Numerical simulation of piston leakage over hermetic reciprocating compressors behavior J Rigola, C D Pérez-Segarra, A Oliva Centre Tecnoldgic de Transferéncia de Calor (CTC) Universitat Polit&cnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain Instantaneous flow leakage between piston and cylinder is numerically evaluated. Reynolds equation is solved to calculate the pressure leakage distribution through the piston in the compressor. Piston movement inside the cylinder is simulated from kinematic analysis of the connecting rod mechanical system and the respective force balances. An updated version of this model (1) is here presented for different working range compressors and fluid refrigerants compressor chamber pressures distribution. The influence of flow leakage, clearance ratio, oil viscosity, friction losses and mechanical system force balances is also evaluated. The present model needs the instantaneous fluid pressure distribution inside compression chamber and compressor shell as boundary conditions, while, simplified correlations of mass flow leakage feeds the numerical simulation model of hermetic reciprocating compressors (2)(3) where the instantaneous pressure distribution is obtained. In that sense both numerical results are obtained. NOMENCLATURE clearance gap (m) Mgp wrist pin mass (kg) CG Center of mass p pressure (Pa) F Force vector (N) 1, Crankshaft radius (m) k friction factor © I _ Inertia moment (kgm?) T Moment (Nm) L Piston legth (m) 2, piston top CG piston distance (m) 4 Conneting rod length (m) owe (anray 4; crankshaft connecting rod CG V, Piston velocity (m/s) distance (m) m, piston mass (kg) 2, piston top CG piston distance (m) 1 INTRODUCTION If pressure evolution over both compression chamber and shell, together with experimental motor torque vs. frequency map are known, it is possible to evaluate: © IMechE, 2009 375the instantaneous crank angle acceleration @, the force between piston and connecting rod F, and the force between crankshaft and connecting rod F,. These values are obtained from force balance on piston, crank shaft and connecting rod mechanisms (see Figure 1), where friction force F, between piston and cylinder is also necessary. The piston also presents small oscillatory motions in the cylinder bore due to instantaneous variations between compression chamber and shell gas Pressures, the force between piston and connecting rod F,, the hydrodynamic force F, and moment 7, developed in the oil film and the friction moment between piston and cylinder 7, . In the present paper an updated resolution (1) of the set of algebraic equations on mechanical system and piston secondary dynamics is presented, together with a wide analysis of numerical results obtained. These results previously needs the instantaneous fluid pressure distribution inside compression chamber and compressor shell used as boundary conditions obtained from the numerical simulation model of hermetic reciprocating compressors (2)(3). These second numerical simulation model also uses semi-empirical expressions to obtain the instantaneous mass flow leakage (4). The present paper also shows a first comparative analysis between both results considering 3 compressor types of 8.0, 16.0 and 2.5 cc for R134a, R600a and R744 fluid refrigerants. First numerical models for piston lubrication are found in technical literature review after the eighties, analyzing the effects on surface waviness, roughness, bulk elastic deformation and thermal distortion of both piston skirts and cylnder bore on piston motion (5), taking into account the effects of piston cylinder gecmetry or isothermal and adiabatic conditions (6) or piston secondary dynamics simultaneously solving skirt lubrication and skirt elastic deformation (7). A second group of papers are basically focused on: i) the dynamic analysis of piston secondary motion and ii) the numerical analysis of the flow leakage and the corresponding hydrodynamic force acting of piston skirt (8), (9), (10). A first version model with preliminary results presented by the authors in 2001 (1) works in this second group. An updated version of the model is here p-esented, where the moment balance in the crankshaft and instantaneous motor torque due to instantaneous motor frequency is considered, together with and extensive study on numerical results presented. 2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FLUID FLOW THROUGH PISTON LEAKAGE A brief explanation of the numerical simulation model developed for the instantaneous mass flow leakage between piston and cylinder is presented. The aim of the model is to obtain the local instantaneous oil leakage given as function of the pressure distribution in the oil film and the local oil thickness through the radial clearance. Thus, flow leakage depends on piston dynamics and its lubrication. The action of forces and moments on piston action are taken into account in the kinematics analysis of the crankshaft connecting rod mechanical system in order to determine the piston oscillations, trajectory, velocity and acceleration at each time step. The hydrodynamic force and moment are obtained from the integration of the pressure distribution on the piston skirt. The time dependent Reynolds equation that governs the oil flow and specifies the instantaneous leakage pressure is numerically solved coupled with the oil film using a control volume approach and a SOR method solution. A Newton-Raphson 376procedure is used to solve the second piston dynamic equations. Finally, the kinematic analysis of piston crankshaft connecting rod mechanical system is obtained: the instantaneous piston oscillation, position, velocity and acceleration, the instantaneous local oil pressure and thickness distribution through radial clearance, together with instantaneous mass flow leakage. 2.1 Kinematic analysis of the mechanical system Based on the piston crankshaft connecting rod mechanical system scheme shown in Figure 1 and considering that piston movement through cylinder is relatively small, the center of mass of the piston é,< and the tilt angle y with respect to the cylinder axis can be written as a function of ¢,=e,/¢ and «, = e,/c which are the non-dimensional top and bottom eccentricities time derivate with respect to the angle dr =6-dt. (2) The horizontal displacement of piston is evaluated considering geometric conditions, and its time derivation. Keg, = (es C080 + Ay) P+ (Ig SiN + By)-G @) where, ~cos? @ L, cosa 5, A -sina - B, B, = fs S080 ° * « L, cosa The connecting rod center of mass is geometrically defined and its time derivate is as follows: Kea, = Wes “e080 +A) +(re:sino 2-6,) 6 (4) Yea, =~fesSiNO ( — (5) 3772.2 Dynamic analysis of the mechanical system Once the kinematic analysis has been described, is necessary to develop the dynamic balances based on the different parts of the mechanical system free body diagrams, as Figure 2 depicts. Figure 2.Free body diagrams: a) piston; b) connecting rod; c) crankshaft. The dynamic analysis equations based on the free body diagrams of Figure 2 present the next 7 equations to be solved. Foy + Fir — Fox = (Mp + up) ca, (6) Fy — Foy = (Mp + yp) Veo, (7) Tr + Tr = Ip¥ (8) Fox + Fox = MXco, (9) Fry + Foy = MeVco, (10) Fogy (Ly — Lp) Sin ce ~ Fyy (Ly ~ Ly) COS a + Fyyly SiN @ — FyyLy COS + Ty ~ Ty = Iyéé (11) Figgles SIN 8 — Fy fey COS 8 + Try = —Ieg (12) The first part of the problem is to solve the set of equations (6)-(12). 2.3 Forces and moments evaluation The second part of the problem is to define how to evaluate the different external forces and moments which acts on the mechanical transmission system. The force due to the gas, F, is considered as F, = x-R?-(Dz—Payey), While instantaneous motor torque vs. instantaneous angular velocity has to be introduced as a boundary condition. On the other hand, moments due to friction bearing in piston wrist-pin, crankshaft connecting rod and crankshaft bearing are evaluated respectively as: T, SGN (a) - ky «Fon ° (\Fox| + |For) (13) Ty = kp to *(lFoxl + |Foy[) Te = ke ‘Fee *(\Foel * [Foy|) (a4) Finally, the hydrodynamic force F,, between piston and cylinder bore due to the pressure distribution by the oil film, can only be obtained once the pressure distribution has been determined by means of the average Reynolds equation. 378Under the assumption that fluid is incompressible and Newtonian, constant fluid properties, turbulence and inertia effects are negligible, rigid solid bodies and the fluid film has enough small thickness to consider that the pressure distribution does not depend on radial coordinate, (i.e. p = p(¢,z) ), the equation can be written as: 8{,30p a(,3a4p p ah _ oh 2p? P|, 2) p32) --12, a 15 a 2)+e( zs) (RE a a oe) where £=z/R and x is the oil viscosity. The local oil film thickness fh can be expressed in terms of top and bottom eccentricities as: h ~eft-[a “( -0)¢ Ecos 9} (16) Pec And Pipe are the top and bottom boundary conditions respectively when z= 0 and z = L. Periodic conditions are used along ¢ direction. Once the instantaneous oil pressure film distribution and instantaneous film thickness is known, the hydrodynamic force and moment, together with the friction force and moment can be evaluated. Fy =~ £* (0,2) R cos sagdz) (17) =-f [" [(0(¢,2) Ros ddddz)\(z_ - z) dgdz (18) =o" (2-04 “Ragas (19) ~-G [B+ Ht |Rcoss- Ragas (20) 2.4 Global algorithm resolution A first differential set of equations (6), (9), (10), (11) and (12) without considering piston oscillations is solved at each time step by means of the direct LU method, allow obtaining the instantaneous angular acceleration 6, and forces Fy, Fy» F,, and F,,. Instantaneous crank angle velocity @ and crank angle position @ are obtained from the instantaneous angular acceleration @ using the Adams Hamilton second order fully implicit method. The piston position in x direction xo, is also obtained. A second set of equations (7) and (8) that models piston oscillations are written as function of é, and é, ina fully implicit formulation. An iterative process is needed supposing < and «, values together with the instantaneous oil film thickness distribution h obtained from equation (16). Then, Reynolds equation (15) is numerically solved employing finite volume method resolution and obtaining the pressure leakage distribution. Figure 3 shows the numerical algorithm in detail. 379Top and bottom radial piston positions and accelerations are obtained from , @) » (6), T (6), BDC. exeabai > top and bottom radial piston velocities 2LPagl®, TAO), BDC 8 ES: ase AT EACH TIME STEP t =1 +4 t (Fe — & = 62 +8 - Ar 6, 62 +8, Ar - : (21) Resolution (6),(9),(10),(11),(12) by LU method ope 7 FoR Roh O +6 +0 Ky) & = (6, -8?)/Ar -&)/Ar ' (22) <(O-O*/0 scheme, through a finite volume . al approach. The discretized set of PaE* FoF * etc. governing equations is directly solved 2B x by the SOR method using a cyclic tri- i diagonal matrix algorithm (CTDMA) in global wocaraey == angular direction and _ tri-diagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA) in axial Figure 3. Global numerical direction. In some cases, non-realistic resolution algorithm. pressure values can be obtained from equation (15). In this situation, the oil film cannot sustain pressure values smaller than the gas pressure at the edges of the piston skirt and the cavitation occurs. When cavitation occurs, the problem is numerically solved calculating the fluid pressure in this point as an interpolation of the neighbours pressure. It is interesting to remark that F,, is the force evaluated from the results obtained in the second set of equations that is necessary in the first set of equations, while F,y is the only force included in both set of equations. Then, the final numerical solution is based on an iterative process at each time step, where once the first set of equations has been solved, supposing a F,, crank angle degree and F,, are obtained and included to solve the second set of equations, which allows to obtain F,,. The iterative solution procedure is converged when periodic solution on piston trajectory, forces, moments and eccentricities are obtained. 3 NUMERICAL RESULTS Three different hermetic reciprocating compressors of 8.0, 16.0 and 2.5 cc for commercial applications using different fluid refrigerants R134a, R600a and R744, respectively have been numerically tested (2)(3) in order to obtain compression chamber and shell fluid pressures (see Figure 4). An experimental motor torque vs. angular velocity curve is needed to be used on instantaneous piston position. 380(©) : oe a a j P| & 5 2, Fay 3 L.. a wet oy io amy i rank angle (dep) EB Bs Bs Q of oe inp Ea BE ! IR a I ad Figure 4. Gas pressure distribution and motor torque (a) R134a; (b) R600a; (c) R744, Figure 5 shows instantaneous oil film pressure distribution at 90° (a), 270° (b) and 360° (c) crankshaft angles, where pressure profile evolution is indicated over the three different compressors of 8.0 cc (top); 16.0 cc (middle) and 2.5 cc (bottom), Figure 5. Instantaneous oil film pressure distribution at different crankshaft angles for different compressors of 8.0 cc; 16.0 cc and 2.5 cc, respectively. Figure 6 shows the numerical results obtained for the three studied cases. First column shows the forces acting on piston connecting rod and connecting rod crankshaft connection; second column shows hydrodynamic forces and moments, 381while third column depicts friction force over piston and instantaneous angular velocity and acceleration. = 2 a i La is foal jo is R - 08 is a : 9} 0 a Ta TST joo Sanco 3 i s ‘co i duct Ll : 3 4 53 1 i if : i 2 i i i : Leds at an i Feit i ae A dam a 13800360 8TH ek a0 @ ‘onknle es) ‘nk anle ee) ak angle eg) 9 — a i _ a a im ie io = “a oy a i a Se a : : | - ie ie a F io 5.0! og i ? a “a a i a bt Tash she canis a a3 va 2 30} LS i bs ti bas a ? se > comme [VI , @ 10 18d E 13518 S40 300 Se ©) men aacgren - 7 = : i i it S 200} ff seo) lo § 5 SEs lo oe sf Eee i jee tn 3 2 & fo) 0 8 i Baa Ps of cee I = 120 1k 240 300 ay jo aban i - i § ol fom, i ld i’ i 4 js $ 209 t gan — . i eae TT ” any ee oT 0e rank angle (ep) 0 ck nal (eg) wr 1a cron sgl) Figure 6. Forces and moment balances over 8.0 cc (a); 16.0 cc (b) 382 and 2.5 cc (c).Numerical results of Figure 6 show that: i) F,, - F,,., and also Ff, - F,, present very similar values in all studied cases; ii) F,- -F,,, and 7, - T;, present very similar a completely symmetric values in all studied cases; while iii) angular acceleration and velocity maps present the same behaviour in all studied cases, which are more influenced on working boundary conditions than compression chamber volume. Once the detailed numerical results have been obtained a parametric analysis on clearance ratio and oil viscosity influence is presented in Figure 7. ©) >. Figure 7. Average oil flow and power consumption: 8.0, 16.0 and 2.5 cc, respectively. Global numerical results show how oil flow exponentially increases and power consumption exponentially decreases with clearance ratio, while oil flow exponentially decreases and power consumption linearly increases with oil viscosity. Figure 8 shows the non-dimensional top and bottom eccentricity of the three initial studied cases for R134a compressor of 8.0 cc (a) with a clearance of 0.005 mm; for R600a compressor of 16.0 cc (b) with the same clearance and for R744 compressor of 2.5 cc (c) with a clearance of 0.0025 mm. Finally, Figure 9 depicts the non- dimensional eccentricity and tilt angle for the same cases function of clearance ratio. Bee Shoes a 4 HES i ae ge = £ baa io 2 of : i aa qe I i i rh cabEs ro a ee ae a a a a eC as ae aes Figure 8. Non-dimensional top and bottom eccentricity over 8.0, 16.0 and 2.5 cc. 383y 7 — os £ if ons he 3 bE I a eel fas oo ba 5 ‘ be ‘ eC ig aaa 1 ae id Sox te ee aC) uk pa Figure 9. Non-dimensional eccent y and tilt angle vs. clearance ratio for the same cases. CONCLUSIONS Numerical results over an updated simulation model (1) are here presented. All three studied cases present same tendencies in both global and detailed numerical results. Comparative global and detailed numerical results between cases (a) and (b) shows forces, moments of similar magnitude, while case (c) are clearly 2 or 3 times higher. Comparative results on clearance ratio influence present the same conclusions. Finally, both numerical results on oil leakage analysis (1) and mass flow leakage through compressor (4) indicates that for the clearance ratio selected: i) leakage on R134a case is the double than R600a case; while ii) leakage on R744 case is between two and three times R134a case. REFERENCES (1) J. Rigola, C.D. Pérez-Segarra, A. Oliva, Numerical simulation of the leakage through the radial clearance between piston and cylinder in hermetic reciprocating compressors, Int. Conference on Compressors and Their Systems, C6152/062/2003, 2003. (2) C.D. Pérez-Segarra, J. Rigola, A. Oliva, Modelling and numerical simulation of the thermal and fluid dynamic behaviour of hermetic reciprocating compressors. Part 1. 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