In order to study the matching characteristics of the positive displacement air compressor and the PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cells), air supply subsystem, the basic operating performance parameters of the scroll and single-screw air compressors were analyzed with the focus on the oil-free double-wrap scroll compressor. According to the thermodynamic model and three-dimensional unsteady-state numerical simulation, the variation of the temperature, pressure, and velocity was obtained. Besides, under the rated operating condition of the compressor, the inlet and outlet mass flow rate of the fluid in the working chamber with the orbiting angle of the crank was achieved. Based on the built test platform, the actual working process of scroll and screw compressors was analyzed. This study indicates that the volume flow can be significantly increased by improving the speed of the positive displacement compressor. Based on the experimental measurement, when the height of the scroll tooth of the scroll compressor increases by 5 mm, the volume flow of the prototype SC2 increases by 0.17 m3/min and the exhaust temperature is reduced by 13 °C at the rated speed.
Background:
Compared with other types of compressors, although the scroll compressor has a simple structure and low noise, due to the limitation of the structure, it has defects such as excessively high discharge temperature, and has extremely high requirements on the machining accuracy of parts. The oil-free scroll compressor is a new type of scroll machine, which does not contain oil during the working process; it can be applied to cases with low displacement requirements and a high-pressure ratio.
Objective:
Taking a scroll compressor with a rated displacement of 0.6 as the research object, the analysis and research of the working performance parameters of the scroll compressor in actual work provide a certain theoretical basis for the improvement and optimization of the test prototype.
Methods:
The thermodynamic model of the scroll compressor in the actual working process is established by the variable-mass system thermodynamics and the control volume method. Based on the CFD method, a three-dimensional unsteady-state numerical simulation of the flow characteristics of the working fluid in the scroll compressor's working chamber is carried out in order to verify the thermodynamic model. Considering the accuracy of numerical simulation, a test platform with air as the working fluid is set up.
Results:
Through the thermodynamic model and numerical simulation, the changes of temperature, pressure and velocity in the working chamber of the scroll compressor with the orbiting angle of the main shaft as well as the gas force and torque acting on the orbiting scroll tooth are obtained. Through experiments, the law of volume flow and shaft power of the scroll compressor with the speed of change, and the law of the change of discharge temperature with pressure at different speeds are obtained.
Conclusion:
At the same time, the thermodynamic model established by considering heat transfer and leakage is more in line with the actual working process of the compressor; the mass exchange between adjacent working chambers of the scroll compressor has a greater impact on the temperature and pressure in the working chamber. Due to internal leakage and irreversible loss, such as heat transmission, there is a deviation between the theoretical volume flow and the actual volume flow.
Tangential leakage loss is the primary factor that significantly affects the output performance of oil-free scroll expanders. A scroll expander can function under different operating conditions, and the flow of tangential leakage and generation mechanism is different. This study employed computational fluid dynamics to investigate the unsteady flow characteristics of the tangential leakage flow of a scroll expander with air as the working fluid. Consequently, the effects of different radial gap sizes, rotational speeds, inlet pressures, and temperatures on the tangential leakage were discussed. The tangential leakage decreased with increases in the scroll expander rotational speed, inlet pressure, and temperature, and decreased with decrease in radial clearance. With an equal-proportional increase in radial clearance, the flow form of the gas in the first expansion and back-pressure chambers became more complicated; when the radial clearance increased from 0.2 to 0.5 mm, the volumetric efficiency of the scroll expander decreased by approximately 5.0521%. Moreover, because of the large radial clearance, the tangential leakage flow maintained a subsonic flow. Further, the tangential leakage decreased with increase in rotational speed, and when the rotational speed increased from 2000 to 5000 r/min, the volumetric efficiency increased by approximately 8.7565%.
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