Improving screw compressor housing design using simulation.

Abstract

The sound radiation from a rotary screw compressor was simulated using structural finite element and acoustic boundary element analysis. The modes of the housing were measured with and without the screws. Finite element modal analysis results were compared to the experimental modes with good agreement. Results demonstrated that the screws affected the bending modes but not the more important cylinder modes of the compressor housing. The sound radiation from the compressor housing was then predicted using acoustic boundary element analysis. The results indicated that the second and fourth pumping frequencies were close to two structural modes. Subsequent simulations investigated the effect of design changes on the housing. These changes included using a thicker cylinder and adding ribs.

A Review of Recent Research and Application Progress in Screw Machines

“…Another reason for mechanical noise was transmission error [86]. Scholars adopted different methods to analyze the conventional mechanical vibration and noise of twin screw machines, such as synthesized waveform models [92], structural finite-element along with acoustic boundary-element analysis [93], and multi-body dynamic model [94]. The other type of mechanical vibration is torsional vibration, and Willie et al [95] found that the first torsional mode can lead to torque peak fluctuation and was manifested as sidebands in the gear train meshing frequencies.…”