Alliance Compressors Inc.

American Standard Inc.

Bristol Compressors, Inc.

Gene M Fields

John Robert Williams

Joe T Hill

Robert E Utter

Daniel R Crum

Peter A Kotlarek

Terry Lynn Lyons

John Kenneth Wollitz

Charles A Singletary

George W Brandt

S Boyd Wall

A scroll compressor having a housing containing an orbiting scroll and a non-orbiting scroll each having a base formed with a free side and a compression side and having an involute extending generally normally from the compression side, each the involute terminating in an axially outer, substantially planar edge and having a radially outer inlet end and a radially inner discharge end, the scrolls being mounted within the housing in mating arrangement about a center axis of the involutes for relative orbital motion for compressing gas between the base and adjacent side portions of the involutes, the orbiting scroll having special bearing structure for eliminating the laterally directed tipping forces which are generally experienced by the orbiting scrolls of conventional scroll compressors, the bearing structure having a bearing hub integral with the discharge end of the involute of the orbiting scroll, the hub having a cylindrical bore oriented substantially normal to the compression side of the orbiting scroll for rotatably receiving an eccentric shaft section of a compressor crankshaft, bearing means formed axially thru the base of the non-orbiting scroll, a crankshaft having an axial section and an eccentric section, the axial section being rotatably mounted in the bearing and the eccentric section being rotatably mounted in the hub, whereby rotation of the crankshaft will move the orbiting scroll thru an orbit relative to the non-orbiting scroll to thereby generate compression pockets between both the base and the involutes.

Scroll compressor having bearing structure in the orbiting scroll to

A high side co-rotational scroll compressor has lubricant sumps in both the discharge and suction pressure portions of its hermetic shell as well as a pressure biasing arrangement by which the scroll members are urged together in operation to minimize internal leakage. Lubrication of the bearing in which the driven scroll member rotates as well as to the bearing in which the idler scroll member rotates, both of which are located in the suction pressure portion of the shell, is provided for. Additionally, embodiments are taught by which the interface between the tips of the wraps of each scroll member and the end plate of the opposing scroll member are lubricated and by which the seal in the axial pressure biasing arrangement is lubricated and/or shielded from debris having the potential to damage it.

Pressure biased co-rotational scroll apparatus with enhanced lubrication

A scroll compressor having a housing, a fixed scroll stationary on said housing, an orbiting scroll nested with the fixed scroll and being mounted on the eccentric of the compressor crankshaft for orbital motion about the longitudinal axis of the compressor, the base of the orbiting scroll having an annular groove formed in the outside or low pressure side thereof, a passage formed through the base of the orbiting scroll and placing the groove in fluid communication with an intermediate section of the pressure continuum for providing an axial compliance force against the base of the orbiting scroll and urging the wrap tips thereof into sealing engagement with the adjacent base of the fixed scroll, an annular seal positioned in the groove and having an annular web provided with a substantially planar contact side positioned in sliding, sealing contact with a sealing surface of housing and having annular elastomeric sealing components slidingly sealed against the walls of the groove to provide an axial compliance pressure chamber which is sealed from ambient pressures.

Scroll compressor having an axial compliance pressure chamber

A high-side co-rotating refrigerant scroll compressor defines a lubricant sump in its discharge pressure portion. Lubricant is directed from that sump, through a passage which is at least partially defined by the shell of the compressor, to the bearings in which the scroll members rotate. Heat carried in the lubricant flowing through the passage is transferred through the compressor shell to the ambient. Subsequent to having lubricated the bearing in which the drive scroll member rotates, lubricant is diverted into a passage defined by the drive scroll member drive shaft and enters the stream of compressed discharge gas flowing therethrough. The lubricant is thereby prevented from entering the suction pressure portion of the compressor where it would otherwise heat compressor suction gas prior to the entry of that gas into the compressor's compression mechanism.

Oil management in a high-side co-rotating scroll compressor

A high side co-rotating refrigerant scroll compressor includes a motor disposed vertically above its compression mechanism. The discharge of gas from the compression mechanism is through the drive shaft of the drive scroll member which is rotatably supported at its distal end in an upper bearing. Upper bearing lubrication is accomplished by the disentrainment of oil from the mixture of compressed refrigerant gas and oil discharged from the compression mechanism in the vicinity of the bearing and by the direction of such disentrained oil to the bearing.

Oil separation and bearing lubrication in a high side co-rotating scroll

In a co-rotational scroll apparatus having two interleaving scroll wraps secured to end plates rotating concurrently about parallel, non-concentric axes to produce a relative orbital motion, a scroll member including an annular biasing chamber formed in one scroll member end plate opposite the scroll wrap and a passage from one of the chambers formed by the scroll wraps for providing fluid to the chamber. The fluid exerts a force upon a pressure plate secured to the opposing scroll end plate and thereby acts to bias the scroll wraps into contact with the opposing scroll end plate. Seals are provided in the biasing chamber of the scroll end plate to ensure contact with the pressure plate of the opposing scroll member.

Co-rotational scroll apparatus with improved scroll member biasing

A scroll member is formed using a scroll profile cutter including a first portion generating a diameter equal to the desired width between scroll involute flanks, where the first portion also is of a length determined by a distance between the tip of the cutter and a second portion of greater diameter. The length of the first portion determines the scroll wrap height. Radii are provided at both ends of the first portion of the scroll profile cutter so that a fillet is generated at the base of the corresponding scroll wrap and a radius is generated at the edges of the scroll wrap tip to improve the strength of the scroll wrap and to remove sharp corners which could burr or interfere with the base of the opposing scroll wrap.

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Bristol, TN, United States of America

Gene M Fields