Co-rotational scroll machine

Abstract

A co-rotating scroll machine operable as compressor or expander, comprises a transmission and guidance mechanism for first and second scroll plates, having three transmission and guidance units uniformly distributed around the scroll plates towards the periphery thereof. Each transmission and guidance unit comprises a male element mounted on one of the scroll plates and a facing female element mounted on the facing scroll plate. Each transmission and guidance unit comprises an internal ring mounted for angular displacement in the opening of the female element, the internal ring having therein a slot wherein the male element of the transmission and guidance unit slides. The male of the three transmission and guidance units are supported and guided by respective support elements on a common external guide ring. A liquid injection system comprises a liquid channel which is connected with bleed holes.

Claims

1. A co-rotating scroll machine operable as compressor or expander, comprising: a housing (6); bearings (5) supported in opposite parts of the housing that are laterally offset from one another, first and second parallel spindles (3,4) rotationally supported by the bearings, the first and second spindles extending inwardly of the housing to respective inner ends that are axially spaced-apart from one another and are located adjacent to but laterally offset to one another; facing superimposed first and second scroll plates (7,8) mounted transversally on the respective inner ends of the first and second spindles at locations in the vicinity of but spaced from respective centers of the scroll plates; and a transmission and guidance mechanism (9,10,11) for the first and second scroll plates; wherein the transmission and guidance mechanism comprises three transmission and guidance units (9,10) uniformly distributed around the scroll plates towards the periphery thereof, each transmission and guidance unit comprising a male element (9) mounted on one of the scroll plates and a facing female element (10) mounted on the facing scroll plate, wherein the radial distances from the center of each scroll plate (7,8) to a center of each transmission and guidance unit (9,10) are equidistant; the male element (9) of each transmission and guidance unit (9,10) being received in an opening of the corresponding female element (10) with a play, allowing relative rotational movement of the two scroll plates (7,8) at eccentricity values from 0 to a maximum eccentricity σmax, wherein each transmission and guidance unit (9,10) comprises an angularly-displaceable internal ring (17) mounted for angular displacement in the opening of the female element (10), the angularly-displaceable internal ring comprising therein an opening (18) being a slot, and wherein the male element (9) of the transmissions (18) of the angularly-displaceable internal ring (17), characterized in that the three male elements (9) of the three transmission and guidance units (9,10) are supported and guided by three respective support elements (13) that are located spaced apart on a common rotatable guide ring (11) that is mounted externally of the scroll plates (7,8) for rotation with the scroll plates about an axis which is parallel to the first and second spindles (3,4) and which is radially offset at the maximum scroll eccentricity, whereby each male element (9) of the three transmission and guidance units (9,10) is supported and guided by its support element (13) on the guide ring (11) during limited movement of the male element (9) in the opening (18) of the angularly-displaceable internal ring (17).

2. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the three support elements (13) are located at the outer ends of three equal arms (11A) extending radially outwardly from the rotatable guide ring (11) and disposed in correspondence with the three transmission and guidance units (9,10).

3. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the three support elements (13) are terminal parts of elongate members (11B) that project from the outer ends of the three arms (11A) and are disposed parallel to the axis of rotation.

4. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male element (9) of each transmission and guidance unit (9,10) comprises a roller (14) mounted on the end of an elongate member (11B).

5. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1 having three transmission and guidance units (9,10) uniformly distributed at 120° to one another around the scroll plates (7,8) and the guide ring (11) towards the periphery of the scroll plates.

6. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmission and guidance units (9,10) are located partly in corresponding projections that project from the periphery of generally circular scroll plates (7,8).

7. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the female element (10) of each transmission and guidance unit comprises a cylindrical housing (15) attached to one scroll plate (8), in which cylindrical housing (15) said angularly-displaceable internal ring (17) is mounted for angular displacement over an inner cylindrical surface of the cylindrical housing (15).

8. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 7, wherein said angularly-displaceable internal ring (17) is mounted in the cylindrical housing (15) by a rotary bearing (16).

9. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said angularly-displaceable internal ring (17) is made foraminate to make it lightweight.

10. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said angularly-displaceable internal ring (17) comprises a radial-inwardly directed slot (18) extending inside the internal ring from the outer periphery of the internal ring and extending over part or substantially the entire width of the internal ring, said radial-inwardly directed slot (18) being enclosed by a boundary wall integral with the internal ring, the internal ring (17) further comprising a foraminate reinforcing structure occupying the space between the inner periphery of the internal ring and said boundary wall of the radial-inwardly directed slot (18).

11. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said openings in the internal angularly-displaceable rings (17) of the three transmission and guidance units are slots (18) and the center-to-center spacing of the scroll plates (7,8) is coordinated with the displacement of the male elements (9) in the slots (18) of the internal rings (17) in the female elements (10) to maintain said internal rings such that their slots (18) all remain parallel to one another during rotation of the scroll plates by the action of the guide ring (11).

12. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the three male elements (9) of the three transmission and guidance units comprise rotatably mounted rollers forming rotatable cam followers (14) engaging in the openings (18) of the internal rings (11) in the female elements (10).

13. The co-rotating scroll machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein one scroll plate (7) is built without discharge port and with an internal channel (20) connected on one side to a shaft in spindle (3) and the other side to several bleed holes (21) leading to compression/expansion chambers defined between the scroll plates (7,8), this arrangement enabling a controlled injection of a stream of pressurized liquid inside the chambers during compression and expansion operations to perform 2-phase, almost-isothermal compression/expansion processes.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 shows the working principle of a co-rotating scroll machine;

(3) FIG. 2 is a partial cross section of an embodiment of the present invention in an otherwise conventional co-rotating scroll machine;

(4) FIG. 3 shows three views: a front view of a scroll plate with its transmission and guidance units and guide ring; a cross-section along line A-A of the front view; and a across-section along line B-B of the front view;

(5) FIG. 4 shows the positions of the transmission and guidance units and of the scroll during one entire revolution, at 90° intervals;

(6) FIG. 5 shows in front view and perspective a guide ring;

(7) FIG. 6 shows in front view and perspective a scroll plate with male transmission elements;

(8) FIG. 7 shows in front view and perspective a scroll plate with female transmission elements;

(9) FIG. 8 is a perspective view and a schematic cross-sectional view of a female transmission element, and a detail of an embodiment of a lightweight internal ring;

(10) FIG. 9 is a partial view in cross-section along line C-C of FIG. 8, of part of a lightweight inner ring illustrating how force/reaction is transmitted to a cam follower;

(11) FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view showing the engagement of a cam follower into the lightweight internal ring;

(12) FIG. 11 shows the positions of the male transmission elements and cam follower of the guide ring at maximum and smaller nominal center differences (δ.sub.var<δ.sub.max); and

(13) FIG. 12 is a partial cross section of an embodiment of the present invention operating with water injection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(14) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the working principle of a co-rotating scroll machine. Two scroll involutes 1,2 are shown in three positions a, b and c. The scroll involutes 1,2 rotate in the same direction of rotation at the same rotor speed and with an off-set center of rotation. Operating as expander: vapor enters by suction ports in the center of the spirals and fills the suction chamber (position a). After that, both spirals rotate and increase the volume of the suction chamber (position b) and create an expansion chamber. Finally the fluid is expanded until the maximum volume generated by the two spirals (position c), and the fluid is discharged. Operation as compressor is the same as expander but in reverse mode.

(15) FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the scroll machine according to the invention As shown, two offset spindles (3,4) are supported on two pairs of rotational bearings (5) which are held in laterally-offset opposite parts of a chassis (6). One scroll plate (8) is fixed to the driver spindle (4) and transmits motion to the offset scroll plate (7) by three pairs of female (10) and male (9) transmission subsystems. A guide ring (11), of which FIG. 2 shows one arm (11A) and one projection (11B), is supported on a rotational bearing (12). The guide ring (11) supports three radial arms (11A) each with an axial projecting/elongated rod (11B) (see also FIG. 5).

(16) As is usual, the scroll plates (7,8), which are superimposed and are co-extensive, carry on their facing faces, scrolls (7′,8′) which can be involutes or Archimedes spirals (FIG. 3). As known, during co-rotation of the scroll plates (7,8) relative movement of the scrolls forms a plurality of moving fluid compression or expansion spaces for compressing or expanding a fluid as explained in connection with FIGS. 1 and 4.

(17) FIG. 4 shows the positions of the transmission and guidance units and of the scroll during one entire revolution, at 90° intervals, i.e. one transmission unit 10 is shown at 0°, 90°, 180° and 270° with the scrolls shown in their corresponding positions. As can be seen, during rotation, the three slots (18) in the internal rings of the female guidance units 10 remain parallel at all times. This is due to the constraint imposed by the three cam followers of the guide ring (11), as described below. This feature allows transmitting the motion to the offset scroll plate independently on its radial position.

(18) FIG. 5 shows a guide ring 11 for three transmission and guidance units (9,10) located at 120° to one another. For this the guide ring (11) has three outwardly-projecting arms 11A at 120°. The guide ring (11) is open at its center and its diameter corresponds to that of the bearing (12) (FIG. 1). When installed, the center of the guide ring (11) is offset by the maximum scroll eccentricity (δ.sub.max). For this, the support ring (11) is offset relative to the closest scroll plate, namely scroll plate (8), by an amount which corresponds to the maximum eccentricity (δ.sub.max) of the other scroll plate, namely scroll plate (7). At the outer ends of arms (11A) are three elongate rods (11B) that project parallel to the axis of rotation. The terminal ends of these projecting rods (11B) carry support elements (13) that can be in the form of rollers (14) forming cam followers for engaging in slots (18) in the female guide elements (10).

(19) As shown in FIGS. 6-7, the transmission and guidance units (9,10) are located partly in three corresponding projections that project from the periphery of generally circular scroll plates (7,8) like projecting ears.

(20) The transmission subsystems (male (9), female (10)) and guide ring (11) are positioned at given radial distances (r, as seen in FIG. 5-7) from the centers of the scroll plates (7,8) and they are separated by 120° one with respect to each other. The given radial distances (r) are a function of the external radius of the female transmission subsystems (10) and the maximum scroll tip trajectory (R.sub.scroll)(FIG. 7).

(21) The male transmission subsystems (9/14) are inserted in slots (18), FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, of the female transmission subsystems (10). This engagement allows the rotation of cam followers (14), FIG. 8, and internal lightweight rings (17), FIGS. 9 and 10, around their axis. This rotation allows the offset rotational motion of the two scroll plates and causes an orbiting relative motion between the two scroll plates (7,8).

(22) The width of the slots (18) and the diameter of the cam followers (14) are the same, see FIGS. 9 and 10. The lengths of the slots (18) are determined by the center difference (δ.sub.max) (FIG. 11) of the scroll plates (7,8) and the radius of the cam follower (14).

(23) The cam followers (14) engagement of the guide ring (11) and the slots (18) fixes the position of the lightweight inner rings (17) during the scroll plates rotation, and maintains parallelism between the three slots (18) (FIG. 4).

(24) FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the female transmission subsystem (10). A cylindrical housing (15) holds a rotational bearing (16) in which the lightweight inner ring (17) is supported with one rotary degree of freedom. The housing (15) is inserted from the back of scroll plate (8).

(25) As shown in FIG. 8, the lightweight disc-like internal ring (17) contains a slot (18) disposed in its middle. This radial-inwardly directed slot (18) extends inside the ring (17) from the outer periphery of the ring and extending over a substantial part of the width of the ring (17). This radial-inwardly directed slot (18) is enclosed by a boundary wall integral with the internal ring (17).

(26) FIGS. 9 and 10 show the free linkage between the internal ring (17) and its cam follower (14). This free linkage is achieved by the slot (18) with a curved lower part (19) that receives the cam follower (14).

(27) In case the transmission operates at a smaller center difference as seen in FIG. 11, the guide ring (11) through the cam followers (14) constraints parallelism between the three internal rings (17). The cam followers (14) are inserted at maximum eccentricity distance in the top of the three slots (18).

(28) FIG. 11 shows a cross section view of the two scrolls and the engagement of the transmission sub-systems. The transmission sub-systems are engaged by the cam followers (13) of the guide ring at the maximum eccentricity distance (δ.sub.max), and the cam followers (14) of the scroll plate (7) are inserted in the slots. The transmission forces (F) are radially transmitted only in one point between the cam followers and the inner rings.

(29) FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of the scroll machine with internal water injection. Water is injected through only one scroll plate (7), which is built without discharge port (as a compressor). An internal channel (20) inside the scroll plate (7) connects a shaft in spindle (3) with several bleed holes (21). A stream of pressurized liquid delivered through the shaft in spindle (3) passes through the internal channel (20) and a gap provided by spacers 22 from where it is ejected by the bleed holes (21). To set the liquid flow rate injected in each chamber, the diameters of the bleed holes (21) are determined to reach choke conditions. In compressor mode, dry vapor enters through the scroll periphery, then the vapor and liquid are pressurized by the two scrolls, and finally discharged by the driven spindle (4). In compression mode, the heat transfer process between the dry vapor and the liquid follow a counter flow path. In expansion mode, dry vapor enters by the driven spindle (4), the vapor is expanded to the periphery and finally discharged to the housing. The dry vapor transfers heat during expansion with the liquid injected in the different chambers.

(30) Of course, with the described co-rotational scroll machine, instead of using the spindle 3 as the drive spindle, the spindle 4 could be used as drive spindle.