HEAT EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE GAS AND CYLINDER IN RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR

Abstract

Heat transfer between the gas and metal parts of a reciprocating compressor (cylinder wall and cover, and piston) has significant effect upon the reciprocating compressor performance, the temperature of the valves, etc. This has given rise to a number of theoretical and experimental studies, mainly in the field of hermetic refrigeration compressors. Therefore, the currently available heat transfer models are not useful for small, air-cooled, air compressors used on commercial vehicles, tractors, etc. inside of their braking and other auxiliary systems. This paper presents an investigation about heat transfer in small, fast running reciprocating compressor. One promising simple unsteady model was implemented for predicting the cylinder heat transfer. However, more measurement date is required before a fully qualified statement as to its general utility can be made. The authors hope to obtain these on the test rig for small air compressors in the Engine Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering of Kragujevac University. That is mainly concerning to the heat flux measurement, because the application one commercial sensor is specifically analyzed.