Variable capacity rotary compressor and method of varying capacity thereof

Abstract

A variable capacity rotary compressor includes a housing having a compressing chamber, a roller to rotate in the compressing chamber while coming into contact with an inner peripheral surface of the compressing chamber, a vane to move forward and rearward along a guiding groove in accordance with rotation of the roller, the guiding groove being formed in the housing in a radial direction of the compressing chamber, a vane control device to regulate restriction and release of the vane as to whether or not the vane comes into continuous contact with an outer peripheral surface of the roller, and a controller to output a control signal to the vane control device for the variation of a compression capacity, so as to regulate a proportion of restriction and release of the vane, and a capacity variation method using the variable capacity rotary compressor.

1 . A variable capacity rotary compressor, comprising:
 a housing having a compressing chamber;   a roller to rotate in the compressing chamber while contacting an inner peripheral surface of the compressing chamber;   a vane to move forward and rearward along a guiding groove in accordance with the rotation of the roller, the guiding groove being formed in the housing in a radial direction of the compressing chamber;   a vane control device to control whether the vane comes into continuous contact with an outer peripheral surface of the roller by regulating a restriction and a release of the vane; and   a controller to output a control signal to the vane control device to regulate proportions of a restriction time and a release time of the vane to vary a compression capacity of the compressor.   
   
   
       2 . The compressor according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the guiding groove comprises a hermetic chamber to receive a rear end of the vane; and   the vane control device regulates the restriction and the release of the vane by regulating a pressure applied into the hermetic chamber based on the control signal.   
   
   
       3 . The compressor according to  claim 2 , wherein the vane control device comprises:
 a high-pressure flow path to connect the hermetic chamber to a discharge side of the compressor;   a low-pressure flow path to connect the hermetic chamber to a suction side of the compressor; and   a flow path selector to selectively connect the hermetic chamber to the high-pressure flow path or low-pressure flow path.   
   
   
       4 . The compressor according to  claim 3 , wherein the flow path selector is a 3-way valve to be switched by the control signal, and the proportions of the restriction time and the release time of the vane are regulated by modulating a pulse width of the control signal to be applied to the 3-way valve. 
   
   
       5 . A variable capacity rotary compressor, comprising:
 a housing having a compressing chamber;   a roller to rotate in the compressing chamber while contacting an inner peripheral surface of the compressing chamber;   a vane to move forward and rearward along a guiding groove in accordance with the rotation of the roller, the guiding groove being formed in the housing in a radial direction of the compressing chamber;   a vane control device to control whether the vane comes into continuous contact with an outer peripheral surface of the roller by regulating a restriction and a release of the vane; and   a controller to output a control signal to the vane control device to regulate a restriction time and a release time of the vane during a preset time period to vary a compression capacity of the compressor.   
   
   
       6 . The compressor according to  claim 5 , wherein:
 each of the restriction time and the release time of the vane is an integral multiple of one-turn time of the compressor; and   a sum of the restriction time and the release time is a time corresponding to one preset time period.   
   
   
       7 . The compressor according to  claim 5 , wherein:
 the guiding groove comprises a hermetic chamber to receive a rear end of the vane; and   the vane control device regulates the restriction time and the release time of the vane by regulating a pressure to be applied into the hermetic chamber based on the control signal.   
   
   
       8 . The compressor according to  claim 7 , wherein the vane control device comprises:
 a high-pressure flow path to connect the hermetic chamber to a discharge side of the compressor;   a low-pressure flow path to connect the hermetic chamber to a suction side of the compressor; and   a flow path selector to selectively connect the hermetic chamber to the high-pressure flow path or low-pressure flow path.   
   
   
       9 . The compressor according to  claim 8 , wherein the flow path selector is a 3-way valve to be switched by the control signal, and the restriction time and the release time of the vane are regulated by modulating a pulse width of the control signal to be applied to the 3-way valve. 
   
   
       10 . The compressor according to  claim 5 , wherein the controller performs a control operation such that the restriction time of the vane decreases and the release time of the vane increases within the one time period to increase a compression capacity. 
   
   
       11 . A variable capacity rotary compressor, comprising:
 a housing having first and second compressing chambers separated from each other;   first and second rollers to rotate in the first and second compressing chambers, respectively, while respectively contacting inner peripheral surfaces of the first and second compressing chambers;   first and second vanes to move forward and rearward along first and second guiding grooves, respectively, in accordance with the rotation of the first and second rollers, respectively, the first and second guiding grooves being formed in the housing in a radial direction of the first and second compressing chambers, respectively;   a first vane control device to regulate a restriction time and a release time of the first vane using a pressure applied to the first vane to control whether the first vane comes into continuous contact with an outer peripheral surface of the first roller; and   a controller to output a control signal to the first vane control device to regulate proportions of a restriction time and a release time of the first vane to vary a compression capacity of the compressor.   
   
   
       12 . The compressor according to  claim 11 , wherein:
 the first guiding groove comprises a first hermetic chamber to receive a rear end of the first vane; and   the pressure to be applied to the first vane is regulated by the first vane control device based on the control signal and applied into the first hermetic chamber.   
   
   
       13 . The compressor according to  claim 12 , wherein the first vane control device comprises:
 a first high-pressure flow path to connect the first hermetic chamber to a discharge side of the compressor;   a first low-pressure flow path to connect the first hermetic chamber to a suction side of the compressor; and   a first flow path selector to selectively connect the first hermetic chamber to the first high-pressure flow path or first low-pressure flow path.   
   
   
       14 . The compressor according to  claim 13 , wherein the first flow path selector is a 3-way valve to be switched by the control signal, and the proportions of the restriction time and the release time of the first vane are regulated by modulating a pulse width of the control signal to be applied to the 3-way valve. 
   
   
       15 . The compressor according to  claim 11 , wherein:
 the second guiding groove comprises a second hermetic chamber to receive a rear end of the second vane; and   the compressor further comprises a second vane control device to regulate a restriction time and a release time of the second vane by regulating a pressure applied into the second hermetic chamber based on the control signal.   
   
   
       16 . The compressor according to  claim 15 , wherein the first and second compressing chambers have different compression capacities. 
   
   
       17 . A method of varying a capacity of a variable capacity rotary compressor having a housing having a compressing chamber, a roller to rotate in the compressing chamber while contacting an inner peripheral surface of the compressing chamber, and a vane to divide an interior of the compressing chamber into a low-pressure section and a high-pressure section and to move forward and rearward in a radial direction of the compressing chamber in accordance with the rotation of the roller, the method comprising:
 calculating an air conditioning load depending on an operational state of an indoor unit; and   varying a compression capacity of the compressing chamber to correspond to the calculated air conditioning load by regulating proportions of a restriction time and a release time of the vane based on the calculated air conditioning load.   
   
   
       18 . The compressor according to  claim 17 , wherein:
 when the vane is restricted, the vane does not come into continuous contact with an outer peripheral surface of the roller; and   when the restricted vane is released, the vane comes into continuous contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roller.   
   
   
       19 . A variable capacity rotary compressor, comprising:
 a body to form a compressing chamber having a roller therein;   a vane moveably disposed in the body to move between a forward position and a rearward position; and   a controller to generate a control signal to control the vane according to a release time during which the vane moves between the forward position and the rearward position and a restriction time during which the vane remains in the rearward position to vary a compression capacity of the compressing chamber while maintaining a continuous operation of the compressor.   
   
   
       20 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a vane regulating device to regulate the movement of the vane by releasing the vane from the rearward position and by restricting the vane in the reward position, based on the generated control signal.   
   
   
       21 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , wherein the controller generates the control signal to control the restriction time to decrease and the release time to increase within a predetermined compression time period to increase the compression capacity of the compressing chamber while maintaining the continuous operation of the compressor. 
   
   
       22 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , wherein the controller generates the control signal to control the restriction time to increase and the release time to decrease within a predetermined compression time period to decrease the compression capacity of the compressing chamber while maintaining the continuous operation of the compressor. 
   
   
       23 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a second compressing chamber; and   a second vane disposed in the compressing chamber to move to between a second forward position and a second rearward position.   
   
   
       24 . The compressor according to  claim 23 , wherein the controller maintains a constant compression capacity of the second compressing chamber. 
   
   
       25 . The compressor according to  claim 23 , wherein the controller generates a second control signal to control the second vane according to a release time during which the second vane moves between the second forward position and the second rearward position and a restriction time during which the second vane remains the second rearward position to vary a compression capacity of the second compressing chamber while maintaining the continuous operation of the compressor. 
   
   
       26 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a second vane regulating device to regulate the movement of the second vane by releasing the second vane from the rearward position and by restricting the second vane in the reward position, based on the generated control signal.   
   
   
       27 . The compressor according to  claim 19 , wherein the controller controls the release time and the restriction time corresponding to idling and compressing operations of the compressing chamber so that the compressing capacity varies without stopping an operation thereof. 
   
   
       28 . A method of varying a compression capacity of a variable capacity rotary compressor including a body to form a compressing chamber having a roller therein and a vane moveably disposed in the body to and move between a forward position and a rearward position, the method comprising:
 controlling a release time during which the vane moves between the forward positions and the rearward position and a restriction time during which the vane remains in the reward position to vary a compression capacity of the compressing chamber while maintaining a continuous operation of the compressor.