Refrigerant compressor with wear sleeve and lubricant blends for handling debris-laden fluids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12044449-B2
Application number	US-202217804786-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2022
Priority date	May 31, 2022
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

A compressor including a housing, a shaft configured to be rotated relative to the housing to compress a refrigerant, a motor configured to drive the shaft, a lubrication system configured to supply lubricant to the compressor, and a bearing configured to support the shaft. The shaft includes a wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment on at least a portion of an outer surface of the shaft adjacent the bearing. The lubricant is a lubricant blend composition that includes two or more lubricants, the two or more lubricants including a first lubricant and a second lubricant. The first lubricant is present at a higher volume percentage than the second lubricant, and the first lubricant includes a higher viscosity than the second lubricant.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A compressor, comprising:
a housing;
a shaft configured to be rotated relative to the housing to compress a refrigerant, wherein the refrigerant is a low global warming potential refrigerant;
a motor configured to drive the shaft;
a lubrication system configured to supply lubricant to the compressor; and
a bearing configured to support the shaft,
wherein the shaft comprises a wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment on at least a portion of an outer surface of the shaft adjacent the bearing, and
wherein the lubricant is a lubricant blend composition comprising two or more lubricants, the two or more lubricants including a first lubricant; and a second lubricant, wherein the first lubricant is present at a higher volume percentage than the second lubricant, and the first lubricant includes a higher viscosity than the second lubricant and additives, wherein the additives include at least one of anti-wear additives, corrosion inhibitor additives, antioxidant additives, acid catching additives, or a combination thereof.

2. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment is a coating selected from at least one of hard chrome, chromium oxide, aluminum oxide, cobalt/chromium carbide, boron nitride, CoNiCrAlY, NiCoCrAlY, complex carbides in nickel rich matrix, tungsten carbides in cobalt rich matrix (ExoGard), graphite, molybdenum, tungsten, diamond-like carbon, nickel alloy, hardened steel, or a combination thereof.

3. The compressor according to claim 2 , wherein the wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment is a coating of hard chrome or chromium oxide.

4. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment is a carbon steel sleeve having a hard chrome or chromium oxide coating, wherein the hard chrome or the chromium oxide coating has a thickness between at or about 0.005 and at or about 0.05 inches and the carbon steel sleeve has a wall thickness between at or about 0.2 inches and at or about 0.7 inches.

5. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the first lubricant is polyol ester (POE) or a polyvinyl ether (PVE) and the second lubricant is alkylbenzene (AB) or mineral oil.

6. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the lubricant has a viscosity of at least 70 centistokes at 40° ° C., and at least 10 centistokes at 100° C.

7. The compressor according to claim 6 , wherein the lubricant has a viscosity between at or about 90 centistokes and at or about 100 centistokes at 40° ° C., and between at or about 12 centistokes and at or about 12.6 centistokes at 100° C.

8. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the lubricant comprises the anti-wear additives, the corrosion inhibitor additives, the antioxidant additives, and the acid catching additives, wherein the anti-wear additives include triaryl phosphates, the corrosion inhibitor additives include benzotriazole, the antioxidant additives include butylated hydroxytoluene, and the acid catching additives include 2-ethylhexyl glycidyl ether.

9. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the lubricant comprises between at or about 0.5 and at or about 4 mass % of the anti-wear additives; between at or about 20 and at or about 1000 ppm of the corrosion inhibitor additives; between at or about 250 and at or about 5000 ppm of the antioxidant additives; and between at or about 250 and at or about 5000 ppm of the acid catching additives.

10. The compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the lubricant comprises between at or about 85 and at or about 95 volume % polyol ester (POE), between at or about 5 and at or about 15 volume % alkylbenzene (AB), and between at or about 1 and at or about 5 mass % additives.

11. The compressor according to claim 1 , further comprising a seal configured to prevent the compressed gas from flowing to the motor along the shaft, wherein the shaft further comprises the wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment on at least a portion of the outer surface of the shaft adjacent the seal.

12. A method of retrofitting a compressor, the compressor, comprising a housing, a shaft configured to be rotated relative to the housing to compress a refrigerant, a motor configured to drive the shaft, a lubrication system configured to supply lubricant to the compressor, and a bearing configured to support the shaft, wherein the shaft comprises a wear-resistant sleeve-like treatment on at least a portion of an outer surface of the shaft adjacent the bearing, and wherein the lubricant is a lubricant blend composition comprising two or more lubricants, the two or more lubricants including a first lubricant; and a second lubricant, wherein the first lubricant is present at a higher volume percentage than the second lubricant, and the first lubricant includes a higher viscosity than the second lubricant, the method comprising:
coating a sleeve for the shaft of the compressor to provide a wear-resistant coating; and
interference fitting the sleeve on the shaft of the compressor by heating the sleeve and fitting the sleeve over the shaft.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the wear-resistant coating is provided by spray coating.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises cooling the sleeve and grinding the sleeve for fitting on the shaft.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the wear-resistant coating comprises a coating selected from at least one of hard chrome, chromium oxide, aluminum oxide, cobalt/chromium carbide, boron nitride, CoNiCrAlY, NiCoCrAlY, complex carbides in nickel rich matrix, tungsten carbides in cobalt rich matrix (ExoGard), graphite, molybdenum, tungsten, diamond-like carbon, nickel alloy, hardened steel, or a combination thereof.

16. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the sleeve comprises carbon steel and chromium oxide is sprayed on an outer surface of the sleeve to provide the wear-resistant coating.

Assignees

• Trane Int Inc

Inventors

• Siegersma Michael T
• Strange Daniel A
• Abbott Russell T
• Smith Todd W
• Sorenson Elyse M
• Leehey Morgan Elizabeth Herried
• Everson Curtis E
• Akram Mohammad

Classifications

• F25B31/026

  with compressor of rotary type · CPC title

• C10N2040/30

  Refrigerators lubricants {or compressors lubricants} · CPC title

• C10N2030/12

  Inhibition of corrosion, e.g. anti-rust agents or anti-corrosives · CPC title

• C10N2030/10

  Inhibition of oxidation, e.g. anti-oxidants · CPC title

• C10N2030/06

  Oiliness; Film-strength; Anti-wear; Resistance to extreme pressure · CPC title