ROTARY SLIDING-VANE COMPRESSOR
A rotary sliding-vane compressor includes an air cylinder, a shaft eccentrically mounted in the air cylinder and rotatable by a motor, sliding vanes coupled to and movable back and forth along radially extending sliding grooves of the shaft, and an oil-gas separating device mounted in the air output port of the air cylinder. The shaft has an axial hole located on one end thereof and coupled to the output shaft of the motor, and two axle bushes respectively mounted on the two opposite ends. Each sliding vane comprises a metal substrate having evenly distributed through holes, and a covering material molded on the surface of the metal substrate and filled up the through holes and having a plurality of discharge grooves.
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compressors and more particularly to a rotary sliding-vane compressor, which has an enhanced structural strength of the shaft, avoiding shaft breaking and increasing the gas output capacity.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A conventional rotary sliding-vane compressor (see
In the aforesaid prior art design, the shaft 20 is connected to the output shaft of the motor 50 by a coupling 40. Subject to the constraint of the coupling 40, the diameter of the shaft 20 is limited, and therefore the depth of the sliding grooves 201 is limited. In consequence, the length of the vanes 30 and the maximum volume of each compression chamber 101 are limited. When wishing to increase the gas output, the size of the air cylinder 10, the shaft 20 and the sliding vanes 30 must be relatively increased. In that case, the total dimension of the air compressor will be greatly increased.
Further, during a high speed operation of the aforesaid conventional rotary sliding-vane compressor, the air cylinder 10 will generate much waste heat due to friction. Therefore, it is necessary to spray a proper amount of lubricating oil into the inside of the air cylinder 10 to prevent overheat. Thus, output gas will contain tiny droplets of oil or other impurities. To avoid interference of compressed gas mass with normal functioning of the air compressor, an oil-gas separating device 60 is normally used and installed in the gas output port of the air cylinder 10. The oil-gas separating device 60 has installed therein an air filter element to remove droplets of oil and other impurities from the gas passing therethrough. Because the air filter element directly faces a hot compressed oil-saturated gas during operation of the oil-gas separating device 60, it wears quickly with use. Further, the sliding vanes 30 will deform soon when working under a high temperature environment, causing lateral leakage and further resulting in gas output reduction and energy waste. Even worse, the sliding vanes 30 may be stuck in the sliding grooves 201 of the shaft 20.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a rotary sliding-vane compressor which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. The rotary sliding-vane compressor of the present invention comprises an air cylinder, a shaft eccentrically mounted in the air cylinder and rotatable by a motor, sliding vanes coupled to and movable back and forth along radially extending sliding grooves of the shaft, and an oil-gas separating device mounted in the air output port of the air cylinder, wherein the shaft has an axial hole located on one end thereof and directly coupled to the output shaft of the motor for enabling the shaft to be rotated with the output shaft of the motor synchronously. As the axial hole of the shaft is directly coupled to the output shaft of the motor without using any coupling means, energy loss is minimized during transfer of the rotary driving force from the motor to the machine head. This arrangement allows the two opposite ends of the shaft to be maximized, thus the depth of the sliding grooves can be maximized to accommodate the sliding vanes that have a relatively greater size when compared to the equivalent prior art design for high gas output.
Further, each sliding vane comprises a metal substrate having evenly distributed through holes, and a covering material molded on the surface of the metal substrate and filled up the through holes. Further, the covering material has a plurality of discharge grooves located on at least one of two opposite sides thereof. Thus, the sliding vanes have a high structural strength and high precision in size to achieve best performance without causing any damage to the air cylinder. Under an accurate control of the thermal expansion coefficient, the air cylinder and the shaft work synchronously to compress air. Therefore, the invention has high precision and low cost characteristics and avoids a secondary processing process.
Further, a cyclone type oil-gas separating device is mounted in the air output port of the air cylinder to remove oil particles from the compressed gas passing through the air output port. When hot compressed oil-saturated gas goes out of the gas output port of the air cylinder into the oil-gas separating device, it flows along an annular gas passage at a high speed to induce a centrifugal force that causes relatively greater oil particles to be forced away from the gas flow to the outside of the oil-gas separating device, allowing the gas flow containing relatively smaller oil particles to be further filtered by an air filter element in the oil-gas separating device. Thus, the lifespan of the air filter element can be greatly extended, reducing material consumption and maintenance cost.
Further, the shaft has a keyway in the axial hole thereof for engagement with a key at the output shaft of the motor for allowing synchronous rotation of the shaft with the output shaft of the motor, minimizing energy loss during transfer of the rotary driving force from the motor to the machine head.
As shown in
The main features of the present invention are outlined hereinafter. The shaft 2, as shown in
The sliding vanes 3 are rigid plate members fitting the sliding grooves 21 in width, each comprising a metal substrate 31 that works as a support (see
By means of the aforesaid arrangement, the axial hole 22 and keyway 221 of the shaft 2 can be directly coupled to the output shaft 51 of the motor 5 without using any coupling means, minimizing energy loss during transfer of the rotary driving force from the motor 5 to the machine head. As the diameter of the two opposite ends of the shaft 2 is maximized, the depth of the sliding grooves 21 can be maximized to accommodate the sliding vanes 3 that have a relatively greater size when compared to the equivalent prior art design (see
Further, the oil-gas separating device 4, as shown in
When hot compressed oil-saturated gas goes out of the gas output port of the air cylinder 1 through the guide tube 47 into the oil-gas separating device 4, it flows along the annular gas passage 441 at a high speed to induce a centrifugal force that causes relatively greater oil particles to be forced away from the gas flow to the outside of the flow guide chamber 44 through the oil drain hole 48. The gas flow containing relatively smaller oil particles is forced by the following gas flow that continuously flows into the annular gas passage 441 to pass over the annular baffle plate 46 into the air filter element 42 in the filter chamber 45 through the air vent 431 where the air filter element 42 removes the residual oil particles to a level below 1 ppm. Thus, the lifespan of the air filter element 42 can be greatly extended, reducing material consumption and maintenance cost.
As shown in
Further, because the sliding vanes 3 are made by means of insert molding, they have a high structural strength and high precision in size to achieve best performance without causing any damage to the air cylinder 1. Under an accurate control of the thermal expansion coefficient, the air cylinder 1 and the shaft 2 work synchronously to compress air. Therefore, the invention has high precision and low cost characteristics and avoids a secondary processing process.
Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A rotary sliding-vane compressor, comprising an air cylinder, a cylinder shaft eccentrically mounted in said air cylinder, said cylinder shaft comprising a plurality of radially extending sliding grooves, a plurality of sliding vanes coupled to and movable back and forth along said sliding grooves, and a motor having an output shaft adapted for rotating said shaft wherein:
- said cylinder shaft comprises a first end, a second end opposite to said first end, an axial hole located on said first end and coupled to said output shaft of said motor for enabling said cylinder shaft to be rotated synchronously with said output shaft of said motor, two axle bushes respectively mounted on said first end and said second end;
- each said sliding vane comprises a metal substrate having evenly distributed through holes, and a covering material molded on the surface of said metal substrate and filled up said through holes, said covering material having a plurality of discharge grooves located on at least one of two opposite sides thereof.
2. The rotary sliding-vane compressor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air cylinder comprises a front cap and a rear cap respectively located on two opposite ends thereof; said cylinder shaft has the first end and second end thereof respectively pivotally connected to said front cap and said rear cap.
3. The rotary sliding-vane compressor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cylinder shaft further comprises a keyway disposed inside said axial hole and coupled to a part of said output shaft of said motor to prohibit rotation of said cylinder shaft relative to said output shaft of said motor.
4. The rotary sliding-vane compressor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the covering material of each said sliding vane is a compound plastic material molded on the associated metal substrate by insert molding.
5. The rotary sliding-vane compressor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air cylinder comprises an air output port and an oil-gas separating device mounted in said air output port.
6. The rotary sliding-vane compressor as claimed in claim 5, wherein said oil-gas separating device comprises a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet; an air filter element mounted in said housing and connected between said air inlet and said air outlet of said housing; a partition board mounted in said housing to divide the internal space of said housing into a flow-guide chamber and a filter chamber, and an annular baffle plate, a guide tube and an oil drain hole mounted in said flow-guide chamber, said filter chamber accommodating said air filter element, said annular baffle plate having one end thereof tightly connected with said partition board and an opposite end thereof spaced from said housing at a distance so that an annular gas passage is defined between said annular baffle plate and said housing, said guide tube being connected between said air inlet and said annular gas passage, said partition board having an air vent disposed in the inside of said annular baffle plate in communication with the inside space of said air filter element.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 29, 2010
Publication Date: May 31, 2012
Applicant: KINGSTON COMP CO., LTD. (Tucheng City)
Inventors: Mao-Tu Lee (Tucheng City), Cheng-En Lee (Tucheng City), Wen-Shiang Tsai (Tucheng City)
Application Number: 12/955,888