Abstract
A linear compressor generates pulsating pressure and oscillating flow in a cryocooler such as Stirling cryocooler and pulse tube refrigerator. It is driven by AC power source and designed to operate at resonance of piston motion. The driving voltage level is determined by electric parameters of resistance, inductance and thrust constant of linear motor. From voltage equation on linear motor, the power factor of driving power is inherently less than 1. The phase difference between voltage and current of supplied power can be zero using capacitor and this can minimize a supply voltage level. Especially, the linear compressor of kW class requires high voltage and thus can cause a difficulty in selecting power supply unit due to limitation of voltage level. The capacitor in driving electric circuit is useful to settle this problem. In this study, the electric circuit of linear compressor is analytically investigated with assumption of mechanical resonance. The electric parameters of commercial linear motor are used in the analysis. The effects of capacitor on driving voltage level and power factor are investigated. From analytic results, it is shown that the voltage level can be mimized with using capacitor in driving electric circuit.
