A critical analysis of the AHRI polynomials for scroll compressor characterization

Javier Marchante-Avellaneda, Jose M. Corberan, Emilio Navarro-Peris, Som S. Shrestha

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19 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of the energy consumption and mass flow rate of scroll-type compressors. The study has included the data of several AHRI reports (especially AHRI 11 and AHRI 21) and data from other sources. A total of 7 different scroll compressors of different sizes have been considered in the study, some of them tested with various refrigerants (R134a, R32, R410A, R404a…). For all the studied compressors and refrigerants, the compressor energy consumption and mass flow rate values have been analyzed. The main objective is to better understand the dependence of these variables on the operating conditions and the refrigerant used. The analyzed data include tests following different superheat control, i.e., constant superheat or constant return temperature, so the effect of the inlet temperature on these variables is also discussed. As the main novelty of this study, the analysis of the response surfaces has allowed the authors to evaluate the most suitable correlation to use, including an analysis of the necessary experimental tests and where to place them to increase the model's accuracy. It was found that using the condensing and evaporating pressure terms is more universal than the classical temperature domain. In scroll compressors, AHRI polynomials overfits the compressor performance introducing significant deviations in the interpolation and extrapolation capabilities if the experimental data are not properly selected. Finally, it was found that lower degree polynomials are more suitable for this kind of compressor and has also the advantage of requiring fewer experimental point measurements to characterize the compressor with the corresponding cost-savings.

Original languageEnglish
Article number119432
JournalApplied Thermal Engineering
Volume219
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 25 2023

Funding

The present work has been supported by the project “DECARBONIZACIÓN DE EDIFICIOS E INDUSTRIAS CON SISTEMAS HÍBRIDOS DE BOMBA DE CALOR”, funded by “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación”, MCIN, Spain, with code number: PID2020-115665RB-I00 and by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Derporte inside the program “Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU15/03476)”. The present work has been supported by the project “DECARBONIZACIÓN DE EDIFICIOS E INDUSTRIAS CON SISTEMAS HÍBRIDOS DE BOMBA DE CALOR”, funded by “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación”, MCIN, Spain, with code number: PID2020-115665RB-I00 and by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Derporte inside the program “Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU15/03476)”. This research used resources at the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory of USA.

Keywords

  • Characterization
  • Compressor
  • Energy consumption
  • Experimental matrix
  • Mass flow
  • Scroll

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