Development of Liquid-Flooded Scroll Compressor and Expander Models

The Liquid Flooded Ericsson Cooler (LFEC) is a gas refrigeration cycle that uses liquid flooding of both the compressor and the expander to achieve nearly isothermal compression and expansion processes as developed by Hugenroth et al. (2007). Efficiency of the LFEC strongly depends on the efficiencies of the compressor and the expander. It is hoped that the LFEC can be a commercially competitive cooling technology, but for these hopes to be realized, high efficiencies for the compressor and expander must be achieved. In order to optimize the design of the compressor and the expander, comprehensive models of both machines have been developed. Validation of the models and analysis of these machines are presented in two separate papers (Bell et al. 2008, Lemort et al. 2008). The models are mechanistic and allow investigation of the influence of design changes and operating conditions on performance.