Abstract
Potential application of the scroll type machine to air compressor for fuel cell has been studied. Among the seven configuration factors which determine scroll wrap profile, the wrap thickness and the orbiting radius were chosen as two independent variables to generate various scroll wrap profiles. A conceptual design practice was conducted for scroll air compressor for SOFC with power output of 2 kW. With larger wrap thickness and orbiting radius, base plate area of the orbiting scroll becomes smaller, so is the axial gas force acting on the base plate, resulting in reduced thrust loss in spite of larger friction velocity. Performance analysis on the designed model showed that its total efficiency was 64.4% with the mass flow rate per unit compressor input of 0.00905 kg/(s kW) for the wrap thickness of 3.5 mm and the orbiting radius of 3.0 mm.
