A Novel Vapor Injection Structure on the Blade for Rotary Compressor

Rotary compressors have been extensively used in room air conditioners and household refrigerators for their advantages, including high efficiency, strong adaptability, and low cost. However, when air source heat pumps with rotary compressors are applied in cold regions, a series of problems appear. The gas injection has been proved an effective technology to enhance both the heating capacity and COP of scroll, screw, and rotary compressors. In the one-cylinder rotary compressor with gas injection, the compressor injection port is often opened on the cylinder wall. In order to extend the injection time for injecting more refrigerant, the injection port is settled as close as possible to the discharge port. However, the limited area of the injection port and the unavoidable back-flowing of the injection refrigerant into the suction tube diminish the merits of gas injection on the one-cylinder rotary compressor. A novel vapor injection structure on the blade for the rotary compressor has been proposed in this paper to overcome the back-flowing drawback of the traditional cylinder injection structure and increase the injection area. Based on a verified numerical model, the performance of a rotary compressor with the blade injection structure has been investigated. The results indicate that: the proposed vapor injection structure can eliminate the back-flowing of the injected refrigerant; compared to the traditional injection structure, the new structure can enhance the volumetric efficiency and mass flow-rate by 1.8~2.7% and 26.6~57.2%, respectively; and compared to the traditional injection structure, the new structure can increase the heating capacity and COP by 23.1~48.9% and 3.2~8.0%, respectively