A Design Model of a New Positive Displacement Rotary Compressor Based on Trochoidal Geometry for High Pressure Applications

The desire to achieve high discharge pressures at low manufacturing and maintenance costs has resulted in the development of a number of new positive displacement rotary compressor designs. The proposed design involves a compressor with a trochoidal casing geometry and a rotor orbiting the casing interior. This arrangement generates a varying trapped volume between the rotor and the casing thus providing the necessary compression for the compressor. The major advantage of this design is its inherent simple two-dimensional configuration which makes it a very cheap device to manufacture. Furthermore, the oil-flooded lubrication system used with this design not only acts as a lubricant but also as a coolant to the main gas flow and consequently improves the mechanical reliability of the compressor. This paper presents a complete design model developed to investigate the performance of the compressor. The geometrical, kinematic, and dynamic equations of the casing and rotor are derived. A model of the compressor thermodynamic cycle and gasdynamic performance is presented. A comparison between the developed model and the experimental results of a prototype compressor testing is presented. The comparison shows that the developed model indeed captures the compressor performance trends with considerable accuracy at the design conditions. Deviation between the model and experimental results at the off design conditions is due to inaccuracies in the inlet and exit port loss models at the off design conditions.