Compressor and electric motor

• US 20010036414A1
• Filed: 03/29/2001
• Published: 11/01/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Asano, Yoshinari, Abe, Yoshifumi, Makino, Masahiko, Taguchi, Tatsuhisa, Kataoka, Hisakazu
• Granted Patent: US 6,544,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 417/312
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 1/185 to outer stators
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 1/20 with channels or ducts for flow of cooling medium
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 3/02 Windings characterised by the conductor material
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 5/06 Cast metal casings
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/14 Structural association with mechanical loads, e.g. with hand-held machine tools or fans with fan or impeller for cooling the machine H02K9/06

Abstract

A compressor and an electric motor in which their weights are successfully reduced by employing a light-metal conductor wire for a winding, by reducing constituent components of a stator and a rotor of the electric motor, by providing a notch or a hole, and by eliminating the need for components necessary to mount the stator in a housing or a casing.

Claims

1. A compressor, comprising

a housing;

a compression mechanism accommodated in the housing; and

a low-voltage electric motor for driving the compression mechanism, the electric motor including a rotor and a stator, the stator having a winding formed from a light-metal conductor wire having a specific gravity smaller than that of a copper wire.

2. The compressor according to

claim 1

, wherein the electric motor is used at 50V or below and at 50 A or above.

3. The compressor according to

claim 2

, wherein the light-metal conductor wire is an aluminum wire having effective sectional area ranging from 5 mm² to 10 mm².

4. The compressor according to

claim 2

, wherein the light-metal conductor wire is a Litz wire.

5. The compressor according to

claim 1

, wherein the compressor is driven by a battery movable concomitantly therewith.

6. A compressor, comprising

a housing;

a compression mechanism accommodated in the housing; and

an electric motor including a rotor and a stator for driving the compression mechanism, at least one of the stator and the rotor of the electric motor having at least one of cavities, axially extending notches, and holes formed on a surface thereof in a circumferential direction to achieve weight reduction.

7. The compressor according to

claim 6

, wherein one of the notches and the holes forms an axial sound deadening path for conveying a refrigerant therethrough.

8. The compressor according to

claim 7

, wherein the sound deadening path is formed such as to have an opening in a refrigerant admission direction and is interrupted halfway.

9. The compressor according to

claim 7

, wherein the sound deadening path is so shaped that its width decreases gradually from a refrigerant-admission side thereof to a refrigerant-discharge side thereof.

10. The compressor according to

claim 7

, wherein the sound deadening path is a through path which has an expansion chamber partway along its length.

11. The compressor according to

claim 7

, wherein the compressor is driven by a battery movable concomitantly therewith.

12. A compressor, comprising

a housing made of aluminum;

a compression mechanism accommodated in the housing; and

an electric motor for driving the compression mechanism, the electric motor including a rotor and a stator made of iron-based material and bolted to a stepped surface of an inner periphery of the housing at equally-spaced three positions around an outer periphery thereof.

13. The compressor according to

claim 12

, wherein the rotor has two or four magnetic poles.

14. The compressor according to

claim 12

, wherein the stator has a star-shaped three-phase winding and is wound in parallel, and

wherein the bolted positions are so located as to face their corresponding boundary portions of winding groups arranged along a circumferentially outermost portion of the stator.

15. The compressor according to

claim 12

, wherein the compressor is driven by a battery movable concomitantly therewith.

16. A compressor, comprising

a housing made of aluminum;

a compression mechanism accommodated in the housing; and

an electric motor for driving the compression mechanism, the electric motor including a rotor and a stator made of iron-based material and cast in an inner periphery of the housing.

17. The compressor according to

claim 16

, wherein the compressor is driven by a battery movable concomitantly therewith.

18. A low-voltage electric motor, comprising a rotor and a stator, the stator having a winding formed from a light-metal conductor wire having a specific gravity smaller than that of a copper wire.

19. The electric motor according to

claim 18

, wherein the electric motor is used at 50V or below and at 50 A or above.

20. The electric motor according to

claim 19

, wherein the light-metal conductor wire is an aluminum wire having effective sectional area ranging from 5 mm² to 10 mm².

21. The electric motor according to

claim 19

, wherein the light-metal conductor wire is a Litz wire.

22. An electric motor, comprising a rotor and a stator, at least one of the stator and the rotor having at least one of cavities, axially extending notches, and holes formed on a surface thereof in a circumferential direction to achieve weight reduction.

23. The electric motor according to

claim 22

, wherein one of the notches and the holes forms an axial sound deadening path for conveying a refrigerant therethrough.

24. The electric motor according to

claim 23

, wherein the sound deadening path is formed such as to have an opening in a refrigerant admission direction and is interrupted halfway.

25. The electric motor according to

claim 23

, wherein the sound deadening path is so shaped that its width decreases gradually from a refrigerant-admission side thereof to a refrigerant-discharge side thereof.

26. The electric motor according to

claim 23

, wherein the sound deadening path is a through path which has an expansion chamber partway along its length.

27. An electric motor, comprising:

a casing made of aluminum; and

a stator and a rotor each accommodated in the casing, the stator being made of iron-based material and bolted to a stepped surface of an inner periphery of the casing at equally-spaced three positions around an outer periphery thereof.

28. The electric motor according to

claim 27

, wherein the rotor has two or four magnetic poles.

29. The electric motor according to

claim 28

, wherein the stator has a star-shaped three-phase winding and is wound in parallel, and

wherein the bolted positions are so located as to face their corresponding boundary portions of winding groups arranged along a circumferentially outermost portion of the stator.

30. An electric motor, comprising:

a casing made of aluminum; and

a stator and a rotor each accommodated in the casing, the stator being made of iron-based material and cast in an inner periphery of the casing.