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International Compressor Engineering Conference School of Mechanical Engineering

2000

Direct Torque Measurement of Hermetic Rotary

Compressors Using Strain Gauge
M. Matsushima
Osaka City University

T. Nomura
Osaka City University

N. Nishimura
Osaka City University

H. Iyota
Osaka City University

K. Inaba
Hitachi Tochigi Technology Co.

Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/icec

Matsushima, M.; Nomura, T.; Nishimura, N.; Iyota, H.; and Inaba, K., "Direct Torque Measurement of Hermetic Rotary Compressors
Using Strain Gauge" (2000). International Compressor Engineering Conference. Paper 1427.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/icec/1427

This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact epubs@purdue.edu for
additional information.
Complete proceedings may be acquired in print and on CD-ROM directly from the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories at https://engineering.purdue.edu/
Herrick/Events/orderlit.html
 DIRECT TORQUE MEASUREMENT OF
HERMETIC ROTARY COMPRESSORS
USING STRAIN GAUGE

M. Matsushima 1 , T. Nomura 2 , N. Nishimura 2 , H. lyota 2 , K. Inaba 3

1. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University

3-3·138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 558-8585 Japan
2. Mechanical Eng. Dept. Faculty of Engineering, Osaka City University
3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 558-8585 Japan
3. Compressor Design and Manufacturing Dept. Hitachi Tochigi Technology Co. , Ltd.
800 Tomita, Ohira·machi, Simotsuga·gun, Tochigi-Ken, 329-4404 Japan

ABSTRACT
This research was conducted in order to better identify the torque loss of a hermetic
rotary compressor for one revolution, and to directly obtain the actual shaft power of the
compressor. Torque of the compressor was measured for one revolution by attaching a strain
gauge to the part of the rotary compressor crank shaft where the compressor was connected
with the motor. The torque loss was obtained from the difference between this torque and
the effective compressive torque required to compress a discharge of refrigerant gas. Loss
due to over-compression was identified from this torque loss. Moreover, the actual shaft
power gained by the compressor and motor output were compared.

NOMENCLATURE
FP : Piston compressive force R P : Radius of piston
Fv : Vane contact force R c : Radius of cylinder
F c1 : Vane differential pressure force a : Angle of eccentricity at piston
Fk : Spring force acting on vane center
Fm : Vane reciprocating inertia force 8 : Rotation angle of shaft
Vc : Volume of compression space k :Adiabatic exponent
V" : Theoretical displacement volume

INTRODUCTION
Hermetic rotary compressors are widely used in room air conditioners, refrigerators,
and so on. They consume a great deal of power, so their efficiency enhancement is strongly
desired. They are hermetically sealed and can be compactly stored in a pressurized vessel
with high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant gas. Since the motor and compressor
are directly connected by a crankshaft, it is difficult to measure only the torque of the
compressor. If the torque of compressors for the crank angle for one revolution is directly
measured, loss of compressors of one revolution can be more cleared, parts and quantity
need improvement of the efficiency can be gained precisely and exactly. Also actual shaft
power is directly obtained.

Then various kind of methods about torque measurement have been considered.
Measurements of compressor torque with a strain gauge were carried out in 1963 by
Matsushima and Yokoyamall using a reciprocating compressor with low-temperature,

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 low-pressure refrigerant in a hermetically sealed vessel. Later, concerning a rotary
compressor with high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant in a pressurized vessel, the
measurement of torque of a rotary compressor was studied in 1986 by Sakitani, Koiwa,
Maekawa 2 > , using a torque meter. However, measurements of the torque of rotary
compressors with strain gauges attached had not been made until now.

Accordingly, for these experiments, an experimental compressor was manufactured

with a rotary compressor used in a room air conditioner with cooling power of 2.5kW. The
experimental compressor had a strain gauge attached to the connection between the motor
shaft and the compressor. A lead wire passed through the middle of the crankshaft and, lead
upward. Using mechanical sealing, an extension shaft of the crankshaft protruded from just
above the pressure vessel and, through a slip ring, compressor torque signals were picked up.
In addition, spur gears were attached to the upper part of the crankshaft and, using the gap
sensor, changes in the position of the top dead center of the shaft and revolution speed were
measured.

Under three conditions of Light, Medium and Heavy, the torque of a compressor was
measured. Adding the torque by vane contact force to the torque by compressive force of a
piston, a new theoretical torque was made and it was multiplied by volumetric efficiency in
order to obtain the compressive torque, which effectively compresses refrigerant gas. The
difference between measured compressor torque and compressive torque becomes loss torque
due to losses such as mechanical friction, heating, suction, over-compression, etc., but of
these, over-compression loss was clarified. When the measured mean torque of compressors
is multiplied by the rotation speed of compressors, the actual shaft power is obtained. This
actual shaft torque is compared with the motor output which is gained by being multiplied
the dissipation power and motor efficiency together.

TORQUE
The measured compressor torque for one revolution Tc can be separated into effective
compressive torque Te, which compresses refrigerant flow rate Qv, and loss torque 1L
Tc= Te+1I 3 ) (1)

Effective compression torque Te can be determined by multiplying volumetric

efficiency YJv to theoretical torque Tth
Te= 1/v • Tth (2)

Theoretical torque Tth means the theoretical torque to compress the refrigerant gas at
the theoretical refrigerant gas flow rate (/th due to theoretical displacement volume Vo. That
is, the torque of an ideal compressor with a volumetric efficiency of 100% and a total
adiabatic efficiency of 100%. Moreover, theoretical torque Tth was conventionally considered
to be comprised of the torque of piston compression force 1'p only. Yet considering the shape
of the measured compressor torque for one revolution, since a big dip in the 0 to 120 degree
range can be seen. As the result of the Consideration of the reasons for this dip, it was
found that the point where the vane contacted with piston had the differential pressure force
by refrigerant gas pressure and that the negative torque was produced. Therefore, with
considering that the addition of the torque Tv might be more favorable, the expression was
modified as follows.
Tth=Tp+Tv 4 > (3)

Substituting crank angle() d degree for rotation angle Bradians used in theoretical
expressions, the change in torque for one revolution is expressed as a graph like Fig.l.
Solving for the adiabatic compression at suction pressure Ps = 0.626Mpa (5.35kgf/cm2g) and
delivery pressure Pd = 2.148Mpa (20.86kgf/cm 2g), the pressure of compression the space Pc is

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 calculated in expression (4) . When this value is used for the calculation of expression (5) ,
torque by piston compression force J'p is obtained. Also, when expression (6) is calculated,
torque by vane contact force Tv is obtained. Moreover, a graph of theoretical torque T th can
be obtained from expression (3)

R=P·(Vo)k
c
. v,. (4)
c

(5)

(6)

Fv= Fd +Fk +Fm (7)

cos a

MEASUREMENT PROCESSES
Shown in Table 1 are the specifications for rotary compressor of the 2.5 kW room air
conditioner used in this experiment. The structures of experimental compressors had flanges,
allowing the attachment of various sensors. A sectional drawing is shown in Fig.2.

In order to measure the torque applied on the shaft between the compressor and the
motor, the strain gauge of 350 0 4 gauge type was employed. The electric signals from the
strain gauge were sent to and amplified by the connected dynamic strain gauge and then
collected by a personal computer. The data were displayed on the personal computer screen
and saved in a hard disk. Due to temperature changes, the strain gauge changes the zero
point of the output signals, so the shift of the zero point was corrected. The expression for
the temperature characteristics of the specimen crankshaft had been obtained earlier so it
was used. Prior to the experiment, the temperature of the compressor was measured and the
zero point of the strain gauge was adjusted. Also, under prescribed experimental conditions,
the gas temperature in the compressor was measured, which was considered to be the strain
gauge temperature. Defining the temperature measured prior to the experiment as t1, and
the gas temperature in the compressor when the data were collected as t2, the amount of the
zero point shift caused by temperature fluctuation can be obtained by the following
expression: L1 E = E Ct2)- E Ct1). Since this is the shifted amount of the strain gauge output,
a test result chart was used for calculations to convert output into torque.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Experimental conditions were defined as shown in Table.2: light (light load and
power-saving), medium (standard), and heavy (overload). The gas cycle experimental
apparatus could measure with good precision the refrigerating capacity, power consumption,
adiabatic power, refrigerant flow rate, volumetric efficiency, etc. of both commercial rotary
compressors and the experimental compressor.

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 Compressor torque

The experimental compressor was operated under the 3 test conditions. Fig.3 shows
the torque of light, medium and heavy conditions. Under the respective conditions of them,
the mountain shape of the compressor torque Tc measured for one revolution becomes higher
as the load becomes progressively heavier and the delivery pressure becomes higher. The
mean torque of them were 2.215N · m under light condition,2.645N · m under medium
condition and 2.998N · m under heavy condition.
The crank angle peaks for compressor torque Tc measured for one revolution were:
211degree for the light condition, 222degree for the medium condition, and 229degree for the
heavy condition.

Compression begins from crank angle 30degree, but the torque begins to reduce a bit,
reaching its lowest at 60degree. From there, the torque increases along with rising pressure
of the compression space of the cylinder. This decrease phenomenon can be considered to
be due to the torque of vane contact force Tv, as shown in the graph of theoretical torque Tth
in Fig.LAlso can be explain by using expression (3).

Since expression ( 1) becomes 1i = Tc - Te, torque loss 1i can be found by subtracting the
effective compressive torque Te, for compressing the measured discharge of refrigerant Qv,
from Tc, the measured torque of one revolution of the compressor. There upon, Fig.3 shows a
comparison of the measured torque of one revolution of the compressor Tc, the effective
compressive torque Te derived from expression (2) , and torque loss 1i found by calculating
the difference between Tc and 1i .

Loss due to over-compression

Fig.4 shows that there is a section where Torque loss 1i is relatively :flat and a section
with great swelling. The :flat section can be seen as losses such as loss from mechanical
friction, heating, and suction, which occur throughout one revolution. The swollen part
occurs just at the crank angle where the delivery valve begins to open and can be considered
as loss due to for the most part over-compression.

By integrating the area of the section where loss is only due to over-compression, the
results derived for loss due to over-compression Wo are shown in Fig.5. We can see from
Fig.5 that when delivery pressure rises and load increases, loss due to over-compression Wo
also increases accordingly.

By using expressions (4) and (5) and an expression to obtain pressure of compression
space Pc from the torque due to piston compressive force J'p, pressure changes in the
compression space were found from the torque loss due to over-compression in Fig.4. The
results solved for are shown in Fig.6.

From measurements of the torque of the compressor, loss from over-compression of the
compressor was identified, but in order to identify the other losses, whenever torque of the
compressor is measured it seems necessary to measure pressures such as that of the
compression space by attaching pressure sensors to the cylinder.

Compressor revolution speed

In Fig.7, the ordinate is the output of the gap sensor. At the abscissa is the time for
slightly over one revolution of the compressor t. Attempts were made to measure the widths
between mountains or between valleys from this figure, but since width differences couldn't
be seen, the revolution speed of one revolution of the compressor was taken to be constant5l_

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502
 In addition, as shown in Fig.8, at the ordinate is output voltage and at the abscissa is
time t., the revolution speed ofthe compressor was calculated using the results of concurrent
measurements of compressor torque and the power voltage, which dropped down to 6V due
to Slidac. From the calculated result, the revolution speeds of the compressor under
respective conditions could be obtained. They were found to be: 3420min· 1 for the light
condition, 3350 min- 1 for medium, and 3240 min- 1 for heavy.

Actual shaft power of compressors

The actual compressor shaft power WAX can be obtained by multiplying the measured
torque of the compressor Tc by the measured revolution speed of the compressor Nand by
TC/30.
WAX=TcXNX TC/30 (8)

Conventionally, on the other hand, applying a break load to the motor alone, and
obtaining the motor efficiency for the power load, compressor shaft power are found with the
following:
Motor output Wout = Compressor power consumption liVt
X Motor efficiency TJ mo ( 9)

Solving for the respective values occurring under the three test conditions, the actual
shaft power WAX of the compressor this time calculated with expression (8) and conventional
motor output Wout calculated with expression (9) were compared and shown in Fig.9 shows
this as a graph.

Comparing the actual shaft power WAX of the compressor this time and conventional
motor output, the shaft power this time was lower by 12W (1.5%) for the light condition,
14W (1.5%) for medium, and 51W (5%) for heavy.

The difference is considered that the motor circumference temperature when measured
actual shaft power was more higher than the motor circumference when measured motor
efficiency. The circumference temperatures were of latter case were 93.5degree Celsius
under light condition, 106.9degree Celsius under medium and 121.2degree Celsius under
heavy, the former case was 20degree Celsius.

CONCLUSIONS
Torque of the compressor was directly measured by attaching a strain gauge to the part
of the rotary compressor crankshaft where the compressor was connected with the motor.

(1) According to the load conditions, torque of the compressor for one revolution could be
accurately measured.
(2) Studies were conducted to make a more realistic theoretical expression to obtain the
effective compressive torque required to compress a discharge of refrigerant gas.
(3) By subtracting the effective compressive torque from the measured torque of the
compressor, torque loss of the compressor for one revolution was obtained. Loss due to
over-compression of the compressor could be identified from this torque loss.
(4) Multiplying the measured mean torque of the compressor by the measured revolution
speed of the compressor, actual shaft power of the compressor could be directly obtained.
When this was compared with motor output, the former was smaller by 1.5% to 5.0%.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank President Mitsuru Murata of Hitachi Tochigi
Technology Co., Ltd. for his valuable advice in carrying out this study.

REFERENCES
1 )M. Matsushima, A. Yokoyama : "Studies on Torque Characteristics of Refrigerating
Hermetic Compressor", Hitachi Hyoron, VoL 45, No. 5, pp871·876(1963). (in Japanese).
2 )K. Sakitani, L Koiwa, T. Maekawa: "Performance Evaluation of Hermetic Refrigeration
Compressor Using Torque Measurement Method", Processing of the 1986 Purdue
Compressor Technology Conference, Aug. 4·7, pp228-241(1986).
3 )M. Matsushima, T. Nomura, M. Murata : "Development of Refrigerating Hermetic
Compressors Adapt to Starting Performance", Trance. JSRAE VoL 15, No.4, pp369-380(1998).
(in Japanese).
4)T. Yanagisawa, M. Mori, T. Shimizu, Y. Ogi: "Studies on Vibration ofRolling·Piston
Type Rotary Compressor", Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng. (Series C), VoL 49, No. 444,
pp1346·1353(1983). Gn Japanese).
5 )H. Iwata, A. Sakazume, k. Yokoyama : "Loss Analysis of Rolling-Piston Type Speed
Controlled Rotary Compressor", Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng. (Series B), VoL 51, No.
465, pp1736-1741(1985). (in Japanese).

Table 1 Specification of the experimental compressor

Radius of cylinder He 2L5X 1Q·3m

Radius of piston Rp 16.65 X 1Q·3m
Radius of vane nose Rv 3.2X I0·3m
Vane thickness Bv 3.2X I0·3m
Half of center angle of
nose circle r n/3 rad
Cylinder hei_ght h 27.8X 1Q·3m
Theoretical 16.2 X IO·Gm3
displacement volume Vo
Spring constant kv 1589N/m
Maximum deflection 12.3X 1Q·3m
xo
of spring
Mass of vane mo 14.74X 1Q·3kg
Refrigerant HCFC-22
Adiabatic exponent K 1.20

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 10 .--------------- ---------------- -,

r
Theoretical torque Tth 10
8
Torque mplston- Compressor torque Tc

_'o~~~,c~o~ ~
8
s 6
z
4
(])
;::l
....0" 2
~ 0
-2
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 0 60 120 180 300 360
Crank angle 8 d o 0
Crank angle
(Medium)
Fig.l One revolution of theoretical torque (Light)

10
Suction
tube
8
s 6
z
sor (])
4
;::l
....0" 2
~
0 ~--·

-2
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Crank angle 8d
(Medium)

10

8
Effective
compressive tQrque Tc
s 6
z 4
Fig.2 Sectional drawing of the experimental (])
compressor ;::l 2
0"
....
~ 0
Table2 Test conditions
Test conditions Medi Heavy -2
Light
urn 0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Suction Crank angle 8d
pressure R MPa 0.626 0.626 0.626
Delivery (Heavy)
pressure Pd MPa 1.769 2.148 2.553
Suction gas Fig.3 Compressor torque Tc, effective
temperature ts "C 35 35 35 compressive torque Te, and torque
Subcool oc 0 0 0 loss 'II
Power source lOOV 60Hz

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 3 ~60r----------------------
~o
e Loss of over-compression
z 2 § 40
.......
00
Q) 00
Q)
::J ;...
8'1
0 820
E-< 0
C)
i-.
0 ~ 0 L-----L---~~--~----~----~
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 ~ 1.7 1.9 2_1 2.3 2.5 2.7
0
Crank angle 8 d o 00 Delivery pressure P d MPa
00
j Fig.5 Relation of delivery pressure
Fig A Fluctuation of torque loss
and loss of over-compression
(1j
p.,
~31""":"':-----::----~------
Pressure of compression space P c
~"2_5
Q)
Q) ~ 0. 25
g 2 __.__,
....-<
0-.
00 ~ 0
r::: 1.5
0
.......
00 1 pressure Pa
00
Q)
....p_.0_5
e 0 4 8 12 16
8 0 ~------~----~--~--~--__J Time t ms
6 0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Q)
;...
Fig.7 Output of gap sensor
::J Crank angle 8 d o
00
00
Q) (Medium) ~
;...
p., Fig.6 Pressure fluctuation of 0
~ 1100 . - - - - - - - - - - - -
compression space __.__,
::s 1050
0-.
__.__,
Motor output Wout
8
g 1000
Compressor torque ;...
>- -- - l 0
__.__,
0
950
~4 LT 1\ ~
(1j 900

fGl1 =:f~
__.__, ('J
lf1 ,: ~~
~0 llfl :
;::;:: 850 'Actual shaft power WAX
__.__,
::s • ::-.
Q)

-fr-4 ~
::s Lj 0
800
•
0
-8
~ ~oltaQe of ele~ ric- oower 0-.
<!:::':
(1j
750 -------------------------.....1
1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7
0 50 100 150 200 ~ Delivery pressure P d MPa
....-<
Time t ms (1j

Fig_8 Compressor torque and BFig.9 Comparison of actual shaft

voltage of electric power ~ power and motor output

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