Experimental Testing of a Scroll Compressor with Two-Phase Refrigerant Flows

The present paper introduces an experimental investigation of a scroll compressor working with two-phase refrigerant flows, in the frame of a novel thermodynamic cycle making use of two-phase compressions/expansions called REGEN-BY-2. The design of the test bench dedicated to two-phase compression will first be explained. The objective of this test bench is to assess the performances of the compressor working with a two-phase refrigerant-oil mixture (R1233zd(E)—Emkarate RL32 MAF) under varying conditions such as inlet pressures, inlet vapor qualities, oil circulation ratio, pressure ratios and speeds. In order to investigate losses that could come from an unperfect compression, the pressure ratio can be manipulated to reach over and under compression. The vapor quality can go down to 35% in mass fraction. Finally, the post-processing methodology is detailed and the results of the test bench analyzed, showing the influence of the pressure ratio, the speed, the vapor qualities and the oil circulation ratio on the isentropic and volumetric efficiencies.