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Compact compressor

Compact compressor description/claims

The present invention refers to a compact compressor for a refrigeration system, to be used particularly for cooling the components of compact electronic appliances.

Electronic equipments in general, and particularly computers, have certain electronic components, such as microprocessors and integrated circuits which, in order to work properly, require their temperatures to be maintained within a certain predetermined temperature interval mainly below an upper limit of this temperature interval, besides guaranteeing the maintenance of the operational properties of these electronic components.

Due to the technological advances regarding mainly the processing speed of these electronic components, issues such as overheat and heat dissipation in equipments using such electronic components have been an increasingly limiting factor to an adequate performance of these electronic components and one of the major obstacles in improving such equipments. Traditional refrigeration systems (radiation or convection) do not lead any more to an efficient refrigeration of the most sensible electronic components, neither to an efficient dissipation of the heat generated by the operation of the equipment comprising such electronic components.

The known solutions of refrigeration systems for electronic equipments, which use compressors operating with a refrigerant fluid (similarly to household refrigeration systems, such as refrigerators and air conditioners) also have other inconveniences, related to the operational needs of such compressors, which are usually of the alternating (or reciprocating) piston type, in which the compression of a refrigerant fluid is achieved by means of the reciprocating motion of a piston inside a cylinder. The operation of said compressors require the use of lubricating oil for the parts in relative motion, demanding the provision of a sump of lubricating oil and an oil pumping system, requiring a larger physical space for providing said compressor in the electronic equipment in which it will operate.

Moreover, the known constructions of the art use a suspension means, usually in the form of springs, in the assembly of the compression mechanism, to reduce transmission of vibration generated as consequence of the reciprocating motion of the piston, which also requires an increase in the final dimensions of the housing, thus requiring more physical space in the electronic equipment in which said compressor will be provided. The use of such compressors further results in an increased weight of the electronic equipment in which they are provided. Besides all these drawbacks, the known refrigeration compressors for household use are difficult to install and are not adapted for the operational conditions necessary to the refrigeration of electronic components.

Due to these drawbacks, the industry of electronic equipment have been adopting other solutions for refrigeration, such as those presented in documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,625, U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,749, U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,122 and US2005/0123418, which describe refrigeration systems that do not use a compressor with a reciprocating piston.

The present invention has as an object to provide a compact compressor, particularly for use in the refrigeration of electronic systems, said compressor being of the type using the operational principle of the reciprocating compressors used in household refrigeration, but not presenting the drawbacks known in the art for such compressors when designed to the refrigeration of a small size electronic equipment.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compressor such as mentioned above, which does not require the use of liquid lubricating fluids for the parts in relative motion.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compressor which, besides the features above, has reduced dimensions, low weight and allows an easy assembly and replacement thereof in small size electronic equipments.

It is also one of the objects of the present invention to provide a compressor with a reciprocating piston, such as mentioned above, and presenting the least vibration possible.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compressor of the type mentioned above, which presents a compression mechanism that does not demand a suspension system of the type known in the art.

The objectives mentioned above are achieved by the provision of a compact compressor for refrigeration of several systems, such as electronic systems, comprising: a first tubular housing portion having a first end carrying a motor cover, and a second open end; a second tubular housing portion having a first end region open to the second end of the first tubular housing portion and a second end region defining a compression chamber; a piston located inside the compression chamber defined inside the second tubular housing portion; an electric motor fixed in the first tubular housing portion; a piston driving means, connecting the electric motor to said piston, so that the former drives the latter in reciprocating motions inside the compression chamber; a valve plate seated against the second end region of the second tubular housing portion, closing one end of the compression chamber; an end cover fixed to the second tubular housing portion and acting against the valve plate in order to retain the latter hermetically seated against the second end region of the second tubular housing portion, said end cover providing, internally and through the valve plate, fluid communications between the compression chamber and respective discharge and suction lines of a refrigeration circuit to which the compressor is coupled.

The invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a schematic front view of the compressor of the present invention;

FIG. 2 represents a schematic upper view of the compressor illustrated in FIG. 1;

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