Vilter Manufacturing LLC

Robert J Schintgen

Paul G Szymaszek

An oil separator operates to remove oil entrained in a refrigerant being circulated in a refrigeration system, especially a system using a screw-type compressor. The oil separator generally comprises a vessel having a chamber therein and a perforated plate on which oil coalescing elements are mounted divides the chamber into a lower primary oil separator section and an upper secondary oil separator section. A mixture inlet pipe extends through a side of the tank into the lower section for admitting a pressurized mixture of refrigerant and oil. A refrigerant gas outlet port is provided in the upper section for expelling refrigerant from which the oil has been separated. An oil outlet port is provided in the lower section for expelling oil collected in an oil sump at the bottom of the lower section. The inlet mixture pipe defines a passage which comprises a straight horizontal portion and a curved and downwardly sloped portion which terminates in a discharge opening near a curved inner surface of the vessel wall. As the mixture of refrigerant gas with oil entrained therein flows through the passage, oil droplets separate from the refrigerant under centrifugal force along the outer curved wall surface of the passage, exit by gravity and under the force of the gas stream against the curved inner surface of the vessel wall in the lower section and collect in the oil sump for expulsion through the oil outlet port for re-use in the compressor. Oil trapped by the coalescing elements as the gas moves from the lower section to the upper section through the filter elements also returns from the upper section into the oil sump.

Oil separator for separating and collecting oil entrained in refrigerant

A housing of a reciprocating gas compressor comprises a partition member separating an upper suction chamber through which gas passes and a lower crankcase chamber in which a crankshaft rotates and which has an oil sump at the bottom. The partition member is imperforate except for sealed openings through which cylinder sleeves and hydraulic fluid lines extend between the chambers. A conduit located on the housing exterior and connected between the chambers performs three functions, namely: enables gas flow in either direction to effect pressure equalization; enables oil to flow by gravity from low points in the upper chamber into the sump; and enables oil mist in the gas flow through the conduit to coalesce on the inner walls of the conduit and flow by gravity into the sump. The conduit includes two upper tubes, each having one end connected to a low point in the suction chamber adjacent the partition member where oil collects, and each having its other end connected by a T-connector to a third tube which has its lower end connected at a point in the lower chamber above the oil level in the oil sump and clear of the crankshaft rotation path.

Oil separation and gas pressure equalizer means for reciprocating gas

A manually operated valve is usable as a shut-off and stop/check valve for handling refrigerant fluids in a system subject to reverse fluid flow. The valve comprises a hollow valve body having fluid inlet and outlet ports, a valve plate within the body with a fluid flow passage therethrough, an annular valve seat on the valve plate around the passage, a hollow internally threaded valve stem sleeve attached to the valve body, a rotatable and axially shiftable externally threaded valve stem extending through the valve stem sleeve into the valve body, and a valve disc which is rotatably and axially shiftably mounted on the inner end of the valve stem and releasably engageable with the valve seat to open and close the valve. Rotation and axial shifting of the valve stem effects axial shifting of the valve disc to open and close the valve to enable it to function as a shut-off valve. Axial shifting of the valve disc relative to the valve stem enables it to function as a check valve in reverse fluid flow conditions, when the valve stem is in a partially raised axial position. Rotation of the valve disc relative to the valve seat as they move into and out of engagement, which would eventually result in wear and leakage, is prevented by an anti-rotation pin which is mounted on the stationary valve sleeve and slidably engages a pin-receiving hole in the valve disc.

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New Berlin, WI, United States of America

Robert J Schintgen