Visualization of Flow in Scroll Compressor by Radiography

Masatsugu Chikano
Hayato Shimizu
Takeshi Tsuchiya
Kenji Tojo

Abstract

Saving energy and resources in the air conditioning industry is required in order to protect the global environment. To save resources, miniaturization of the compressor in air conditioners is necessary. This miniaturization will increase the oil circulation rate (OCR) of the compressor because the oil separation space will be reduced. To improve the oil separation efficiency, it is necessary to understand the appearance of the flow of oil and refrigerant in the compressor chamber. This paper reports a technique to visualize the flow by using neutron radiography and X-ray radiography. Furthermore, a method to measure the oil concentration by carrying out image processing is described.