Investigations on scroll compressors
operating with two-phase conditions

Abstract

Supplying a scroll compressor with a two-phase oil-refrigerant mixture can, under certain circumstances, improve both machine and cycle performance. For instance, simulations of a heat pump operating with two-phase conditions at the compressor inlet indicate that supplying the compressor with a vapor quality of 40% can increase the coefficient of performance by 20%, assuming a compressor isentropic efficiency of 70%, due to a better matching of the temperature profiles within the condenser. These results, along with promising findings reported in the literature, motivate research on two-phase compression, in this case, using scroll compressors. To better understand the behavior of scroll compressors operating under two-phase conditions, numerical and experimental investigations are conducted. The validation of a deterministic model allows to identify the origin of the performance losses when decreasing the inlet vapor quality of the compressor. Based on these results, an optimized scroll compressor geometry is proposed, for which simulations indicate that an isentropic efficiency of 70% can be achieved, at a vapor quality of 50%, compared to 53% for one of the experimentally investigated compressors under similar operating conditions. 

Jury members  

• S. GENDEBIEN, University of Liège, President;
• V. LEMORT, University of Liège, Supervisor;
• P. DEWALLEF, University of Liège;
• S. LECOMPTE, Ghent University;
• A. BRÜMMER, Dortmund University of Technology;
• C. THOMAS, Dresden University of Technology;
• E. WINANDY, OEM Solutions Development and Sales, Copeland;
• I. BELL, Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Retransmission also available on  the PhD channel