Thrust bearing structure for swash plate compressor

Abstract

A swash plate compressor in which a drive shaft is rotatably supported in a cylinder block having a crank chamber. The swash plate is rotatably disposed on the drive shaft. Thrust bearings are individually fitted between the movable thrust receiving faces of the swash plate and the stationary thrust receiving faces of the cylinder block. As the drive shaft rotates, the swash plate likewise rotates and reciprocates a piston to compress a refrigerant gas. Annular movable ridges are formed on the front and rear side faces of the swash plate concentric around the drive shaft. Stationary ridges are formed concentrically with the movable ridges on the cylinder blocks to face the individually movable ridges. The stationary ridge has a smaller radius than that of the movable ridge. At the front and rear sides of the swash plate, the facing circumferential portions of the movable ridges and the stationary ridges are individually formed with movable and stationary thrust receiving faces for supporting the elastically deformable thrust bearings. At least one of the movable and stationary ridges are formed with escape faces so as to merge into the movable and stationary thrust receiving faces, for establishing escape faces normally between the corresponding thrust bearings. These escape faces expand and reduce the gaps when the thrust bearings are elastically deformed by the action of the swash plate due to the compression reaction forces caused by the reciprocation of the piston.