Modeling and analysis of an open-drive Z-compressor

Abstract

A rotary Z-compressor prototype for compressed air applications has been developed and tested. The Z-compressor working process resembles the one of a two-stage rolling piston compressor where the stages are phased by half rotation. In contrary to the traditional rolling piston design, the vane in a Z-compressor is positioned parallel to the main shaft and not perpendicular. In order to understand the impact of leakage and frictional losses and improve the design of such machine, a mechanistic model has been developed to include governing equations within the working chambers (i.e., two suction chambers and two compression chambers), leakage flow models, detailed mechanical analysis, one-degree of freedom valve model, in-chamber heat transfer and an overall energy balance of the compressor shell. The model has been validated with preliminary experimental data and then exercised to identify the potential performance improvements over a range of clearances and working conditions.