Study of oil circulation rate in variable speed scroll compressor working with propane. (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ossorio, Rubén; Navarro-Peris, Emilio
• Is Part Of: International journal of refrigeration. Volume 123(2021)
• Page Start: 63
• Page End: 71
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: Variable speed compressor -- OCR -- Oil separator -- Compressor efficiency; Compresseur à vitesse variable -- Débit de circulation de l'huile -- Séparateur d'huile -- Rendement du compresseur; Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery -- Periodicals; 621.56
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2020.12.002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0140-7007

Abstract

Highlights: Oil Circulation Rate (OCR) procedure is presented that can be performed simultaneously to a characterization test. Correlation found in order to determine the effective oil mass flow as a function of the speed. OCR depends on evaporating temperature and on the compressor speed. OCR can produce a significant decrease in the system capacity and COP. Abstract: The use of hydrocarbons as refrigerants is being more common in recent years. Nevertheless, the solubility of propane in POE oils is significantly higher than in HFCs. This fact has made that POE oils used with hydrocarbons usually have a higher viscosity than the commonly used with HFCs. This approach solves the lubrication problem in the compressor but the way in which oil could affect the system performance is not so widely studied. In this work, an experimental analysis about the oil circulation rate of a variable speed compressor working with propane has been done. The study has analysed the oil circulation at different compressor speeds and evaporating temperatures. The obtained results have shown that the oil circulation rate increases with the compressor speed and reaches values higher than 5% at high speeds. This fact can penalize the COP of the system in more than 15% in these working conditions.