Key
11531
Conference Year
2016
Keywords
Reciprocating Compressors, dynamic charging process
Abstract
Relative little information is available in the literature with respect to compressor performances during dynamic charging processes. Therefore, the work presented in this paper focuses on the experimental performance testing of two-stage reciprocating compressors using air as the working fluid during the dynamic charging of a tank. A new test stand has been designed and built to conduct the dynamic compressor performance tests. Performance tests have been conducted from an initial pressure of 101.3 kPa to a final tank pressure of 3600 kPa. To achieve the final pressure of 3600 kPa, two hermetic reciprocating compressors are used in series. Due to the nature of the charging process, initially only the first stage compressor is activated until the tank pressure reaches a level that requires activation of the second stage compressor. Â Along with the experimental effort, a simulation model to predict the compressor dynamic performance has been developed. In this model, the initial clearance factors of the two compressors can be calculated based on available compressor maps. These clearance factors are then used as inputs to the dynamic model. The entire charging process can be simulated to provide the compressor performance data as the function of time. Finally, the predicted performance is validated using the test data and presented in this paper.