scroll according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As a scroll fluid machine according to the embodiments of the present invention, a scroll air compressor is taken as an example and will be described in detail according to the attached drawings. 
     First Embodiment 
     The first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 7 . 
     A sectional view of a scroll fluid machine according to the first embodiment is shown in  FIG. 1 . A sectional view of the scroll fluid machine according to the present embodiment taken at an angle different from that of  FIG. 1  is shown with the flow of cooling air in  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 3  shows a fixed scroll  2  as viewed from the face provided with a wrap part  4  of an end plate  3  in the present embodiment.  FIG. 4  shows the fixed scroll  2  as viewed from the back of  FIG. 3  in the present embodiment. 
     A casing  1  of a scroll air compressor is formed cylindrical and a driving shaft  15  mentioned later is rotatably supported in the interior thereof. 
     The fixed scroll  2  provided on the opening side of the casing  1  is, as shown in  FIG. 1 , generally constituted by an end plate  3  formed substantially like a disk around an axis O-O, a spiral wrap part  4  axially erected on a bottom land serving as the surface of the end plate  3 , a cylindrical outer peripheral wall part  5  provided on the outside diameter side of the end plate  3  to surround the wrap part  4  and a plurality of cooling fins  6  projected on the rear of the end plate  3 . 
     In this case, the wrap part  4  is wound spirally with about three turns from the inside diameter side toward the outside diameter side, for example, when the innermost diameter end is taken as the winding start end and the outermost diameter end is taken as the winding end. A tooth crest of the wrap part  4  is separated from the bottom land of an end plate  9  of an orbiting scroll  8 , which is a counterpart, by a fixed axial dimension. 
     The tooth crest of the wrap part  4  is provided with a seal groove  4 A along the winding direction of the wrap part  4 , and a tip seal  7  as a sealing member brought into sliding contact with the end plate  9  of the orbiting scroll  8  is provided in the seal groove  4 A. Further the outer peripheral wall part  5  is substantially circular and opened to the end face of the fixed scroll  2 . The outer peripheral wall part  5  is disposed on the outside diameter side of a wrap part  10  in order to avoid interference with the wrap part  10  of the orbiting scroll  8 . 
     The orbiting scroll  8  provided to perform orbiting motion in the casing  1  is generally constituted by a substantially circular end plate  9  disposed opposite to the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  6 , a spiral wrap part  10  erected at the bottom land which is the surface of the end plate  9 , a plurality of cooling fins  11  projected on the back of the end plate  9 , and a back plate  12  located at the tip sides of the cooling fins  11  and fixed. 
     In this case, the wrap part  10  is formed spiral with about three turns substantially similarly to the wrap part  4  of the fixed scroll  2 . The tooth crest of the wrap part  10  is separated from the bottom land of the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  as the counterpart by a fixed axial dimension. The tooth crest of the wrap part  10  is provided with a seal groove  10 A along the winding direction of the wrap part  10 , and a tip seal  13  as a sealing member brought into sliding contact with the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  is provided in the seal groove  10 A. 
     A cylindrical boss part  14  rotatably connected to a crank part  15 A of the driving shaft  15  through a swivel bearing or the like is integrally formed on the center side of the rear plate  12 . At one end side of the driving shaft  15 , a pulley  15 B is provided to locate on the outside of the casing  1 , and the pulley  15 B is connected to the output side of an electric motor as a driving source, for example, through a belt (both are not shown). Thus, the driving shaft  15  is driven in rotation by the electric motor or the like, thereby causing the orbiting scroll  8  to perform orbiting motion to the fixed scroll  2 . 
     A cooling fan  16  is fitted to the pulley  15 B using a bolt or the like, and the cooling fan  16  generates cooling air in a fan casing  17 . Thus, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the cooling fan  16  blows the cooling air along a duct or the like in the fan casing  17  to the interior of the casing  1  and the rear sides of the respective scrolls  2 ,  8 , thereby cooling the casing  1 , the fixed scroll  2 , the orbiting scroll  8  and the like. 
     Further, three auxiliary cranks  18  (only one is shown), for example, for preventing rotation of the orbiting scroll  8  are provided between the outside diameter side of the rear plate  12  and the casing  1 . 
     A plurality of compression chambers  19  provided between the fixed scroll  2  and the orbiting scroll  8  are sequentially formed extending from the outside diameter side to the inside diameter side to locate between the wrap parts  4 ,  10 , and kept air-tight by the tip seals  7 ,  13 . Each compression chamber  19  is continuously reduced between the wrap parts  4 ,  10  while moving from the outside diameter sides to the inside diameter sides of the wrap parts  4 ,  10  when the orbiting scroll  8  performs orbiting motion in the forward direction. 
     Thus, external air is sucked from a suction opening  20  mentioned later into the compression chamber  19 A among the compression chambers  19  that is located at the most outside diameter side, and the air is compressed before it reaches the compression chamber  19 B located at the most inside diameter side to become compressed air. The compressed air is delivered from a discharge opening  22 , and stored in an external storage tank (not shown). 
     The suction opening  20  provided on the outside diameter side of the fixed scroll  2  is opened extending from the outside diameter side of the end plate  3  to the outer peripheral wall part  5  to communicate with the compression chamber  19 A located at the most outside diameter side. The suction opening  20  is located at the outside diameter side of the wrap part  10  of the orbiting scroll  8  in the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2 , and opened within a range where the tip seal  13  is not brought into sliding contact (a non-sliding range). The suction opening  20  sucks the air at atmospheric pressure, for example, through a suction filter  21  into the compression chamber  19 A located at the most outside diameter side. 
     The suction opening  20  may be configured to suck the pressurized air. In this case, the suction filter  21  may be removed and the suction opening  20  may be connected to piping supplied with the pressurized air. 
     The discharge opening  22  provided on the inside diameter side (the center side) of the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  communicates with the compression chamber  19 B located at the most inside diameter side to discharge the compressed air in the compression chamber  19 B to the outside. 
     A flange  24  located on the outer peripheral side from the wrap part  4  fixes the fixed scroll  2  to the casing  1 . 
     A face seal groove  25  provided in the end face of the fixed scroll  2  confronting the end plate  9  of the orbiting scroll  8  is located on the outside diameter side of the outer peripheral wall part  5  and formed annularly to surround the outer peripheral wall part  5 . An annular face seal  26  is fitted in the face seal groove  25 . The face seal  26  air-tightly seals between the end face of the fixed scroll  2  and the end plate  9  of the orbiting scroll  8 , thereby preventing the air sucked in the outer peripheral wall part  5  from leaking between them. 
     A recessed groove  27  provided in a face of the flange  24  of the fixed scroll  2  that is opposite to the orbiting scroll  8  is provided inside a part to which the casing  1  is fitted. A projecting part  28  is provided on the back of the recessed groove  27 . The recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  constitute a deformation absorbing part for absorbing deformation due to thermal expansion of the end plate  3 , thereby preventing such a deformation that the most outside diameter part of the wrap part  4  inclines toward the inner periphery side. 
     The scroll air compressor according to the present embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation of the scroll air compressor will now be described. 
     First, when the driving shaft  15  is driven in rotation by the driving source (not shown) such as an electric motor, the orbiting scroll  8  performs orbiting motion around the axis O-O of the driving shaft  15  in the state of being prevented from rotation by a rotation preventing mechanism, and the compression chambers  19  partitioned between the wrap part  4  of the fixed scroll  2  and the wrap part  10  of the orbiting scroll  8  are continuously reduced. Thus, the air sucked from the suction opening  20  of the fixed scroll  2  can be delivered as the compressed air from the discharge opening  20  of the fixed scroll  2  toward the external tank (not shown) while being compressed in the respective compression chambers  19  sequentially. 
     The deformation of the fixed scroll  2  due to heat generated by the compressing operation will be described using  FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 .  FIGS. 5 to 7  are sectional views as the fixed scroll  2  is viewed with the end plate  3  on the upside and with the wrap part  4  on the lower side.  FIG. 5  is a diagram showing the thermal deformation of the fixed roll  2  in the case where the recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  are not provided on the flange  24 .  FIG. 6  is a diagram showing the thermal deformation of the fixed scroll  2  in the case where the recessed groove  27  is provided in the flange  24  and the projecting part  28  is not provided on the flange  24 .  FIG. 7  is a diagram showing the thermal deformation of the fixed scroll  2  in the present embodiment. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , in the case where the recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  are not provided on the flange  24 , the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  is deformed to the right in  FIG. 5  by the thermal expansion. On the other hand, since the flange  24  of the fixed scroll  2  is fixed to the casing  1  against the thermal expansion of the end plate  3 , the deformation is restrained, and bracing is caused by the end plate  3  and the flange  24  so that the end plate  3  is, as shown in  FIG. 5 , bent and the wrap  4  inclines inwards. This deformation becomes largest at the outermost peripheral side integrated with the flange  24 . In order to prevent contact between the wrap  4  of the fixed scroll  2  and the wrap  10  of the orbiting scroll  8  due to this deformation, as shown in JP-A No. 2003-97462, for example, machining is performed to make the tooth thickness thinner for the thermal deformation amount, thereby providing a suitable clearance between the wraps  8 ,  10  to cope with the contact problem. Since the size of the clearance is decided depending on the maximum deformation amount at the highest temperature when the compressor is continuously operated approximately at the maximum allowable working pressure, the clearance between the wraps  4 ,  10  becomes large in an operation mode in which the wraps  4 ,  10  do not reach the assumed highest temperature such as the operation immediately after starting of the compressor from cold working and the intermittent operation of repeating the operation and the stop, resulting in worsening the compression efficiency. 
     In the case where only the recessed groove is provided in the flange  24  and the projecting part is not provided as shown in  FIG. 6 , the rigidity of the flange  24  is high so that the deformation of the fixed scroll  2  due to thermal expansion cannot be absorbed. On the other hand, in the case of forming the recessed groove deep in order to lower the rigidity, a portion of the recessed groove is deformed to bend toward the orbiting scroll  8  (downward in  FIG. 6 ), so that bracing of the flange  24  cannot be released and the wrap  4  cannot be prevented from inclining inwards. 
     Then, according to the present embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the flange  24  of the fixed scroll  2  is provided with the recessed groove  27 , and further the projecting part  28  is provided on a portion opposite to the recessed groove  27 . The recessed groove  27  in the flange  24  is provided in the face opposite to the orbiting scroll  8 , and the back of the portion of the flange  24  provided with the recessed groove  27  is projected over the outer edge part of the flange  24  on the opposite side to the orbiting scroll  8 . A portion constituted by the recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  is deformed to bend toward the opposite side to the orbiting scroll  8  (bend upward in  FIG. 7 ), whereby bracing due to deformation caused by thermal expansion of the end plate  3  and the flange  24  is released to reduce bending of the end plate  3  so that the wrap  4  can be prevented from inclining inwards. Thus, the above machining for preventing contact between the wraps can be decreased and the clearance between the wraps can be kept to the minimum even in the operation mode in which the wraps  4 ,  10  do not reach the highest temperature to improve the performance of the compressor. 
     The recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  are, as shown in  FIG. 4 , provided within a predetermined range of an angle from the center of the fixed scroll  2  to intersect the extending direction of the cooling fin  6 , not extending over the whole periphery of the flange  24 . The rigidity of the end plate  3  is made higher in the vertical direction to the extending direction of the cooling fin  6  than that in the extending direction of the cooling fin  6 . Therefore, the thermal expansion in the extending direction of the cooling fin  6  is larger than the thermal expansion in the vertical direction to the extending direction of the cooling fin  6 . Thus, the recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  are provided only within the predetermined range of an angle from the center of the fixed scroll  2  to intersect the extending direction of the cooling fin  6  as shown in  FIG. 4 , the thermal expansion of which is especially great, whereby the influence of thermal expansion can be restrained with less machining. 
     Second Embodiment 
     A second embodiment of the present invention will be described using  FIGS. 8-11 . The feature of the present embodiment is that the projecting part  28  of the first embodiment is an inclined part  23  smoothly connecting the end part of an end plate  3  and a flange  24 , thereby causing the cooling air on the rear of a fixed scroll  2  to flow without generating a vortex as mentioned later so that the cooling efficiency is improved. 
       FIG. 8  is a sectional view of the fixed scroll  2  as viewed with a wrap part  4  on the lower side in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 8 , a deformation absorbing part for absorbing deformation due to thermal expansion of the end plate  3  is formed by the inclined part  23  smoothly connecting the end part of the end plate  3  and the flange  24  and a recessed groove  27 . The groove bottom of the recessed groove  27  is also inclined according to the inclined part  23 . Thus, even if the end plate  3  thermally expands in the lateral direction, the rigidity is made lower in the lateral direction of the inclined part  23 , so that similarly to the first embodiment, bracing can be released by deformation due to thermal expansion of the end plate  3  and the flange  24  to decrease bending of the end plate  3  and prevent a wrap  4  from inclining inwards. 
     Further, in the present embodiment, the cooling air, which is generated by a cooling fan  16  and has reached the rear of the fixed scroll along a duct or the like in a fan casing  17  flows along the inclined part  23  smoothly connecting the back of the end plate  3  and the flange part  24  as shown in  FIG. 10 . Therefore, according to the present embodiment, in addition to the effect of the first embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 10 , the cooling air can flow in the vicinity of the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  without inhibition of vortex generated in the structure where the inclined part  23  is not provided, so that efficient cooling can be performed. 
     On the other hand, in the structure shown in  FIG. 9  where the inclined part  23  is not provided, the cooling air, which is generated by the cooling fan  16  and has reached the rear of the fixed scroll along the duct or the like in the fan casing  17  is inhibited from flowing by a vortex generated by a step part between the rear part of the end plate  3  and the flange  24  and also caused to flow through a part away from the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  so that efficient cooling cannot be performed. 
       FIG. 11  shows a two-dimensional model of a flow velocity of cooling air in the periphery of the fixed scroll  2  in the case where the cooling air is caused to flow with the same conditions in the fan casing  17  and the fixed scroll  2 . In  FIG. 11 , the lighter the color is, the higher the flow velocity of the cooling air is, and the thicker the color is, the lower the flow velocity is. The fixed scroll  2  of the structure without the inclined part  23  is shown in the upper part of  FIG. 11 , and the fixed scroll  2  constructed so that a smooth inclined part  23  is provided on the step part between the rear part of the end plate  3  and the flange  24  is shown in the lower part of  FIG. 11 . 
     In the fixed scroll  2  of the structure without the inclined part  23 , a vortex is generated at the step part between the rear part of the end plate  3  and the flange  24 , and as can be seen from the upper diagram of  FIG. 11 , although the flow velocity in a part away from the end plate  3  is high, the flow velocity in the vicinity of the end plate  3  is not high. On the other hand, in the case where the smooth inclined part is provided on the step part between the rear part of the end plate  3  and the flange  24 , as can be seen from the lower diagram of  FIG. 11 , the cooling air flows along the inclined part, and the flow velocity in the vicinity of the end plate  3  is higher than that in the structure without the inclined part  23 . 
     Therefore, in the present embodiment, the deformation of the fixed scroll  2  due to heat generated by the compression operation is decreased and bracing is decreased by the end plate  3  and the flange  24 , so that the above machining for preventing contact between the wraps can be further reduced. Therefore, the performance of the compressor can be improved even in the operation mode in which the wraps  4 ,  10  do not reach the assumed highest temperature. 
     Further, as shown in  FIG. 4 , also in the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the recessed groove  27 , the projecting part  28  and the inclined part  23  are provided within a predetermined range of an angle from the center of the fixed scroll  2  to intersect the extending direction of the cooling fin  6 , not extending over the whole periphery of the flange  24 . Thus, the cooling air at the rear part of the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2  flows along the spaces between the plurality of cooling fins  16  so that the cooling air can be efficiently circulated to the rear part of the end plate  3  of the fixed scroll  2 . Furthermore, since the inclined part  23  is partly provided, not extending over the whole periphery of the flange  24 , an increase in weight of the product can be restrained. 
     Third Embodiment 
     A third embodiment of the present invention will be described using  FIGS. 12-13 . The feature of the present embodiment is, as shown in  FIG. 12 , that the recessed part  27  and the projecting part  28  on the back or the inclined part  23  described above is provided on both a flange  24  on the inflow side of the cooling air and a flange located on the opposite side, thereby attaining the effect described in the first embodiment and the second embodiment more greatly. 
     As shown in  FIG. 13 , the recessed groove  27  and the projecting part  28  or the inclined part  23  is provided only on the part that should be most cooled, whereby the above cooling air flow can be improved only in the part that requires prevention of thermal deformation so that the performance of the compressor in the above operation mode can be improved in the simple constitution. 
     Furthermore, the inclined part  23  is formed by another member, whereby in a product using the same fixed scroll and different in output, it is possible to change the number of the inclined parts  23  formed by another member or change the inclination itself, so that the thermal deformation can be prevented effectively. Further, the inclination  23  is formed of resin material or the like having a lower specific gravity than the fixed scroll so that the above effect can be obtained and an increase in weight of the product can be prevented. 
     Although the descriptions of the respective embodiments deal with an example of application to the scroll air compressor as the scroll fluid machine, the present invention is not limited to this, but may be applied to another scroll fluid machine such as a refrigerant compressor configured to compress a refrigerant and a vacuum pump. Further it may be applied to systems such as a tank integrated type package compressor and a nitrogen gas generator. 
     The described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and these are not restrictive in technical scope of the present invention. That is, the present invention may be implemented in various modes without departing from the technical idea or the principal feature. Further, the first embodiment to the third embodiment may be combined to implement the present invention.