Thrust bearing and shoe lubricator for a swash plate type compressor

Abstract

A swash plate type compressor having a pair of axially combined front and rear cylinder blocks forming therein a plurality of cylinder bores, a swash plate chamber, and an oil chamber in which a lubricating oil is stored to be stirred by a swash plate rotatably received in the swash plate chamber, a drive shaft centrally rotatably mounted in the combined cylinder blocks to cause a rotation of the swash plate, a plurality of reciprocatory double-headed pistons slidably fitted in the cylinder bores and operatively engaged with the swash plate via shoe members to be reciprocated by the rotation of the swash plate, a pair of thrust bearings axially supporting the swash plate, front and rear housings having suction chambers for the refrigerant gas before compression and discharge chambers for the refrigerant gas after compression, the front housing further having a shaft sealing chamber formed therein and separated from the suction chamber thereof to define an intermediate pressure chamber between the high pressure swash plate chamber and the low pressure suction chamber of the front housing, a thin fluid passageway interconnecting the shaft sealing chamber with the suction chamber. The intermediate pressure chamber and the thin fluid passageway prevent evacuation of the lubricating oil from the swash plate chamber to the suction chamber even during the rotation of the compressor at a high speed, to thereby promote a lubrication of the thrust bearings, the shoes, and the swash plate.