Variable capacity compressor

Abstract

A variable capacity compressor may include a drive shaft, a rotating plate connected to the drive shaft and rotatably disposed in a housing, a swash plate hingedly coupled to the rotating plate and rotated together with the rotating plate, pistons connected to an outer circumferential side edge of the swash plate and selectively inserted into compression chambers in the housing and reciprocating in the compression chambers when the swash plate is rotated, a rotating shaft hingedly connected to a center portion of the swash plate and rotated together with the swash plate, a connecting rod connected with the rotating shaft to move the rotating shaft in an axial direction to adjust a slope of the swash plate, and a drive motor connected to the connecting rod and moves the connecting rod in the axial direction of the rotating shaft.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A variable capacity compressor comprising:
 a drive shaft which is rotated by receiving drive power through a pulley mounted to one end portion thereof that protrudes to an outside of a housing, and has the other end portion that is inserted into the housing;   a rotating plate which has a rotation center connected to the other end portion of the drive shaft, and is rotatably disposed in the housing;   a swash plate which is hingedly coupled to the rotating plate and rotated together with the rotating plate;   pistons which are connected to an outer circumferential side edge of the swash plate, and are selectively inserted into compression chambers provided in the housing and reciprocate in the compression chambers when the swash plate is rotated;   a rotating shaft which is hingedly connected to a center portion of the swash plate through a hinge pin, and rotated together with the swash plate;   a connecting rod which is connected with the rotating shaft to move the rotating shaft in an axial direction so that a slope of the swash plate is adjusted; and   a drive motor which is connected to the connecting rod, and moves the connecting rod in the axial direction of the rotating shaft.   
     
     
         2 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the rotating shaft is formed in a hollow pipe shape, and disposed coaxially with a rotation center axis of the swash plate.   
     
     
         3 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the connecting rod is disposed coaxially with a rotation center axis of the swash plate, has one end portion that is inserted into the rotating shaft, and is fixed in a rotation direction of the rotating shaft.   
     
     
         4 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 3 , wherein:
 the connecting rod is mounted to the rotating shaft, and the one end portion thereof is inserted into the rotating shaft through a bearing cap in which a bearing is interposed.   
     
     
         5 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the drive motor has a rotation shaft that is disposed to be substantially parallel to the connecting rod, and connected with the connecting rod through a gear means.   
     
     
         6 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the drive motor has a rotation shaft that is disposed to be substantially perpendicular to the connecting rod, and connected with the connecting rod through a gear means.   
     
     
         7 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 5 , wherein the gear means includes:
 a drive gear which is mounted to the rotation shaft of the drive motor; and   a driven gear which is formed on the connecting rod to correspond to the drive gear, and engages with the drive gear.   
     
     
         8 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the driven gear is formed as a rack gear that is formed on one surface at the other end portion of the connecting rod in a length direction.   
     
     
         9 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the drive motor has a rotation shaft that is disposed coaxially with the connecting rod, and pushes or pulls the connecting rod to change the slope of the swash plate by movement of the rotating shaft in the axial direction.   
     
     
         10 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the drive motor has a gear box that is embedded in the drive motor to convert rotation of the rotation shaft into the axial movement.   
     
     
         11 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the drive motor is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU), which outputs a control signal to the drive motor, so that the slope of the swash plate is adjusted by adjusting a rotation amount of the drive motor.   
     
     
         12 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the ECU operates the drive motor so that the slope of the swash plate is adjusted depending on a running state of a vehicle and whether or not an air conditioner is operated, thereby variably controlling a compression capacity of the variable capacity compressor by variably controlling the pistons that compress a refrigerant.   
     
     
         13 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 6 , wherein the gear means includes:
 a drive gear which is mounted to the rotation shaft of the drive motor; and   a driven gear which is formed on the connecting rod to correspond to the drive gear, and engages with the drive gear.   
     
     
         14 . The variable capacity compressor of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the driven gear is a rack gear that is formed on one surface at the other end portion of the connecting rod in a length direction.