Experiment and Analysis of Two-Phase Compression in a Rocking Type Steam Compressor

Abstract

The steam compressors have been developed, in large capacities, which have been applied for special VRC (Vapor Re-Compression) process. However, it seems to have a considerable ripple effect on the various purposes if the small size and high performance steam compressors are practically available. The Vapor Compression and Condensation (VCC) system is a heat pump cycle utilizing water as a working fluid. In the process, it should be negative pressure at the inlet of the compressor to prevent the leakage of volatile substances to the atmosphere. It causes higher degrees of superheat of the steam at the discharge. In this paper, the authors introduced two-phase compression process to reduce the superheat and reduction of the compression work. The thermal model of the process which is based on a heat transfer model between droplets and vapor is proposed. In addition, an experimental set-up, which employs a unique reciprocating compressor, is built in order to validate the model. Effect of two-phase compression of the steam is reported by comparing calculation results based on two types of models, conventional and proposed one, with experimental results. It shows that results of both of the models matched the experimental results well.