DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR SCROLL MACHINE

Title LUBRICANT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR SCROLL MACHINE Inventor Arthur L. Butterworth An oil distribution system for supplying lubricating oil to a thrust bearing, the bearing surfaces of an Oldham coupling, and a swing link bearing in a scroll compressor and allocating the oil between the bearings in proper proportion. Oil is pumped from a reservoir in the bottom of the compressor shell upward through a gallery that runs the length of a rotating drive shaft. The oil exits an opening at the top of the drive shaft and is thrown radially outward into a shallow cavity formed in a swing link that is rotatably driven by the shaft. The avity is generally elongate in shape, so that oil collects in pools at each of its ends as a result of centrifugal force. Each of the two bearings is lubricated by oil that flows upward into the bearings either directly or through a passage from the pools of oil. The shape of the cavity and the position of the gallery opening within the cavity determine the proportion of oil flowing out of the gallery that is supplied to each bearing, insuring that each bearing is properly lubricated.