This research was conducted in order to better identify the torque loss of a hermetic rotary compressor for one revolution, and to directly obtain the actual shaft power of the compressor. A testing compressor and a gas cycle type simplified calorimeter were developed for direct measurement of the compressor torque.
A strain gauge was stuck on the shaft between a compressor and a motor. Thus, the compressor torque could be measured directly by the strain gauge and data were transmitted to out of the compressor's vessel through a slip ring. Rotational speed of the compressor was measured by using a gap sensor also. From these measurement results, actual shaft power was calculated experimentally.
On the other hand, effective compressive torque for compressing refrigerant gas was predicted theoretically. From both experimental and theoretical results, torque loss of the compressor was determined as the difference of the compressor torque from the effective compressive torque. Consequently, a loss of over-compression could be revealed from the torque loss experimentally. Furthermore, overall adiabatic efficiencies of compressors obtained by the actual shaft power were 1.1∼3.5% higher than former overall adiabatic efficiencies obtained by the motor output.
