• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.5-12
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• 2017

With the difficulties in increasing the efficiency of conventional crank-driven compressors due to mechanical loss, compressor manufacturers have investigated new kinds of compressor such as a free piston compressor mechanism. This study investigates the energy efficiency of two different types of compressor for a household refrigerator. One is the conventional crank-driven compressor, and the other one is a linear compressor. The energy efficiencies of these compressors are evaluated. Experimental results show that the linear compressor has 10% lower power consumption than the brushless direct-current (BLDC) reciprocating compressor. The linear compressor demonstrates excellent energy efficiency by reducing the friction loss. Furthermore, a motor efficiency exceeding 90% is achieved by using a linear oscillating mechanism with a moving magnet. Additionally, the compressor stroke to piston diameter ratio of the oscillating piston in the linear compressor can be adjusted in order to modulate the cooling capacity of the compressor for improved system efficiency.

• 연구논문집
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• s.34
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• pp.39-46
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• 2004

The compressors in the air conditioner have the role of the pressurization and circulation of the refrigerant. The hermetic reciprocating compressors driven by rotary motor have been used for the air conditioner. The linear compressor has very simple structure and enhancement in the efficiency in comparison to that of conventional reciprocating compressor. The linear compressors are widely used for the small cryogenic refrigerator (below 1 kW), such as the Stirling refrigerator and pulse tube refrigerator. In the cryogenic application, the pressure ratio of the linear compressor is below 1.5, but the linear compressor for the air conditioner should overcome the high pressure ratio and the large pressure difference between the each sides of the piston. The resonance characteristics of the linear compressor has the significant impacts on the power consumption. To minimize the power consumption, the linear compressor should be operated at the resonance point. In the resonance characteristics, the role of the mechanical and gas spring should be considered. In present study, the cycle of the analysis of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle with the different refrigerants (R134a, R4l0a, R600a) and the designs of the linear compressor are performed. The effects of the stiffness of the mechanical spring on the electromagnetic forces would be discussed. Finally, the results show the design specification of the linear compressor for the air conditioner.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.49-54
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the linear compressor for Stirling refrigerator. To ensure high performance and long life of the FPFD(Free Piston. Free Displacer) type Stirling refrigerator, the operating parameters of the linear compressor should be optimized. The experimental results show that the operating frequency of the linear compressor has significant effect on the input power characteristics. and that the compressor with higher charging pressure of working fluid has high pressure ratio. For the high performance of the linear compressor. compressor should be operated at the resonance frequency with respect to the given charging pressure.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.35-39
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• 2013

In this paper, we present test results of developed 100 W class linear compressor for Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator. The fabricated linear compressor has dual-opposed configuration, free piston and moving magnet type linear motor. Power transfer, efficiency and required pressure waveform are predicted with designed and measured specifications. In experiments, room temperature test with flow impedance is conducted to evaluate performance of developed linear compressor. Flow impedance is loaded to compressor with metering valve for flow resistance, inertance tube for flow inertance and buffer volumes for flow compliance. Several operating parameters such as input voltage, current, piston displacement and pressure wave are measured for various operating frequency and fixed input current level. Behaviors of dynamics and performance of linear compressor as varying flow impedance are discussed with measured experimental results. The developed linear compressor shows 124 W of input power, 86 % of motor efficiency and 60 % of compressor efficiency at its resonant operating condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.7 s.184
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• pp.122-129
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• 2006

The linear compressor has lately attracted considerable attention because of its low power consumption and excellent efficiency. For an efficient design, it is necessary to develop an analytical model of the linear compressor. The effective flow and force areas are important parameters to describe the behavior of the linear compressor, which are used to determine the mass flow rates through the valving systems and the forces on the valves, respectively. It is not easy to estimate these parameters because shapes of the valve systems of the linear compressor are so different from those of tile conventional valve systems. In this paper, we suggest method to measure experimentally the effective discharge flow and force areas of the linear compressor and analyze valve characteristic to apply the experimental results to their theoretical model.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.476-483
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• 2009

A linear compressor used in a refrigerator has higher energy efficiency than a reciprocating compressor, but its vibration level is still severe than others. The vibration level of linear compressor at the frequency of 60Hz is dominant since it is the exciting frequency of a motor. In this paper, a simulation tool to predict the shell vibration of the linear compressor was developed. The shell and body parts in a compressor were assumed to be 3-dimensional rigid body having both translational and rotational motion, while the reciprocating piston part has only 1-dimensional translational motion. The flexible loop-pipe was modeled by in-house code of finite element method. To verify the developed tool, five cases of different loop-pipe shapes were examined experimentally. The results by the developed tool showed good agreements with those by experiments.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.58-62
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to analyze the charging gas effect on the resonance and performance characteristics of the linear compressor for small scale FPFD Stirling refrigerator. To ensure high performance of FPFD type Stirling refrigerator, the operating frequency of the refrigerator should be around the natural frequency of compressor. The gas spring effect which is induced from Pressure change in cylinder due to motion of pistons has significant effect on the natural frequency of the compressor. The numerical results show the linear compressor has high natural frequency when the charging pressure of working fluid is high and the stroke of compressor, current, input power and efficiency of compressor were shown with different operating conditions.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.11
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• pp.1544-1549
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• 2013

Recently, the linear compressors with the free piston driven by the linear motor have widely attention in the cooling apparatus such as a refrigerator due to high efficiency. The method of using triacs as a linear motor drive is not satisfactory to improve the efficiency of the linear compressor. In this paper, the performance of the linear compressor using a PWM inverter such as the efficiency is investigated with the variations of both mechanical resonant frequency and electrical resonant frequency. The control loop for controlling both the piston stroke and efficiency is suggested. Through simulation and experimental studies, the performance of both the stroke and angle controls for improving the efficiency of the linear compressor is verified.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1026-1030
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• 2007

A linear compressor used in a refrigerator has higher energy efficiency than a reciprocating compressor. But its vibration level is still severe than others. The vibration level of linear compressor at the frequency of 60Hz is dominant since it is the exciting frequency of a motor. Experimental approach to reduce the vibration needs much effort and long period. In this paper, simulation tool to predict the vibration of the shell of the linear compressor was developed. The piston, body and shell are assumed to be rigid, while the loop pipe is flexible. The results by the developed tool showed good agreements with those by experiments.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.424-429
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• 2003

A reciprocating compressor with a rotary motor used in a refrigerator has low efficiency, because it has the large mechanical losses due to the crank mechanism. The linear compressor which has the free piston driven by a linear motor, was developed to increase the efficiency of compressor by reducing mechanical losses. The TRIAC has been widely used for controlling the piston, because it has simple structure. However, as it is able to control only stator voltage, it is very difficult to obtain good efficiency. Recently, PWM inverter which is able to control the voltage as well as the frequency, is applied to linear compressor drive system to overcome above problem. In this paper, the variations for efficiency and power factor of linear compressor are investigated by changing both the mechanical resonant frequency and electrical resonant frequency of linear compressor, and also the inverter frequency The optimum relationships between both resonant frequencies and the inverter frequency is derived in order to obtain the maximum efficiency and also good power factor.