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Hermetic compressor

Hermetic compressor description/claims

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2006-0133763, filed on Dec. 26, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a hermetic compressor, and, more particularly, to a hermetic compressor which can efficiently reduce wear of a piston or connecting rod and noise caused by a worn piston or connecting rod even upon an initial starting time or when a refrigeration cycle is abnormally overloaded.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a hermetic compressor is employed in a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerator or air conditioner, and conventionally includes a hermetic container defining the outer appearance thereof, a compressing unit to compress a refrigerant, and a drive unit to provide refrigerant compressive power, both the compressing unit and the drive unit being arranged in the hermetic container.

The drive unit takes the form of a conventional motor including a stator and a rotor. The compressing unit includes a cylinder defining a compressing chamber therein and a piston to perform rectilinear reciprocating motion in the compressing chamber, for the purpose of compressing a refrigerant.

The power of the drive unit is transmitted to the piston via a rotating shaft. The rotating shaft is press-fitted in the rotor of the drive unit, so as to be rotated together with the rotor. One end of the rotating shaft defines an eccentric shaft portion to be eccentrically rotated. The eccentric shaft portion is connected to the piston via a connecting rod.

The connecting rod takes the form of a single bar having first and second coupling holes formed at opposite ends thereof, respectively. The first coupling hole of the connecting rod is rotatably fitted around the eccentric shaft portion. Also, in a state in which the end of the connecting rod having the second coupling hole is inserted into the piston, a piston pin is fastened into the piston and the second coupling hole. In this way, connection of the eccentric shaft portion and the piston is accomplished.

With the above described configuration, if electric current is applied to the stator of the drive unit, the rotor is rotated via electromagnetic interaction between the stator and the rotor, and simultaneously the rotating shaft press-fitted in the rotor is rotated together with the rotor. Thereby, according to eccentric rotation of the eccentric shaft portion, the piston, which is connected to the eccentric shaft portion via the connecting rod, rectilinearly reciprocates in the compressing chamber, so as to compress a refrigerant.

A problem of the above described conventional hermetic compressor is that the piston may shake violently if an excessive load pressure is applied in an instant to a tip end of the piston upon an initial starting time or when the refrigeration cycle is abnormally overloaded. If the piston shakes violently, the connecting rod connected to the piston also vibrates. Consequently, the piston as well as the connecting region between the end of the connecting rod and the piston suffer from excessive wear and generation of serious noise.

Therefore, it is an aspect of the disclosure to provide a hermetic compressor which can efficiently reduce wear of a piston or connecting rod and noise caused by a worn piston or connecting rod upon an initial starting time or when a refrigeration cycle is abnormally overloaded.

In accordance with an aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the hermetic compressor comprises a cylinder defining a compressing chamber, a piston to rectilinearly reciprocate in the compressing chamber so as to compress a refrigerant, a rotating shaft having an eccentric shaft portion to be eccentrically rotated, and a connecting rod to connect the eccentric shaft portion and the piston to each other so as to convert the eccentric rotation of the eccentric shaft portion into the rectilinear reciprocation of the piston, wherein the connecting rod comprises a first coupling portion to be coupled to the eccentric shaft portion, a second coupling portion to be coupled to the piston, and an elastic member having both ends to be secured, respectively, to the first and second coupling portions so as to connect the first and second coupling portions to each other.

The elastic member may include a coil spring.

The connecting rod may further comprise an anti-distortion member to prevent mutual distortion of the first and second coupling portions.

The anti-distortion member may comprise a fixing portion formed at one end thereof so as to be fixed to any one of the first and second coupling portions, and an insert portion formed at the other end thereof so as to be inserted into an insertion recess formed in the remaining one of the first and second coupling portions, the insert portion being adapted to move forward or rearward in the insertion recess according to expanding and contracting operations of the elastic member.

The insert portion and the insertion recess may be configured to prevent mutual relative rotation thereof.

The insert portion may have a polygonal cross section, and side surfaces of the insert portion may come into close contact with the insertion recess.

The insert portion may be located inside the insertion recess in a state in which no external force is applied to the elastic member.

The elastic member may be a coil spring, and the anti-distortion member may be installed through the interior of the elastic member.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the hermetic compressor will be set forth in part in the description.

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• Utility Patent

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