Patent ID: 8177532

Claim:
An expander comprising: a closed casing having a bottom portion utilized as an oil reservoir; an expansion mechanism disposed in the closed casing in such a manner that a surrounding space thereof is filled with oil; and an oil flow suppressing member that is disposed in the surrounding space of the expansion mechanism and divides an oil reserving space between the closed casing and the expansion mechanism into an inner reserving space and an outer reserving space for suppressing a flow of the oil filling the inner reserving space more strongly than a flow of the oil filling the outer reserving space, the inner reserving space being a space between the oil flow suppressing member and the expansion mechanism and the outer reserving space being a space between the oil flow suppressing member and the closed casing, wherein the oil flow suppressing member includes: a tubular portion that surrounds the expansion mechanism; a bottom portion that closes an underside of the tubular portion; and assuming that a direction parallel to an axial direction of the shaft is defined as a vertical direction; the oil is allowed to flow into the inner reserving space through a clearance positioned higher than an upper end of the tubular portion.