Patent ID: 7841845

Claim:
A two speed compressor assembly comprising: a compressor having a housing; a drive shaft rotatably supported with respect to said housing and engaging said compressor; an input shaft rotatably supported with respect to said housing for driving said drive shaft in a high speed condition and a low speed condition; a one-way clutch disposed between said drive shaft and said input shaft, said one-way clutch limiting relative rotation between said drive shaft and said input shaft to a single direction; and a gear system including a sun gear, a plurality of planetary gears and a ring gear disposed between said drive shaft and said input shaft, said drive shaft being attached to said sun gear such that said one-way clutch is disposed between said input shaft and said sun gear, said gear system being selectively switchable between said high speed condition where said drive shaft rotates faster than said input shaft and said low speed condition where said drive shaft rotates at the same speed as said input shaft, said planetary gears being fixedly coupled to said input shaft and always rotating with rotation of said input shaft; a clutch assembly disposed between said gear system and said housing and operable to switch said gear system between said high and low speed conditions, said clutch assembly including a biasing member that biases a component of said clutch assembly into engagement with a component of said gear system and said engagement corresponding to said high speed condition.