Lattice-cored additive manufactured compressor components with fluid delivery features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10557464-B2
Application number	US-201615366967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2016
Priority date	Dec 23, 2015
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

A light-weight, high-strength compressor component having at least one fluid delivery feature that is formed via additive manufacturing is provided. The component may have at least one interior region comprising a lattice structure that comprises a plurality of repeating cells. A solid surface is disposed over the lattice structure. The interior region comprising the lattice structure has at least one fluid delivery feature for permitting fluid flow through the body portion of the light-weight, high-strength compressor component. The fluid delivery feature may be a flow channel, a fluid delivery port, a porous fluid delivery feature, or the like that serves to transfer fluids through the component, such as refrigerant and/or lubricant oils. Methods of making such compressor components via additive manufacturing processes are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light-weight high-strength compressor component for a compressor having at least one fluid delivery feature comprising:
a body portion having at least one interior region that comprises a lattice structure comprising a plurality of cells formed via additive manufacturing and a surface disposed over the lattice structure, wherein the body portion comprises at least one fluid delivery feature to facilitate fluid flow through the body portion of the light-weight, high-strength compressor component, wherein the at least one fluid delivery feature comprises a porous material.

2. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fluid delivery feature is an open channel comprising the porous material to facilitate fluid communication within the compressor component.

3. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 2 , wherein at least a portion of the open channel is formed within the lattice structure and is separated from the lattice structure by a solid internal wall.

4. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 2 , wherein the open channel permits flow of lubricant oil or refrigerant.

5. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fluid delivery feature comprises a fluid delivery port connected to at least one channel that provides fluid communication within the compressor component.

6. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fluid delivery feature comprises a fluid delivery port selected from the group consisting of: bleed holes, vapor injection ports, liquid injection ports, valve placement ports, modulation ports, pressure feed ports, variable volume ratio ports, discharge ports, suction ports, and combinations thereof.

7. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the porous material has a first region with a first average pore size and a second region with a second average pore size, wherein the second average pore size is smaller than the first average pore size.

8. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein each cell of the plurality of cells of the lattice structure comprises a node having a shape selected from the group consisting of: a sphere, a modified sphere comprising one or more flat surface regions, a sphere comprising posts, a cone, a double-cone, a pyramid, a diamond, a star, a cube, a polyhedron, an irregular asymmetrical globular shape, and combinations thereof.

9. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cells comprises a first cell comprising a first node and a second adjacent cell comprising a second node, wherein the first node is connected to the second node by at least one connecting structure.

10. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein each cell of the plurality of cells of the lattice structure has a maximum average dimension of greater than or equal to about 0.1 mm to less than or equal to about 10 mm.

11. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cells comprises a first cell having a first maximum average dimension and a second cell having a second maximum dimension, wherein the first maximum average dimension and the second maximum average dimension are distinct from one another to provide a lattice structure having a varying cell density.

12. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein each cell of the plurality of cells comprises a solid structure defining one or more void regions therebetween, wherein the one or more void regions comprises loose residual metal particles or an material disposed therein.

13. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein each cell of the plurality of cells comprises a solid structure defining one or more void regions therebetween, wherein the solid structure of a first cell of the plurality of cells has a different thickness from a thickness of the solid structure in a second cell of the plurality of cells.

14. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the light-weight, high-strength compressor component is selected from the group consisting of: a bearing housing, a main bearing housing, a lower bearing housing, an orbiting scroll component, a non-orbiting scroll component, a crankshaft, a housing or a shell, a cap, a cover, a separator plate, a muffler plate, an Oldham coupling, a scroll compressor valve, a drive bushing, an interface region between a shell and stator, a roller element, a rotary vane element, a roller element housing, a screw component, a screw, a gate rotor, a centrifugal compressor component, a bearing, a reciprocating component, a piston, a connecting rod, a cylinder head, a compressor body, a discus valve, a discus valve retainer, a valve plate, and combinations thereof.

15. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fluid delivery feature is configured to retain a lubricant oil until frictional heat generated during operation of the compressor facilitates flow and release of the retained lubricant oil from the at least one fluid delivery feature to a friction surface.

16. A method of making a light-weight, high-strength compressor component having at least one fluid delivery feature comprising:
applying energy in a predetermined pattern to a powder precursor to create a fused solid structure via an additive manufacturing process, wherein the fused solid structure defines a compressor component having a lattice structure formed in an interior region, wherein the at least one interior region comprises at least one fluid delivery feature comprising a porous region for permitting fluid flow through the interior region of the light-weight, high-strength compressor component, wherein the applying energy forms a porous material in the porous region of the at least one fluid delivery feature.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the additive manufacturing process is selected from the group consisting of: direct-metal additive manufacturing, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selective laser sintering (SLS), selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), stereolithography (SLA), laminated object manufacturing (LOM), fused deposition modeling (FDM), solid ground curing (SGC), and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the powder precursor comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: iron or an iron alloy, aluminum or an aluminum, titanium or a titanium alloy, a metal matrix composite, and combinations thereof.

19. A light-weight high-strength compressor component for a compressor having at least one fluid delivery feature comprising:
a body portion having at least one interior region that comprises a lattice structure comprising a plurality of cells formed via additive manufacturing and a surface disposed over the lattice structure, wherein the body portion comprises at least one fluid delivery feature to facilitate fluid flow through the body portion of the light-weight, high-strength compressor component, wherein at least one surface region of the at least one fluid delivery feature comprises a coating.

20. The light-weight high-strength compressor component of claim 19 , wherein the coating is an omniphilic coating or an omniphobic coating.

21. The light-weight high-strength compr

Assignees

• Emerson Climate Technologies

Inventors

• Scancarello Marc J
• Stover Robert C

Classifications

• F05D2300/6032

  Metal matrix composites [MMC] · CPC title

• F05C2253/14

  Foam · CPC title

• F05C2253/083

  Directionally-solidified crystalline structure · CPC title

• F04C2230/20

  essentially without removing material · CPC title

• F05C2201/0412

  Titanium · CPC title