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Study of high-performance engineering polymers applied in reciprocating hermetic refrigeration compressors – Part 2: Extension to new components & experimental validation.

Number: 1528

Author(s) : SHAIKH M. Q., KUNC P., NELSON R., HAZARD L., MARTIN P., TAKEMORI C. K., BAARS E., VALDES LOPEZ L. M., BERNARDES G. R.

Summary

Energy efficiency of hermetic refrigeration compressors has been of tremendous importance in both domestic and commercial applications, leading to significant focus on innovations in not only product design and manufacturing processes but also materials. This paper is a continuation of a previous study by the authors that investigated energy efficiency gain by comparing low conduction heat transfer plastic materials to incumbent metallic materials. In this work, suitability of high performance polymeric materials for metal replacement has been evaluated for three components of a commercial compressor: cylinder head, valve plate and discharge tube. Considering functional requirements of each component, suitable polymeric materials were selected to replace the current metallic part. Equivalent plastic designs were developed for each part without altering any other component and functionality of the compressor assembly. Finite element-based simulations were performed to verify and optimize the plastic designs. Also, injection molding process simulations were conducted to verify the feasibility of the molding process. Physical prototypes were developed for experimental tests. The objective was not only to validate the efficiency gain predicted at system level simulation in the previous study but also to evaluate durability of each of the plastic components. Short-term test findings included in this paper are compressor operational performance, internal refrigerant leakage, and calorimeter performance measurements. The variability of the calorimeter results was substantial compared to the expected differences estimated by numerical simulation. With the first round of tests, we estimated the sample size using the averages and standard deviations and concluded that the sample size should be increased in order to detect the effect of interest. Calorimeter tests indicated a COP gain of 1.16% to 2.91% at specific conditions. The plastic parts survived and were intact after short term testing. The refrigeration leakage of the plastic components was similar to the metal counterparts and no loss in the bolt torque retention was detected. This work provides grounds for durability and performance stability evaluations of plastic components in the future work.

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  • Original title: Study of high-performance engineering polymers applied in reciprocating hermetic refrigeration compressors – Part 2: Extension to new components & experimental validation.
  • Record ID : 30030371
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Technology
  • Source: 2022 Purdue Conferences. 26th International Compressor Engineering Conference at Purdue.
  • Publication date: 2022/07/15
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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