Scroll type compressor with oil-separating plate in discharge chamber

Claim 1

In a scroll type compressor comprising: a housing; and immovable and movable scroll members housed in said housing and having spiral guide walls engaged with each other so that spaces for taking in a fluid including a lubricating oil mist to be compressed are formed therebetween, said movable scroll member being revolved around a center axis of the immovable scroll member in such a manner that, as said spaces are displaced toward a center of the immovable scroll member, a volume thereof is reduced to thereby cause a compression of the fluid in said spaces, said immovable scroll member having a passage through which each of said spaces is communicated with a discharge chamber upon reaching the center of the immovable scroll member, whereby the compressed fluid is successively discharged through said passage into said discharge chamber, the improvement comprising an oil-separating plate member provided in said discharge chamber oriented and located to assume a substantially horizontal position below said passage when said compressor is mounted for operation with said center axis oriented substantially horizontally, a reed valve element disposed at said passage for ensuring unidirectional fluid flow through said passage, and a retainer element for retaining said reed valve element, said reed valve element being operable between opened and closed conditions, and said retainer element being constructed to extend toward said plate member for directing said compressed fluid discharged from said passage past said reed valve in the reed valve opened condition to impinge upon an upper surface of said oil-separating plate member for separating lubricating oil from said fluid, and accumulating said separated oil in said discharge chamber up to the level of said upper surface of said oil-separating plate member.