Simulation research on scroll refrigeration compressor with external cooling

The compression process can approach the isothermal one when compressors are cooled in the compression process, and the compression work can be reduced. The paper presents a special external cooling structure for scroll refrigeration compressor. A mathematical model is established to simulate the compressor. All of boundary conditions in heat transfer model are set to coincide with the real operation conditions as much as possible. The simulation results indicate that the isentropic efficiency is improved by 7.4% and the discharge temperature are reduced by 23 °C when the water of 30 °C flows through the cooling structure. Furthermore, with the simulation results, the details of heat transfer between refrigerant and work chamber are analyzed and figured out. The influence of water temperature, dimension of cooling structure, leakage clearance, rotational speed and pressure ratio on the performances of compressor is discussed. And some useful results can be used to enhance the effect of water cooling and the performance of compressors.