Experimental evaluation of the effect of leakage in scroll compressor

Abstract

This research gives an experimental investigation of the scroll compressor, with an emphasis on the effect of leakage on performance enhancement. The effect of gas leakage losses on com-pressor performance is studied both experimentally and conceptually. In the present study, we have modified the scroll compressor to bypass the refrigerant through an orifice called leakage and experimentally investigate the effect of valve opening area and angle to observe the effect of leak gas on compressor performance, compressor capacity loss, discharge line temperature rise, and discharge gas temperature. Experimental results indicated that the maximum per-centage rise in suction superheat is observed to be 7.13% at a maximum effective valve open-ing area of 0.33 m2, whereas the rise in discharge line temperature lies in the range of 0.8% to 2.75% over the entire range of effective leak area. In addition, based on experimentation the 8.9 % maximum compressor capacity loss is observed.

Keywords

• Scroll Compressor
• Leakage Mode
• Axial Clearance
• Mass Flow Rate

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