Patent ID: 6981851

Claim:
A piston stroke limiting device for a reciprocating compressor, said compressor including a piston reciprocating inside a cylinder, which is closed by a cylinder head and which defines between the cylinder head and a top of the piston a compression chamber, comprising: a driving element provided in the cylinder head and which projects to an inside of the compression chamber, in order to touch the piston when the piston surpasses a predetermined nominal position at the end of a compression stroke; at least one relief passage provided with a valve seat and disposed in one of the parts defined by the piston and the cylinder head, communicating the compression chamber with a region of the compressor subject to a substantially lower operational pressure; and a relief valve, constantly forced to a closed condition, which is seated on a respective valve seat in order to be selectively displaced to an open condition by action of the driving element when the piston surpasses said predetermined nominal position at the end of the compression stroke.