Performance Investigation of External Water Cooling for the Fixed Scroll of a Scroll Compressor under Central Tangential Inlet Conditions

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jes.202602203

Author(s)

Shuai Zhong

Affiliation(s)

School of Chemical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

To address the high-temperature hotspot in the central discharge region of the fixed scroll in a scroll compressor, an external water-cooling structure was proposed, in which cooling water enters tangentially through the side annular cavity of the central discharge port and then flows outward through radially divergent channels. A three-dimensional steady-state conjugate heat transfer model was established to investigate the effects of channel number, inlet configuration, and inlet swirl intensity on cooling performance. The results show that, as the number of channels increases from 4 to 12, the average surface temperature of the fixed scroll decreases from 47.219 °C to 45.998 °C, and the maximum surface temperature decreases from 102.730 °C to 99.655 °C, while the pressure drop increases from 4479.72 Pa to 4723.48 Pa. When the number of channels is further increased to 14, both the temperature-related indices and the pressure drop deteriorate. Compared with the double-inlet configuration, the single-inlet configuration achieves lower average and maximum surface temperatures, whereas the double-inlet configuration yields a lower overall average temperature and a lower pressure drop. As the inlet swirl intensity increases, the average surface temperature decreases from 48.954 °C to 46.038 °C, and the maximum surface temperature decreases from 104.22 °C to 99.42 °C, while the pressure drop rises from 1393.08 Pa to 4716.65 Pa. Overall, the 12-channel single-inlet high-swirl configuration is more suitable for enhanced cooling conditions, whereas the 8–10 channel single-inlet medium-swirl configuration provides a better balance between cooling effectiveness and flow resistance.

Keywords

Scroll Compressor; Fixed Scroll Cooling; Radial Flow Channels; Numerical Simulation; Tangential Inlet; External Water Cooling

References

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