• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.452-458
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• 2004

The major cause of compressor failure is the decrease of oil viscosity due to floodback. In most previous researches on the compressor reliability, the relationship between oil circulation rate and performance or oil viscosity has been studied. Another research topic is flow visualization by using a sight glass on the bottom of a compressor sump area and accumulator. Both oil film thickness and oil level through the sight glass should be assessed for compressor reliability if the oil content of the mixture is small and low viscosity raise poor lubrication of pump bearing. In this study, the compressor reliability was assessed by measuring the viscosity of the mixture and calculating oil film thickness. The analysis of the relationship between bottom shell super heat and oil film thickness at heating operation was peformed. It is concluded that bottom shell superheat does not perfectly stand for the mixture's behavior for a low ambient heating operation and oil film thickness can give more detailed and direct criteria for compressor reliability.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.254-261
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• 2006

The effect of enhanced geometry (pore diameter, gap width) is investigated on the pool boiling of R-123/oil mixture for the enhanced tubes having pores with connecting gaps. Tubes with different pore diameters (and corresponding gap widths) are specially made. Significant heat transfer degradation by oil is observed for the present enhanced tubes. At 5% oil concentration, the degradation is 26 to 49% for $T_{sat}=4.4^{\circ}C$. The degradation increases 50 to 67% for $T_{sat}=26.7^{\circ}C$. The heat transfer degradation is significant even with small amount of oil (20 to 38% degradation at 1% oil concentration for $T_{sat}=4.4^{\circ}C$), probably due to the accumulation of oil in sub-tunnels. The pore size (or gap width) has a significant effect on the heat transfer degradation. The maximum degradation is observed for $d_p$ = 0.20 mm tube at $T_{sat}=4.4^{\circ}C$, and for $d_p$=0.23 mm tube at $T_{sat}=26.7^{\circ}C$. The minimum degradation is observed for $d_p$=0.27 mm tube for both saturation temperatures. It appears that the oil removal is facilitated for the larger pore diameter (along with larger gap) tube. The highest heat transfer coefficient with oil is obtained for $d_p$ =0.23 mm tube, which yielded the highest heat transfer coefficient for pure R-123. The heat transfer degradation increases as the heat flux decreases.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.652-657
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• 2007

This paper is an interim report on the investigation of thermodynamic properties of $CO_2$/oil mixture refrigerant. First, liquid density of POE (poly-ol ester) and PAG (poly alkylene glycol) were measured and expressed as a function of temperature. Then, a solubility equation was developed which enables us to calculate the weight fraction of $CO_2$ for the mixture in a liquid state. An experimental apparatus with a cell was constructed to measure P-$\upsilon$-T-$\chi$ data for $CO_2$/oil mixture. The volume of the cell was determined using a certain formula considering change in volume as a function of temperature and pressure. Then, experimental data were obtained over the temperatures $40^{\circ}C$, $50^{\circ}C$, $60^{\circ}C$, $70^{\circ}C$ and $80^{\circ}C$ with various mole fractions. Finally, assuming a primitive model of ideal gas, the volume of $CO_2$/oil mixture was predicted with a relatively larger error of 5.05% for $CO_2$/PAG and 8.81% for $CO_2$/POE. The volume of $CO_2$/oil mixtures would be better predicted using an appropriate equation of state, of which results will be reported soon.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.2129-2134
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• 2004

The present study has been conducted to develop a heat pump system using river water of temperature energy which not only belongs to unutilized energy but is a kind of good heat source due to maintain its temperature in a certain degree regardless of seasonal variation. The system did not meet the proposed performance after setup. In this paper, the system performance affected by refrigerant Oil, by pressure drop, or by other factors has been discussed. The followings were obtained : (1) Refrigerant Oil mixture rate was 2.5 in weight percentage, (2) Pressure drop through evaporator was 29.1kPa($3.1^{\circ}C$ in saturated tempearture) (3) Pressure drop from the end of evaporator to compressor inlet was 39.8kPa($4.0^{\circ}C$ in saturated tempearture). (4) The system performance can to be improved by modifying a part of pipe line to compressor, and reducing pressure drop through heat exchangers.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.590-595
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• 2006

This paper presents the friction and anti-wear characteristics of nano-oil with a mixture of a refrigerant oil and carbon nano-particles in the thrust slide-bearing of scroll compressors. Frictional loss in the thrust slide-bearing occupies a large part of total mechanical loss in scroll compressors. The characteristics of friction and anti-wear using nano-oil are evaluated using the thrust bearing tester for measuring friction surface temperature and the coefficient of friction at the thrust slide-bearing as a function of normal loads up to 4,000 N and orbiting speed up to 3,200 rpm. It is found that the coefficient of friction increases with decreasing orbiting speed and normal force. The friction coefficient of carbon nano-oil is 0.015, while that of pure oil is 0.023 under the conditions of refrigerant gas R-22 at the pressure of 5 bars. It is believed that carbon nano-particles can be coated on the friction surfaces and the interaction of nano-particles between surfaces can be improved the lubrication in the friction surfaces. Carbon nano-oil enhances the characteristics of the anti-wear and friction at the thrust slide-bearing of scroll compressors.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.473-483
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• 1996

To protect the ozone layer, R22 will be replaced with HFCs. R407C is a leading candidate as alternative refrigerant for air conditioner due to its similar thermodynamic characteristics with R22. In replacing R22 with R407C, the compatibility with lubricating oil is of major concern. Polyol ester (POE) oil among the synthetic oils is considered to be the best lubricant for use with R407C because of good electrical properties and miscibility. However, lubricating ability of mixture of R407C/POE oil is lower than that of R22/mineral oil due to the production of acid by hydrolysis which causes corrosive wear. Therefore, to minimize water content, it is needed to develop a molecular sieve desiccant which is compatible with R407C and ester oil. This paper discusses (1) the change of properties of POE oil when current molecular seive is used, (2) the effects of POE oils and additives on durability of compressor. Through compressor life test and bench wear test, it was found that inadequate use of POE oils and additives may promote the deteriation of molecular sieve, resulting in decrease of durability of compressor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2017

The performance of refrigerant oil at the thrust bearing and at the journal bearing of a scroll compressor is a significant factor. This paper presents the friction and anti-wear characteristics of nano-fluid with a mixture of a refrigerant oil and nano powders. The particle size distribution and oxidation stability of nano powders prepared by the electrical explosion method were analyzed by TEM and BET. It was found that the nanoparticles showed a spherical morphology with sizes ranging of 40-60 nm and were covered with graphite layers of 2-4 nm. The thermal conductivity of POE oil was 0.1-0.5W/mk higher than that of POE oil. The coefficient of friction of Cu-POE was found to be 0.1 higher than that of Al2O3. The cooling capacity of the heat pump with nanofluid increased to 3.67%, and the performance was improved by 5.83%.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.901-907
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• 2000

The conceptual determination of mixed-refrigerant (MR) for a closed Joule-Thomson cryocooler is described in this paper. The thermodynamic cycle design was mainly considered to develop a cryocooler by using a compressor of domestic air-conditioning unit. The target cooling performance of the designed cryocooler is 10 W around 70 K with less than 5 kJ/kg enthalpy rise. The systematic approach of choosing a proper refrigerant among 20 different kinds of mixture for such cryogenic temperature was introduced in detail. The main components of the cryocooler are compressor, evaporator, oil separator, after-cooler, counterflow heat exchanger, and J-T expansion device. Due to the limitation of the compressor operation range, the temperature after the compression was limited below $117^{\circ}C$ (390 K) and the temperature before compression was restricted above $5^{\circ}C$ (278 K). 20 atm of discharging pressure (high pressure) and less than 3 atm suction pressure (low pressure) were the design conditions. The inlet temperature of a counterflow heat exchanger in the high Pressure side was about 300 K. The proper composition of the mixed refrigerant for the designed J-T cryocooler is 15% mol of$ N_2, 30% mol of $CH_4,\; 30% mol\; of C^2H^ 6,\; 10%\; mol\; of\; C_3H_8\; and \;15%\; mol\; of\; i-C_4H_10$.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.189-193
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• 2008

Performance of refrigerant oil at the thrust-bearing and at the journal-bearing of a scroll compressor is a significant factor. This paper presents the friction and anti-wear characteristics of nano oil with a mixture of a refrigerant oil and carbon nano particles in the journal bearing of scroll compressors. The characteristics of friction and anti-wear using nano-oil is evaluated using the disk on disk tester and the journal bearing tester for measuring friction surface temperature and the coefficient of friction at the journal bearing tester. In journal bearing test, the average friction coefficient of high concentration nano-oil was decreased down to 18% compared to raw oil under 4,500 N and 3,600 rpm. It is believed that nano particles can be coated on the wear surfaces and the interaction of nano particles between surfaces can be improved the lubrication in the friction surfaces. Worn surfaces of frictional specimen were measured with straightness. carbon nano oil enhances the characteristics of the anti-wear and friction at the joural bearing of scroll compressors.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.590-598
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• 2008

In this study, performance of R170/R290 mixtures is measured on a heat pump bench tester in an attempt to substitute R22. The bench tester is equipped with a commercial hermetic rotary compressor providing a nominal capacity of 3.5kW. All tests are conducted under the summer cooling and winter heating conditions of $7/45^{\circ}C$ and $-7/41^{\circ}C$ in the evaporator and condenser respectively. During the tests, the composition of R170 is varied from 0 to 10% with an interval of 2%. Test results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) and capacity of R290 are up to 15.4% higher and 7.5% lower than those of R22 for both conditions respectively. For R170/R290 mixture, the COP decreases and the capacity increases with an increase in the amount of R170. The mixture of 4%R170/96%R290 shows the similar capacity and COP as those of R22. For the mixture, the compressor discharge temperature is $16{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ lower than that of R22. There is no problem with mineral oil since the mixture is mainly composed of hydrocarbons. The amount of charge is reduced up to 58% as compared to R22. Overall, R170/R290 mixture is a good long term 'drop-in' candidate to replace R22 in residential air-conditioners and heat pumps.