A comprehensive model of a novel rotating spool compressor

A comprehensive simulation model of a novel rotating spool compressor is presented. The spool compressor provides a new rotary compression mechanism with easily manufactured components. A detailed analytical geometry model of the spool compressor is presented, which includes the geometry of the vane. This geometry model is included in an overall comprehensive compressor model that includes sub-models for friction, leakage, and heat transfer. The results of the comprehensive model were validated using experimental data from a prototype compressor. The prototype compressor has an overall displacement of 23.9 cm³, and was operated using R410A as the working fluid. The model predicts the volumetric efficiency, discharge temperature, and shaft power of the prototype compressor to within 3.13% MAE, 16.5 K and ?13.2 W average deviation, respectively. The trends and spread in the data indicate that additional effort should be focused on the operation of the active sealing elements within the compressor.     

Characterization of a vapor injection scroll compressor as a function of low,intermediate and high pressures and temperature conditions

The interest in two stage cycles has increased in the last years and some compressor manufacturers have commercialized compressors adapted to work in these conditions. Nevertheless, the information supplied by them usually is limited to certain design conditions defined by the application and extrapolation to other conditions is not straightforward. In this article a test campaign of an injection scroll compressor is presented. This test campaign was divided in two parts, on the first one a wide range of evaporating and condensing pressures for the intermediate conditions recommended by the manufacturer were measured, and the compressor behavior was systematically compared with single stage compressor of the same volume. On the second part an experimental study of the influence of the intermediate conditions on the performance have been done. The study has included the evaluation of the separate influence of intermediate gas superheat, intermediate pressure and wet injection.     

Modeling of R-410A variable capacity compressor with Modelica and experimental validation

This paper presents an analysis of modeling methods for a short cycling, R-410A scroll compressor. Two parametric efficiency models of the short cycling scroll compressors are investigated, one with steady-state mean, and one with time varying efficiencies. Additionally, a dynamic model of a short cycling scroll compressor that incorporates scroll geometry, leakage, and a mathematical approximation of the digital capacity mechanism has been developed and verified against experimentally obtained data. Agreement with data for all methods was generally good, though in the dynamic model refrigerant mass flow was found to match observations when neglecting leakage. To validate the proposed models, a novel experimental testbed was developed by retrofitting a 15 ton nominal capacity rooftop heat pump with a short cycling scroll compressor. Unit operating conditions were varied in a parametric fashion using a large scale psychrometric chamber and the compressor transient performance was evaluated at full and part loads.     

Optimization of an oil charge amount on electric driven scroll compressor for eco-friendly vehicle

The purpose of this study is to optimize the amount of oil charge in the electric driven scroll compressor for eco-friendly vehicles. R134a is used as the refrigerant in the vehicle and Polyolester (POE) oil as the compressor oil. The initial amount of oil was increased at 20 g intervals from 40 g to 120 g, and at each initial amount of oil charge, the back pressure is measured at each step of the complex durability test and under each condition of the performance test. Throughout the test, it is found out that the optimum amount of oil is determined by the back pressure, which is 80 g in this test. The performance of a system is compared with pull-down tests in the actual air conditioning system, and the optimum amount of oil was confirmed. A complex durability test was also evaluated and verified for the durability of the compressor with the confirmed amount of oil.     

Experimental analysis of a novel cooling system driven by liquid refrigerant pump and vapor compressor

This study introduced a novel energy saving cooling system, i.e. a combined cycle coupled with a traditional vapor compression cycle with a pumped liquid two-phase cooling cycle. The system has two operation modes, i.e. the compression cycle mode driven by compressor and the pump cycle mode driven by refrigerant pump. A multi-purpose test bench was constructed to experimentally evaluate the performance of the integrated cycle system under various operation conditions. The effects of cycle working condition and the shift temperature between the two operation modes on the overall cycle performance were investigated in detail. It is found that the novel cycle system has a higher EER compared to the traditional compressor system when the ambient temperature is relatively low. The further experimental results and comparative annual energy saving analysis also indicated that the proper shift temperature is about −5 °C from the system EER and cooling capacity point of view.     

Assessment of R-438A as a retrofit refrigerant for R-22 in direct expansion water chiller

The present work aims to evaluate the performance characteristics of a vapor compression refrigeration system using R-438A as a retrofit refrigerant for R-22. In order to achieve this objective, a test facility is developed and experiments are performed over a wide range of chilled water inlet temperature (11:20 °C), condenser water inlet temperature (25:35 °C) and condenser water mass flow rate (363:543 kg h⁻¹). Results showed that as the chilled water inlet temperature changes from 11.5 to 20.5 °C, system COP increases from 1.78 to 2.07 at constant condenser water inlet temperature of 25.5 °C. Cooling capacity and COP of the system using R-438A are lower than R-22 by 11% and 12.5%, respectively. However, compressor discharge temperature using R-438A is slightly lower than R-22 which confirms that R-438A can be used as a retrofit refrigerant for R-22 to complete the remaining life time of the existing plants.     

Modeling and output feedback control of automotive air conditioning system

This paper presents an application of robust control theory to an automotive Air Conditioning (A/C) system. A control-oriented model built using moving-boundary method is validated against experimental data collected on a vehicle chassis dynamometer, at constant engine speeds as well as on driving cycles. Next, an H_∞ controller is synthesized by formulating an optimization problem whose solution requires appropriate weighting functions selection. Singular perturbation method is utilized to remove states associated with fast dynamics in both model and controller. Both full-order and reduced-order H_∞ controllers are verified by simulation results obtained using the nonlinear A/C system model. It is demonstrated that the designed controller is capable of tracking the reference output trajectories while rejecting disturbances introduced on the boundary conditions of the heat exchangers. Furthermore, a preliminary study is performed to reveal the opportunity of designing a gain-scheduled H_∞ controller for global output tracking.