• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.12-19
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• 2015

As a means of improving cycle performance of a R410A air-conditioning system, a combined structure of compressor and expander was introduced. A vane rotary type expander was designed to share a common shaft with twin type rolling piston rotary compressor in a housing. Numerical simulation on the performance of the combined compressor and expander was carried out. At ARI condition, the volumetric and total efficiencies of the designed vane expander were 69.37% and 30.23%, respectively. With the application of this expander, the compressor input was reduced by 3.91%, and the cooling capacity was increased by 3.98%. As a result, COP of the air-conditioning system was improved by 8.2%. As the pressure difference between the condenser and the evaporator becomes large, COP improvement increases unless the mass flow rate in the expander exceeds that in the compressor.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.11-19
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• 2009

This paper introduces a conceptual design of a combined scroll expander-compressor unit for a fuel cell. Since air discharged out of the fuel cell stack has still high pressure energy, some power can be extracted from the air by directing it to pass through an expanding device. Such extracted power can be used to drive an auxiliary compressor. For this purpose, a scroll type expander coupled to a scroll type compressor was designed for a 1kW-class fuel cell. The orbiting scroll members of the expander and the compressor were made to share three of common drive shafts installed in the mid frame plate. Performance analysis for the combined expander-compressor unit showed that the installation of this unit could reduce the auxiliary power consumption in the fuel cell by about 42%.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.107-115
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• 2018

A design combining the use of a compressor and expander was introduced in order to improve the cycle performance of a $CO_2$ automotive air conditioning system. Both the compressor and expander used were of rotary vane type and were designed to share a common shaft in a housing. Numerical simulation was carried out to evaluate the merit of the combined unit. In a typical automotive air conditioning operating conditions, the COP of the system was improved by 8.7% by the application of the combined unit. The compressor input was reduced by 5.2% through use of the expander output. In addition, about 3.06% increase in the cooling capacity was obtained through isentropic expansion in the expander. Our study noted that, as the pressure difference between the gas cooler and the evaporator becomes larger, the COP of the system improved increases unless the mass flow rate in the expander exceeds that in the compressor.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.578-583
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• 2006

This paper introduces conceptual design of scroll expander-compressor unit for fuel cell. Since air discharged out of the fuel cell stack after reaction has still high pressure energy, some power can be extracted out of it by directing it to pass through an expanding device so that the extracted power can be used to drive an auxiliary compressor. For this purpose, a scroll type expander coupled to a scroll type compressor was designed: orbiting scroll of the expander and that of the compressor were made to share three of common drive pins installed in the mid frame plate, and central cavity in the mid-plate was used as a back pressure chamber to provide axial compliance for both orbiting scrolls. Performance analysis for the expander showed that the shaft power of the expander could reduce the auxiliary power consumption in the fuel cell by about one third at the scroll clearance of $10{\mu}m$.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.397-403
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• 2007

In this paper, conceptual design of scroll expander-compressor for Stirling engine utilizing solar energy as heat source has been carried out. Orbiting scroll member was designed to have a double-sided structure to reduce the overall scroll size and to cancel out the axial forces on the orbiting scroll base plate. Diameter of designed scroll base plate was about 251 mm for the expander, and it was about 218 mm for the compressor. With operating condition such as temperature range of $400^{\circ}C/20^{\circ}C$, pressure range of 6 MPa/2 MPa, and shaft speed of 2700 rpm, the shaft output of the designed scroll expander was calculated to be 49.8 kW, while input power for the scroll compressor was 38.6 kW, yielding 11.2 kW for the output power of the Stirling engine. Overall efficiencies of the scroll expander and compressor were 93.73% and 92.87%, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.434-442
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• 2006

In a two-stage compression $CO_2$ transcritical cycle, application of a scroll expander-compressor unit has been considered in order to improve the cycle COP. For both expander and 1st stage compressor, scroll wrap profile which was originally designed for a R410A air-conditioning cycle mechanism was used with minor modifications: wrap height and involute end angle were adjusted for required displacement volume and built-in volume ratio. For pressure condition of 10 Mpa/3.5 MPa and expander inlet temperature of $35^{\circ}C$, 25% improvement in COP was obtained by using expander-compressor unit. As evaporator pressure increased, COP improvement was lowered mainly due to decreasing compressor peformance.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.94-102
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• 2009

Conceptual design of scroll expander and scroll compressor for 10kW-class Stirling engine utilizing solar energy as heat source has been carried out to estimate the applicability of scroll mechanism for Stirling cycle. CO2 was chosen as working fluid, since it has lower expansion index and higher density among probably usable gases. Gas temperature at the expander inlet was set at $700^{\circ}C$, and that at the compressor inlet was at $40^{\circ}C$. System efficiency reached maximum at the pressure ratio of about 2.5, and the peak efficiency increased with increasing high side pressure. Due to safety concern, the pressure condition of 6 MPa/2.5 MPa was chosen as design condition. Orbiting scroll members for the expander and compressor were designed to have double-sided structure in order to reduce the overall scroll size and to cancel out the axial gas forces acting on the orbiting scroll base plate. By parametric study on the scroll profile, smaller possible size for the scroll members was obtained. With the shaft speed of 3600rpm, the shaft output of the designed scroll expander was calculated to be 45.4kW, while input power for the scroll compressor was 34.5kW, yielding 10.9kW for the output power of the Stirling engine. System efficiency was estimated to be about 7.3%, and overall efficiencies of the scroll expander and compressor were around 84.1% and 88.3%, respectively.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.225-231
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• 2004

Scroll compressor has been used extensively for refrigeration since the early 1980's for its improved efficiency, greater reliability, smoother operation, lower noise and vibration. And also, nowadays, the scroll mechanism is used for expander even though in niche market yet. But scroll expander has not been used for high-temperature and high-pressure gas, because the continuous expansion of the gas causes a wide range of temperature distribution over the whole scroll wrap that leads to differential thermal expansion of scroll elements, which results in system vibrations, noise and efficiency losses. For the scroll expander to produce power more efficiently, all of radial and radial clearances between scroll wrap must be the same. In order to reduce differential thermal expansion in addition to improvements in thermal efficiency and specific power, we propose a scroll expander with heating structure. Heat-pipe heating structure is considered as the most effective method to heat the scroll expander at a uniform temperature. This paper includes some results of preliminary study of the scroll expander with heating structure and proposals of their systems for power generation and refrigeration.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.118-123
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• 2001

The linear compressor have been widely used for pressure wave generation in the Stirling cryocooler and Stirling type pulse tube cryocooler for tactical purpose. The linear compressor has small and compact structure, and long life due to having non-contact sealing mechanism. and the pressure drop through regenerator was ver important role in the motion of displacer in the expander of the Stirling cryocooler. In this study, the characteristic of the linear compressor and the pressure drop through regenerator in the expander was experimentally investigated. The results show the resonance of the compressor is very important to get maximum performance. and the gas spring force in the compression space of the compressor has effect on the characteristic of reonance. and the results show the pressure drop through regenerator is very small than operating pressure change.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.157-160
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• 2006

A turbo-expander is developed for the regeneration in the expansion process. The turbo-expander operates in the partial admission and supersonic flow, and an axial-type single stage turbine is applied to the turbo-expander. Its outer diameter is 82mm and the operating gas is R134a. A 15kW reciprocating compressor is applied in this experiment and the turbo-expander is installed in the expansion process instead of the commonly using expansion valve. Two supersonic nozzles are applied for the expansion process. The high speed of R 134a after passing the supersonic nozzles gives the impulse force to the turbo-expander and some powers are generated on this process. A generator is installed at the end of the turbo-expander shaft. The generating output power from the turbo-expander is controlled by the power controller. Pressures and temperatures are measured on the lines for the performance investigation. More than 600W/(kg/sec) are generated in this experiment.