Correlating the Experiment and Fluid Structure Interaction Results of a Suction Valve Model from a Hermetic Reciprocating Compressor 2017-28-1948

The present work is concentrated to study the effect of varying inlet pressures on the dynamics of the suction valve obtained from a hermetic reciprocating compressor. The effect of valve functioning on the efficiency of a compressor is highly acceptable. Rather than the delivery valve, the suction valve has a significant impact on the compressor efficiency. The reed valve in a hermetic compressor is a cantilever type arrangement. The valve operates due to the pressure difference between the suction muffler and the cylinder. The numerical analysis which includes Fluid-structure interaction is used in the present study. The flow and structural domain employed in the present study are modelled with Solidworks 15.0. The fluid structure interaction analysis is a combination of ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS structural. These two are coupled with a system coupling in ANSYS Workbench 16.0. The numerical results obtained from the simulation are validated with the experimental data. The setup consists of a stainless steel reed valve taken from a Samsung model compressor which is attached to a fixed base. Air is taken as working medium and supplied to the valve for measuring the valve lift. The valve lift is measured with a strain gauge fitted on the valve near the fixed end. The results from both the experimental and numerical method are compared to 0.5 bar, and the results are in good agreement. Various parameters like valve deflection, stress on the valve, velocity vectors and pressure contours are plotted. Further, the analysis is carried out for varying pressure from 0.5 bar to 2 bar. Also, the material of the reed valve is changed to Sandvik Hiflex steel which is known for its high fatigue strength and the corresponding results are plotted.