A Comparison of Thermal Deformation of Scroll Profiles inside Oil-free Scroll Vacuum Pump and Compressor via CAE/CFD Analysis

Scroll machine is simply constructed by fixed and orbit scrolls, rotary shaft, and some mechanical components. It can impressively operate at low noise level with high reliability and high efficiency. Scroll machine achieves oil-free application through reasonable clearance control, cooling solution, and the tip seal application, and has been designed and applied as vacuum pump or compressor. In order to compactly design structure and optimize the gaps or clearances of a scroll machine, the issue of heat deformation must be considered. Deformation inside a scroll machine is not easy to be discovered, but is the necessary information for scroll profile design. In this study, the internal flow fields of oil-free scroll vacuum pump and compressor are obtained by CFD analysis. Based on the results of flow fields, this study shows the basic performance of a scroll machine, including loading on structures, gas torque, volume flow rate, and the pulsation of outlet pressure. The fluid phenomena under sub-atmospheric and positive pressure are quite different. The difference would cause different heat transfer and heat deformation. Therefore, the fluid-thermal-solid coupling analysis is also carried out. The temperature distribution of scroll structures, the thermal deformation, and gap changes are also discussed in this study