Patent Publication Number: US-11396873-B2

Title: Scroll compressor comprising a valve provided on a fixed scroll that opens at a certain pressure

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims foreign priority benefits under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Chinese Patent Application No. 201911354394.X filed on Dec. 27, 2019, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Technical Field 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a scroll compressor. 
     Background 
     A scroll compressor includes a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll. The fixed scroll has an end plate and a fixed scroll wrap extending from the end plate. The orbiting scroll has an orbiting scroll wrap, and the orbiting scroll wrap and the fixed scroll wrap are engaged with each other to form a compression chamber for compressing a medium. When the compressor is working, if the refrigerant liquid or wet vapor is sucked into the compressor by the compressor, because the liquid is incompressible, the liquid sucked into the compressor will have a great impulsive force on the scroll wraps. The scrolls may be broken, which may damage the compressor and cause the compressor to no longer work. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide a scroll compressor, thereby, for example, improving the performance of the scroll compressor, and especially the resistance to liquid impact. 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a scroll compressor. The scroll compressor includes: a fixed scroll having an end plate and a fixed scroll wrap extending from the end plate; an orbiting scroll having an orbiting scroll wrap, the orbiting scroll wrap being engaged with the fixed scroll wrap to form a plurality of compression chambers for compressing a medium; a channel formed in the end plate of the fixed scroll, the channel leading to one compression chamber of the plurality of compression chambers; and a valve provided on the end plate of the fixed scroll, and configured to open when a pressure in the one compression chamber is higher than a predetermined pressure threshold so as to allow the medium in the one compression chamber to flow out of the one compression chamber through the channel. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve comprises: a valve seat provided on a side of the fixed scroll away from the fixed scroll wrap, an opening of the channel being formed in the valve seat; a valve element configured to open and close the opening of the channel; and a spring configured to apply a pushing force to the valve element toward the valve seat. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve further comprises: a fixing member fixed on a side of the fixed scroll away from the fixed scroll wrap, the fixing member having: a first side face and a second side face opposite to each other, and a hole extending from the first side face toward the second side face to between the first side face and the second side face, wherein the valve element and the spring are provided in the hole of the fixing member. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixing member further has an opening extending from the first side face in an axial direction of the hole to expose a part of the hole, and a width of the opening is smaller than a diameter of the hole. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixing member has two said openings, and the two openings face each other in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the hole. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve element has: a first side face and a second side face opposite to each other, and a hole extending from the first side face toward the second side face to between the first side face and the second side face, wherein an end of the spring is inserted into the hole of the valve element. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixed scroll further has a protrusion protruding from a side of the end plate away from the fixed scroll wrap, and the valve seat is provided in a side face of the protrusion. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixed scroll further has a protrusion protruding from a side of the end plate away from the fixed scroll wrap, and the valve seat is provided in a side face of the protrusion, and the fixed scroll further has a recess on the side of the end plate away from the fixed scroll wrap, and the fixing member is provided in the recess. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixed scroll further has a protrusion protruding from a side of the end plate away from the fixed scroll wrap, and the valve seat is provided in a side face of the protrusion, and the first side face of the fixing member and the side face of the protrusion abut against each other. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the side face of the protrusion extends along an axial direction of the fixed scroll, and the fixing member is spaced apart from a bottom face of the recess. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the one compression chamber of the plurality of compression chambers is a radially outermost compression chamber of the plurality of compression chambers. 
     The scroll compressor according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, can improve the performance of the scroll compressor. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a scroll compressor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of a valve and related parts shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic perspective view of a part of the scroll compressor shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a partially enlarged perspective view of the valve and related parts shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the scroll compressor shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the part A (the valve and related parts) shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in conjunction with the drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 6 , the scroll compressor according to the embodiments of the present disclosure includes: a fixed scroll  10 , an orbiting scroll  20 , a channel  6 , and a valve  5 . The fixed scroll  10  has an end plate  11  and a fixed scroll wrap  12  extending from the end plate  11 . The orbiting scroll  20  has an orbiting scroll wrap  21 . The orbiting scroll wrap  21  and the fixed scroll wrap  12  are engaged with each other to form a plurality of compression chambers  3  for compressing a medium. The channel  6  is formed in the end plate  11  of the fixed scroll  10 , and the channel  6  leads to one compression chamber  3  of the plurality of compression chambers  3 . The valve  5  is provided on the end plate  11  of the fixed scroll  10  and is configured to open when the pressure in the compression chamber  3  is higher than the predetermined pressure threshold so as to allow the medium in the compression chamber  3  to flow out of the compression chamber  3  through the channel  6 . The compression chamber  3  may be the radially outermost compression chamber  3  of the plurality of compression chambers  3 . The predetermined pressure threshold may be set according to the difference between the pressure in the compression chamber  3  corresponding to the valve  5  and the pressure at the inlet of the scroll compressor. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve  5  includes: a valve seat  51 , a valve element  52 , and a spring  53 . The valve seat  51  is arranged on the side of the fixed scroll  10  away from the fixed scroll wrap  12 , and an opening of the channel  6  is formed in the valve seat  51 . The valve element  52  is configured to open and close the opening of the channel  6 . The spring  53  is configured to apply a pushing force to the valve element  52  towards the valve seat  51 . The elastic force of the spring  53  is selected according to the aforementioned predetermined pressure threshold, so that when the pressure in the compression chamber  3  corresponding to the valve  5  is higher than the elastic force of the spring  53 , the spring  53  is pushed away by the medium flow in the channel  6 , so that the valve  5  is opened. Thereby, the medium in the compression chamber  3  flows out of the compression chamber  3  through the channel  6 . The medium is, for example, refrigerant liquid or refrigerant vapor. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve  5  further includes a fixing member  54  fixed on the side of the fixed scroll  10  away from the fixed scroll wrap  12 . The fixing member  54  has a first side face  541  and a second side face  542  opposite to each other, and a hole  540  extending from the first side face  541  toward the second side face  542  to between the first side face  541  and the second side face  542 . The valve element  52  and the spring  53  are movably provided in the hole  540  of the fixing member  54 . According to an example of the present disclosure, the fixing member  54  further has an opening  548  extending from the first side face  541  in the axial direction of the hole  540  to expose a part of the hole  540 . The width of the opening  548  is smaller than the diameter of the hole  540 . The fixing member  54  may have two openings  548 , and the two openings  548  face each other in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the hole. For example, the two openings  548  are respectively in the top face and bottom face of the fixing member  54 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve element  52  has a first side face  521  and a second side face  522  opposite to each other, and a hole  520  extending from the first side face  521  toward the second side face  522  to between the first side face  521  and the second side face  522 . An end of the spring  53  is inserted into the hole  520  of the valve element  52 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixed scroll  10  further has a protrusion  7  protruding from the side of the end plate  11  away from the fixed scroll wrap  12 , and the valve seat  51  is provided in the side face  71  of the protrusion  7 . The first side face  541  of the fixing member  54  and the side face  71  of the protrusion  7  may abut against each other. The fixing member  54  may be fixed to the side face  71  of the protrusion  7  of the fixed scroll  10  by screws  9  (see  FIG. 4 ). The fixing member  54  may also be fixed to the side face  71  of the protrusion  7  of the fixed scroll  10  by other means. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the fixed scroll  10  further has a recess  8  on the side of the end plate  11  away from the fixed scroll wrap  12 , and the fixing member  54  is provided in the recess  8 . The side face  71  of the protrusion  7  extends along the axial direction of the fixed scroll  10 , and the fixing member  54  is spaced apart from the bottom face  81  of the recess  8 . The bottom face  81  of the recess  8  may be perpendicular to the axial direction of the fixed scroll  10 . For example, when being in use, the side face  71  of the protrusion  7  can extend in the vertical direction, and the bottom face  81  of the recess  8  can extend in the horizontal direction. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 5 , in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the channel  6  includes a first hole  61  extending in the protrusion  7  and a second hole  62  extending from the protrusion  7  toward the side of the end plate  11  away from the protrusion  7  and passing through the end plate  11 . The first hole  61  is in communication with the second hole  62 . For example, the first hole  61  extends in the protrusion  7  in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the fixed scroll  10 , and the second hole  62  extends from the protrusion  7  in the axial direction of the fixed scroll  10  toward the side of the end plate  11  away from the protrusion  7  and passes through the end plate  11 . The second hole  62  leads to the compression chamber  3 . The position of the second hole  62  is at a distance of a predetermined angle from the position where the orbiting scroll wrap  21  and the fixed scroll wrap  12  start a compression, for example, 281 degrees to 301 degrees, for example, about 291 degrees. The second hole  62  may include two holes  62 . 
     The scroll compressor according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, can improve the resistance to liquid impact of the scroll compressor. 
     In addition, in the scroll compressor according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the valve  5  is used. Therefore, when the liquid medium is sucked in the scroll compressor, since the pressure in the compression chamber  3  will be higher than the predetermined pressure threshold, the valve  5  is opened to allow the medium in the compression chamber  3  to flow out of the compression chamber  3  through the channel  6 . 
     Since the channel  6  leads to the radially outermost compression chamber  3 , that is, the compression chamber  3  in the medium suction port region, when the liquid medium is sucked in the scroll compressor, the liquid medium can be discharged in time to prevent damage to the compressor. 
     Although the above embodiments are described, some features in the above embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments.