Oil flow at the scroll compressor discharge: visualization and CFD simulation

Oil is important to the compressor but has other side effect on the refrigeration system performance. Discharge valves located in the compressor plenum are the gateway for the oil when leaving the compressor and circulate in the system. The space in between: the compressor discharge plenum has the potential to separate the oil mist and reduce the oil circulation ratio (OCR) in the system. In order to provide information for building incorporated separation feature for the oil flow near the compressor discharge, video processing method is used to quantify the oil droplets movement and distribution. Also, CFD discrete phase model gives the numerical approach to study the oil flow inside compressor plenum. Oil droplet size distributions are given by visualization and simulation and the results show a good agreement. The mass balance and spatial distribution are also discussed and compared with experimental results. The verification shows that discrete phase model has the potential to simulate the oil droplet flow inside the compressor. (paper)