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A study on two phase flows of linear compressors for the prediction of refrigerant leakage

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Abstract

Usage of linear compressors is on the rise due to their high efficiency. In this paper, leakage of a linear compressor has been studied through numerical analysis and experiments. First, nitrogen leakage for a stagnant piston with fixed cylinder pressure as well as for a moving piston with fixed cylinder pressure was analyzed to verify the validity of the two-phase flow analysis model. Next, refrigerant leakage of a linear compressor in operation was finally predicted through 3-dimensional unsteady, two phase flow CFD (Computational fluid dynamics). According to the research results, the numerical analyses for the fixed cylinder pressure models were in good agreement with the experimental results. The refrigerant leakage of the linear compressor in operation mainly occurred through the oil exit and the leakage became negligible after about 0.4s following operation where the leakage became lower than 2.0x10-4 kg/s.

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Correspondence to Young Lim Lee.

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Recommended by Associate Editor Hyoung-gwon Choi

Il Sun Hwang graduated from Kongju National University with a major in Mechanical and Automotive Engineering in 2012. Now he is a graduate student in M.S. program at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Kongju National University.

Young Lim Lee graduated from Hanyang University with a major in Mechanical Engineering in 1986. He got a Ph.D. at University of Texas at Austin in 1995. He is currently interested in the research topics of high efficiency toilets as well as electronics cooling, vacuum glazing and heat pumps.

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Hwang, I.S., Oh, W., Park, K. et al. A study on two phase flows of linear compressors for the prediction of refrigerant leakage. J Mech Sci Technol 29, 4737–4743 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-1021-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-1021-1

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