ROTARY COMPRESSOR, AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD

Description

CROSS REFERENCE

This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/CN 2023/121634, filed on Sep. 26, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311210483.3, filed on Sep. 19, 2023. The entire content of the application is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to compressor technology, and more particularly to a rotary compressor, an air conditioning system, and a control method.

BACKGROUND

After the air conditioning system shuts down, the high-pressure gas in the condenser pipeline will continuously flow back into the compressor. The volumes of the evaporator and condenser in the air conditioning system are both far greater than the internal volume of the compressor shell/liquid reservoir. After the system shuts down, a large amount of high-pressure and low-pressure gas remains in the condenser and evaporator of the system respectively, making it difficult for the pressure difference between the high-pressure and low-pressure sides of the compressor to decrease to a level that the motor torque can overcome in a short time after the system shuts down. Under the condition of pressure difference, due to the large pressure difference between the suction chamber and the compression chamber inside the compressor's pump body, the gas resistance torque at the moment of startup is greater than the motor torque. Especially when the compressor is a single-phase fixed-speed rotary compressor, the motor torque thereof is relatively small, the air conditioning system usually requires 3 to 5 minutes to restart after shutdown.

It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus may include information that does not constitute the prior art known to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

In view of the problems in the prior art, the aim of the present disclosure is to provide a rotary compressor, an air conditioning system and a control method. The rotary compressor has a pipeline connecting the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side, which can accelerate the balancing process of the pressure difference between the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side of the compressor and shorten the time required for restarting the air conditioning system after shutdown.

A first aspect of the present disclosure provides a rotary compressor including a compressor body and a pipeline;

• • wherein the compressor body includes an upper cylinder cover, a lower cylinder cover, and a cylinder between the upper cylinder cover and the lower cylinder cover, a rotor is provided in the cylinder;
  • wherein the upper cylinder cover and/or the lower cylinder cover is provided with a pressure relief channel in communication with a compression chamber of the cylinder; a first end of the pipeline is connected to the pressure relief channel, and a second end of the pipeline is in communication with a suction chamber of the cylinder or a device in communication with the suction chamber; a first valve is provided between two ends of the pipeline, and the first valve is configured to block or conduct the pipeline.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the device in communication with the suction chamber includes a liquid reservoir, and the second end of the pipeline is in communication with the liquid reservoir.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the pressure relief channel is in a straight-line shape, one end of the pressure relief channel in the straight-line shape is configured to pass through an outer side wall of the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover, and the other end of the pressure relief channel in the straight-line shape is configured to pass through an inner wall of a bearing hole of the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the pressure relief channel includes a first channel and a vent groove, the vent groove is provided on an end face of the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover facing the cylinder; the first channel is arranged radially, one end of the first channel is connected to the first end of the pipeline, and the other end of the first channel is in communication with the vent groove.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, a projection of the vent groove on the cylinder is between a bearing hole of the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover and an exhaust hole of the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the vent groove is an annular groove surrounding the bearing hole.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, a maximum distance from an outer ring of the annular groove to a center of the bearing hole is not greater than a minimum distance from an outer ring of the rotor to the center of the bearing hole when the rotor rotates.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the vent groove is an arc-shaped groove, and a central angle corresponding to the arc-shaped groove covers at least the exhaust hole.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the central angle α corresponding to the arc-shaped groove satisfies 0°≤α≤45°.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the vent groove is a hole-shaped vent groove, and forms an L-shape after communicating with the first channel, a projection of the hole-shaped vent groove on the cylinder is located in the compression chamber of the cylinder.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the cylinder is provided with a vane groove, and an angle β between a line connecting a center of the hole-shaped vent groove and a center of a bearing hole of the upper cylinder cover and a center line of the vane groove satisfies 0°≤β≤45°.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, a check valve is provided in an exhaust pipe of the compressor body.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the check valve is a one-way solenoid valve.

A second aspect of the present disclosure provides an air conditioning system including the rotary compressor according to the first aspect and a controller, wherein the controller is configured to obtain a state of the rotary compressor, open the first valve to conduct the pipeline if the rotary compressor is shut down, and close the first valve to block the pipeline if a rotation speed of the rotary compressor is greater than or equal to a set reference value.

According to the second aspect, a check valve is provided at an exhaust pipe of the compressor body.

A third aspect provides a control method for the air conditioning system, wherein the control method includes the following steps:

• • obtaining the state of the rotary compressor;
  • if the rotary compressor is in a shut-down state, closing a check valve to block the exhaust pipe, and opening the first valve to conduct the pipeline;
  • if the rotary compressor is in an operating state, opening the check valve to conduct the exhaust pipe; when the rotation speed of the rotary compressor is greater than or equal to a set reference value, closing the first valve to block the pipeline.

The rotary compressor of the present disclosure is provided with a pipeline connecting the compression chamber of the compressor and the suction chamber of the compressor or a device in communication with the suction chamber. When the rotary compressor stops operating, by opening the valve controlling the pipeline, the pressure difference between the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side of the compressor can be balanced quickly, the situation that the gas resistance torque at the moment of startup is greater than the motor torque is avoided, thus shortening the time required for restarting the rotary compressor after shutdown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings herein are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application, and together with the specification serve to explain the principles of the present application. By reading the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments in conjunction with the following drawings, other features, objects and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent. Obviously, the drawings described in the following only show some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can also obtain other drawings based on these drawings without exerting creative efforts. In addition, the drawings are only schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings refer to the same or similar parts, and thus repeated descriptions thereof will be omitted. Some block diagrams shown in the drawings show functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities.

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an air conditioning system including a rotary compressor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a pump body assembly of a rotary compressor according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a pump body assembly of a rotary compressor according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a pump body assembly of a rotary compressor according to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example implementations will now be described more fully in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, example implementations may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these implementations are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example implementations to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or features may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more implementations.

In the descriptions of this specification, references to terms such as “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “examples,” “specific examples,” or “some examples” mean that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of this specification. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and merge different embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification without contradicting each other.

Throughout the specification, when a device is described as being “connected” to another device, this includes not only the case of “direct connection” but also the case of “indirect connection” where other elements are interposed therebetween. Terms indicating relative spaces such as “below” and “above” may be used to more easily describe the relationship of one device to another as illustrated in the drawings. Such terms refer not only to the meaning indicated in the drawings but also to other meanings or operations of the device in use. For example, if the device in the drawings is turned over, a device once described as being “below” other devices will be described as being “above” the other devices. Thus, the exemplary term “below” includes both above and below. The device may be rotated by 90° or other angles, and the terms representing relative spaces are interpreted accordingly.

Although the terms “first,” “second,” and the like are used in this document to refer to various elements in some instances, these elements shall not be limited by such terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, the expressions of a first interface, a second interface, and so on. Furthermore, as used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It shall be further understood that the terms “includes” and “including” indicate the presence of the stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, categories, and/or groups, but do not exclude the presence, occurrence, or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, categories, and/or groups. The term “or” and “and/or” as used herein are construed as inclusive, meaning either one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B, or C” or “A, B, and/or C” means “any one of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B, and C.” An exception to this definition will only arise if a combination of elements, functions, steps, or operations is inherently mutually exclusive in some manner.

Although not defined differently, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this specification belongs. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries are additionally interpreted to have meanings consistent with related technical documents and the content of the present disclosure, and unless defined, should not be overly interpreted as having idealized or highly formalized meanings.

In view of the problems in the prior art, the present disclosure provides a rotary compressor, an air conditioning system, and a control method. The rotary compressor includes a compressor body and a pipeline. The compressor body includes an upper cylinder cover, a lower cylinder cover, and a cylinder between the upper cylinder cover and the lower cylinder cover, wherein a rotor is provided inside the cylinder. The upper cylinder cover and/or the lower cylinder cover is provided with a pressure relief channel in communication with a compression chamber of the cylinder, a first end of the pipeline is connected to the pressure relief channel, a second end of the pipeline is in communication with a suction chamber of the cylinder or a device in communication with the suction chamber. A first valve is provided between two ends of the pipeline, and the first valve is configured to block or conduct the pipeline. The device in communication with the suction chamber includes but is not limited to a liquid reservoir, pipelines in the air conditioning system that are in communication with the liquid reservoir or the suction chamber of the cylinder, etc. The liquid reservoir includes but is not limited to an air inlet pipe of the liquid reservoir, a shell of the liquid reservoir, or an air outlet pipe of the liquid reservoir. The rotary compressor of the present disclosure is provided with the pipeline connecting the compression chamber of the compressor to the suction chamber or the device in communication with the suction chamber. When the air conditioning system provided with the rotary compressor shuts down, by opening the valve controlling the pipeline, the pressure difference between the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side of the compressor can be balanced quickly, thus shortening the time required for restarting the air conditioning system after shutdown.

The rotary compressor, the air conditioning system, and the control method of the present disclosure will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that each specific embodiment is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an air conditioning system including a rotary compressor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the rotary compressor includes a compressor body 1, a liquid reservoir 2, and a pipeline 9. The compressor body 1 includes an upper cylinder cover 11, a lower cylinder cover, and a cylinder 13 between the upper cylinder cover 11 and the lower cylinder cover, the upper cylinder cover 11 is provided with a pressure relief channel 111 in communication with a compression chamber of the cylinder 13, and two ends of the pipeline 9 are respectively connected to the pressure relief channel 111 and an air inlet 21 of the liquid reservoir 2.

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. In the first embodiment, the compressor body includes an upper cylinder cover 11a, a lower cylinder cover, and a cylinder 13 between the upper cylinder cover 11a and the lower cylinder cover; the upper cylinder cover 11a is provided with a pressure relief channel 111 in communication with a compression chamber of the cylinder 13. More specifically, the pressure relief channel 111 in the first embodiment is a straight-line pressure relief channel 111a, one end of the straight-line pressure relief channel 111a is provided on an outer wall of the upper cylinder cover 11a and is in communication with a first end of the pipeline 9, and the other end of the straight-line pressure relief channel 111a is provided on an inner wall of a bearing hole 119 of the upper cylinder cover 11a, that is, the other end of the straight-line pressure relief channel 111a is in communication with the bearing hole 119 of the upper cylinder cover 11a. Therefore, the straight-line pressure relief channel 111a is in communication with the compression chamber of the cylinder 13 through the bearing hole 119, a second end of the pipeline 9 is in communication with the air inlet 21 of the liquid reservoir 2, and a first valve 91 is provided between the two ends of the pipeline.

The structure of the upper cylinder cover of the present disclosure is not limited to being applicable to a single-cylinder rotary compressor, but also is applied to dual-cylinder or multi-cylinder compressors. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the compressor is a dual-cylinder compressor, and the compressor body further includes a shell, a motor accommodated in the shell, a crankshaft rotated by the motor, a pump body assembly fixedly installed at a lower end of the crankshaft, etc., wherein the pump body assembly includes an upper cylinder cover 11, an upper cylinder 13, an intermediate plate 14, a lower cylinder 15, and a lower cylinder cover 16 sequentially arranged along an axial direction of the crankshaft from top to bottom. The upper cylinder 13 and the lower cylinder 15 are respectively provided with air inlets connected to the liquid reservoir 2. The upper cylinder cover 11 may have the same structure as the upper cylinder cover 11a of the first embodiment or the structure of the upper cylinder cover described later. The structure of the upper cylinder cover of the present disclosure is also applicable to the lower cylinder cover.

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover 11b according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a pump body assembly (after the upper cylinder cover 11b is combined with the cylinder 13) of a rotary compressor according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. In the second embodiment, the pressure relief channel 111 includes a first channel 111b and a vent groove. Different from the first embodiment, the vent groove is disposed on an end face of the upper cylinder cover 11b facing the cylinder 13, and the first channel 111b is arranged radially, specifically in a straight-line shape. One end of the first channel 111b is connected to a first end of the pipeline 9, and the other end of the first channel 111b is in communication with the vent groove, that is, the first channel 111b is in communication with a compression chamber of the cylinder 13 through the vent groove.

Further, in one embodiment of the vent groove, a projection of the vent groove on the cylinder 13 is between a bearing hole 119 of the upper cylinder cover and an exhaust hole 117 of the upper cylinder cover.

Specifically, in the second embodiment, the vent groove is an annular groove 118a surrounding the bearing hole 119. The first channel 111b is in communication with the annular groove 118a, and the first channel 111b can be disposed at any radial angle position of the upper cylinder cover 11b.

It should be noted that, in order to avoid gas leakage through the annular groove 118a affecting compression efficiency, a maximum distance from an outer ring of the annular groove 118a to a center of the bearing hole 119 is not greater than a minimum distance from an outer ring of the rotor to the center of the bearing hole 119 when the rotor in the cylinder 13 rotates. This limitation can prevent the suction chamber from communicating with the compression chamber through the annular groove 118a, and will not affect the compression efficiency when the compressor is operating normally. In the case where the cylinder 13 is provided with a piston sleeved outside the eccentric part of the crankshaft, the outer ring of the rotor in the cylinder 13 refers to the outer ring of the piston; in the case where no piston is provided in the cylinder 13, the outer ring of the rotor in the cylinder refers to the outer ring of the eccentric part of the crankshaft.

The third embodiment of the present disclosure shown in FIG. 5 is also an embodiment of the vent groove. Different from the second embodiment, in the third embodiment, the vent groove on the upper cylinder cover 11c is an arc-shaped groove 118b, and a central angle α corresponding to the arc-shaped groove 118b covers at least the exhaust hole 117. More specifically, the central angle a satisfies 0°≤α≤45°.

In another embodiment of the vent groove, a projection of the vent groove on the cylinder 13 is located in the compression chamber of the cylinder 13. FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of an upper cylinder cover 11d according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. The vent groove is a hole-shaped vent groove 118c, the hole-shaped vent groove 118c forms an L-shape after communicating with the first channel 111b, one end of the first channel 111b is provided on the outer wall of the upper cylinder cover 11d and is in communication with the first end of the pipeline 9, and a projection of the hole-shaped vent groove 118c in the axial direction falls into the compression chamber. The cylinder 13 is provided with a vane groove 131, and a center line of the vane groove 131 passes through the center O of the bearing hole 119 of the upper cylinder cover 11d. Preferably, as shown in FIG. 7, the angle β between the line OO′ connecting the center O′ of the hole-shaped vent groove 118c and the center O of the bearing hole 119 of the upper cylinder cover 11d and the center line OP′ of the vane groove satisfies 0°≤β≤45°.

In some other embodiments, a check valve 121 is provided at an exhaust pipe 12 of the compressor body. The check valve 121 may be a one-way valve or a one-way solenoid valve. When the check valve is opened, gas flows from an inner side of the exhaust pipe 12 to an outer side of the exhaust pipe 12. After the compressor body stops operating, the check valve 121 is closed, which can block the high-pressure return gas from outside of the compressor, such as the condenser, and reduce the volume of high-pressure gas that needs to be balanced.

It should be noted that the rotary compressor of the present disclosure is not limited to the dual-cylinder compressor described above, but also can be a single-cylinder compressor and a multi-cylinder compressor. When the compressor is a single-cylinder compressor, the compressor body includes an upper cylinder cover, a lower cylinder cover, and a cylinder body between the upper cylinder cover and the lower cylinder cover; the upper cylinder cover or the lower cylinder cover is selected to be provided with a pressure relief channel as needed, and the pressure relief channel is in communication with the compression chamber of the compressor body. The way in which the pressure relief channel is in communication with the compression chamber of the compressor body is not limited, and by this way, the first end of the pipeline is in communication with the compression chamber of the compressor body through the pressure relief channel, which will not be repeated here.

The present disclosure further provides an air conditioning system, as shown in FIG. 1, which includes a rotary compressor, a four-way valve 3, an evaporator 4, a throttling device 5, a condenser 6, and a controller. The exhaust pipe 12 of the compressor body 1, the four-way valve 3, the evaporator 4, the throttling device 5, the condenser 6, and the liquid reservoir 2 form a first loop; the compression chamber of the compressor body 1, the liquid reservoir 2, and the suction chamber of the compressor body 1 form a second loop. The controller obtains a state of the rotary compressor. For example, when the rotary compressor shuts down, the controller opens the first valve to conduct the pipeline; when a rotation speed of the rotary compressor is greater than or equal to a set reference value, the controller closes the first valve to block the pipeline.

The present disclosure further provides a control method for the air conditioning system. The control method includes the following steps:

• • obtaining the state of the rotary compressor;
  • if the rotary compressor is in a shutdown state, closing the check valve to block the exhaust pipe, and opening the first valve to conduct the pipeline;
  • if the rotary compressor is in an operating state, opening the check valve to conduct the exhaust pipe, so that the pressure difference between the high-pressure side and low-pressure side of the compressor can be balanced quickly, thus shortening the time required for restarting the air conditioning system after shutdown; if a rotation speed of the rotary compressor is greater than or equal to a set reference value, closing the first valve to block the pipeline.

Taking an existing type of rotary compressor as an example: under the working condition where the suction/exhaust pressure difference is 2.5 MPa, the restart time of the air conditioning system after shutdown is 148 seconds. When the pipeline structure of the present disclosure is added to this rotary compressor, the restart time of the air conditioning system after shutdown is reduced to 52 seconds. Furthermore, when a check valve is added to the exhaust pipe of the rotary compressor, and the pipeline connects the pressure relief channel of the upper cylinder cover and the air inlet pipe of the liquid reservoir, the restart time of the air conditioning system after shutdown is shortened to 23 seconds. It can be seen that the rotary compressor of the present disclosure can effectively shorten the time required for restarting the air conditioning system after shutdown.

The above content is a further detailed description of the present disclosure in conjunction with specific preferred embodiments, and shall not limit the specific implementation of the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, it is obvious that the present application is not limited to the details of the above exemplary embodiments, and the present application can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present application. Therefore, from any point of view, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-limiting. The scope of the present application is defined by the appended claims rather than the above descriptions, and thus it is intended to cover all changes that fall within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims. Any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the claimed subject matter.