Technical Paper
Experimental Investigation to Determine Accumulation of Lubrication Oil in a Single Tank Evaporator with Tank at the Top at Different Compressor Operating Speeds
2004-03-08
2004-01-0213
A number of experiments were conducted to determine oil accumulation rates for a single tank laminate evaporator with the tank at the top. The tank at the top results in a U-shaped evaporator plate design at the bottom where oil can collect under extreme operating conditions. A typical 4 pass laminate evaporator was used for testing. R-134a with an oil circulation ratio of 3% was used for this study. The AC system was run for extended periods (2∼4 hours) at different compressor speeds to simulate the variation of load on the evaporator. Evaporator samples were taken off from the test stand and weighed after recovering refrigerant. The evaporators were designed such that it could be isolated by shutting off valves at the inlet and the outlet connections.
