Vane compressor

Abstract

Provide a vane compressor which starts the compression without delay, and which prevents the vanes from chattering under the start-up operation. To this end, the vane compressor 1 includes: a cylinder chamber 3 ; a rotor 5 rotatably arranged in the cylinder chamber 3 ; vane grooves 7 provided in the rotor 5 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction thereof; vanes 9 arranged in the vane grooves 7 in a way that the vanes 9 are capable of protruding to, and retracting from, the cylinder chamber 3 ; and the vane back-pressure chamber 11 communicating with the bottom portions of the vane grooves 7 , and configured to apply the back pressure to the vanes 9 ; and a back-pressure supplying unit 13 configured to transmit the pressure to the vane back-pressure chamber 11 , and to push up the vanes to the sliding surface of the cylinder chamber 3 once the activation mode for rotating the rotor 5 is selected.

1 . A vane compressor ( 1 ,  101 ), comprising:
 a cylinder chamber ( 3 );   a rotor ( 5 ) rotatably arranged in the cylinder chamber ( 3 );   vane grooves ( 7 ) provided in the rotor ( 5 ) at equal intervals in a circumferential direction of the rotor ( 5 );   vanes ( 9 ) arranged in the vane grooves ( 7 ) in a manner such that the vanes ( 9 ) are capable of protruding to, and retracting from, the cylinder chamber ( 3 );   a vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ) communicating with bottom portions of the vane grooves ( 7 ), and configured to apply a back pressure to the vanes ( 9 ); and   a back-pressure supplying unit ( 13 ) configured to push up the vanes is ( 9 ) to a sliding surface of the cylinder chamber ( 3 ) by transmitting the back pressure to the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ) when an activation mode for rotating the rotor ( 5 ) is selected.   
   
   
       2 . The vane compressor ( 1 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the back-pressure supplying unit ( 13 ) comprises:
 a back-pressure cylinder ( 15 ) communicating with the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 );   an activation piston ( 17 ) configured to generate the back pressure by moving in the back-pressure cylinder ( 15 );   an activation spring ( 21 ) configured to bias the activation piston ( 17 ) in a back-pressure generating direction; and   a position holding module ( 19 ) configured to hold the activation piston ( 17 ) in its resting position against the activation spring ( 21 ).   
   
   
       3 . The vane compressor ( 1 ) according to  claim 2 , wherein the position holding module ( 19 ) comprises:
 an engagement part ( 25 ) provided between the activation piston ( 17 ) and a stopper member ( 23 ), and configured to hold the activation piston ( 17 ) in its resting position;   an engagement spring ( 27 ) configured to bias the stopper member ( 23 ) in an engagement direction of the engagement part ( 25 ); and   an electromagnetic solenoid ( 29 ) configured to release the engagement part ( 25 ) from its engagement against the engagement spring ( 27 ).   
   
   
       4 . The vane compressor ( 1 ) according to  claim 3 , wherein
 the activation piston ( 17 ) is provided with a cam ( 31 ) configured to cause the stopper member ( 23 ) to retract against the engagement spring ( 27 ) when the activation piston ( 17 ) retracts due to a return pressure which is transmitted from the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ) after the completion of the activation thereof; and   the engagement spring ( 27 ) is configured to cause the engagement part ( 25 ) to engage by pressing the stopper member ( 23 ) once retracted.   
   
   
       5 . The vane compressor according to  claim 2 , wherein
 a low-pressure side of the back-pressure cylinder ( 15 ) communicates with the inlet port ( 49 ).   
   
   
       6 . The vane compressor according to  claim 3 , wherein
 a low-pressure side of the back-pressure cylinder ( 15 ) communicates with the inlet port ( 49 ).   
   
   
       7 . The vane compressor according to  claim 4 , wherein
 a low-pressure side of the back-pressure cylinder ( 15 ) communicates with the inlet port ( 49 ).   
   
   
       8 . The vane compressor ( 101 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the back-pressure supplying unit ( 103 ) comprises:
 a high-pressure tank ( 105 ) communicating with the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ), and filled with a highly-pressurized fluid ( 51 );   a valve ( 107 ) configured to allow and shut off a flow of the fluid ( 51 ) between the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ) and the high-pressure tank ( 105 ); and   an opening/closing module ( 109 ) configured to open the valve ( 107 ), and thus to cause the back pressure to be transmitted from the high-pressure tank ( 105 ) to the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ), once the activation mode is selected.   
   
   
       9 . The vane compressor ( 101 ) according to  claim 8 , wherein the opening/closing module ( 109 ) comprises:
 a stopper spring ( 111 ) configured to close the valve ( 107 ); and   an electromagnetic solenoid ( 113 ) configured to cause the back pressure to be transmitted from the high-pressure tank ( 105 ) to the vane back-pressure chamber ( 11 ) by opening the valve ( 107 ) against the stopper spring ( 111 ) once the activation mode is selected.