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International Compressor Engineering Conference

School of Mechanical Engineering

1976

A Formula for Estimating Dynamic Pressure

Changes in Compressor Suction and Discharge
Plenums
W. Soedel

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Soedel, W., "A Formula for Estimating Dynamic Pressure Changes in Compressor Suction and Discharge Plenums" (1976).
International Compressor Engineering Conference. Paper 209.
http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/icec/209

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A Formula for Estima ting Dynamic Pressur e Changes

in Compre ssor Suction and Dischar ge Plenums

Werner Soedel, Profess or of Mechan ical Engine ering

R. W. Herrick Labora tories, Purdue Univer sity, West Lafaye
tte, Indiana

INTRODUCTION

where

Previou s investi gations by the author and

his student s [1,2,3, 4,5,6,7 ,8] and by others
(a partial listing is given in referen ces
[9,10] have shown that these pressur e
changes are less and less domina ted by
frictio n effects as the compre ssor speed
increas es and more and more by inertia l
effects .
The valve opening times are so
short that a large amount of mass is dumped
rather suddenl y into (or extract ed from) a
plenum withou t giving the mass at the entrance of the pipe connec ting the plenum
to the rest of the system a chance to move.
Before the inertia l resista nce of this mass
is overcom e, rather severe pressur e changes
have taken place that impede the flow of
the gas through the ports.
In the case of certain gases, these inertia
effects may become severe at compre ssor
speeds that would be conside red "slow" by,
lets say, refrige ration compre ssor designe rs.
A case study illustr ating this on the example
of a helium compre ssor is present ed elsewhere in these Proceed ings.
The purpose of this paper is to find a way
to estimat e these pressur e changes withou t
resorti ng to a full fledged compute r
analys is.

1
P

[ (~)
p

In high speed compre ssors it is somewh at

difficu lt to avoid large pressur e changes
in front of the suction valve and behind
the dischar ge valve. These pressur e changes
do not only reduce the mass flow rate (poor
volume tric efficie ncy) but also increas e
the require d power (poor power efficie ncy).

n
-

1]

= specifi c
[~]

mass at suction conditi on

m3

swept volume [m 3 ]

V
V
c

clearan ce volume [m 3 ]
nominal dischar ge and suction
pressur e [N ]
m

The value of the mass is obviou sly overestimat ed, but this will be partial ly
compen sated for by the assump tion that
the mass flow rate is constan t during the
duratio n of valve opening . We will estimat e
suction valves to be open
T

~ 25 to 30
n
n

where
n

rotatio n speed of the compre ssor

[r?t]
m~n

Ts

time [sec]

and dischar ge valves to be open

== 15 to 25
n
n

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The estimat e will of course be depende nt

on pressur e ratio and volume tric efficie ncy.
More exact opening times can be calcula ted
using the ideal p-V diagram .

First, we will assume that the mass flow

rate into the plenum can approxi mately
be compute d knowing bore, stroke and a
volume tric efficie ncy of the compre ssor
based on geomet ry. The mass deliver ed per
cycle is

Let us now conside r Figure 1.

It shows a
dischar ge valve with dischar ge plenum and
a very long dischar ge pipe.
The displac ement rate of gas enterin g is

m == Ys Tlv V

322

t;l

This restriction is negligible for most

practical cases.

[u(t) - u(t-T )]

where

Thus, we get the equation

specific mass at discharge

condition [k~]
m

2
~ effective valve flow area [m ]

0
{1

u (t-T )

<

if

> 0

ro

if

< T

1
,

if

> T

~ ~

or, differentiating both sides,

if

2
CA dt; _ em
- - [u(t) - u(t-T)]
-ddt2t; + v~dt - VyT
If we
Note that the equation is general.
look specifically at the discharge plenum,
we introduce the subscript d where appropriate and if we analyse the suction plenum,
we use the subscript S.

It will be shown that s 1 will subsequently

drop out of the derivation and will thus
not have to be known.

Solving this equation we get

_CA t

In reference [7] it was shown that the

pressure increase bp at the entrance of
a long pipe where pressure wave reflections
from the other end can be neglected is
related to the gas displacement t; at the
pipe entrance by

Cp

speed of sound [~]

sec
mean mass density

Y [N ,sec ]
4
g

where

Reference [4] gives experimental results

of pressure rise in a refrigeration disIn this case the pipe is
charge plenum.
very long and wave reflection from its
The
termination was probably truly absent.
parameters of the system were

(Sl t;l - A t;)

2
effective flow area of pipe [m ]

3
volume of plenum [m ]

The pressure increase ~p at the pipe entrance must be equal to the pressure
increase bp of the plenum; provided the
is much
largest plenum dimension L
smaller than the wavelengtNa~ssociated
with the running speed frequency of the
compressor. This means that
L

T < t

COMPARISON OF THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL

RESULTS FOR A REFRIGERATION COMPRESSOR

where

60C
n

A e -Bt

CA

It was also shown that the pressure change

~p in the plenum is
t:.p

1) + t] u(t)

[sec]

c2 p
-V-

gTA

= time

ern

local gravitational constant ~

9.81 [sec]
t

(e

CA (t-T)
- 1) + (t-T)] u(t-T)
(e-V
(CVA
m
- yTA

where

The plenum ,pressure change becomes, therefore . ,

= A e-Bt (eBt - 1) 0 < t < T

dt;
dt

t; = yTA [CA

169 ~
sec

l. 27

(10- 4 ) m2

6.19

(10- 5 ) rn 3

2.33 (l0- 3 ) sec

4
7.03 (10- ) kg

9.81

m
sec

max

323

Results are plotted in Figure 2. As one

can see, the overall pressur e rise is predicted excelle ntly. What is not predict ed
is a resonan ce at about 1750 Hz that
occurs in the plenum.

8.

Soedel, W., "On Discret ized Modelin g

of Flow Pulsati ons in Multicy linder
Gas Machin ery Manifo lds," Proceed ings
of the Confere nce on Vibrati ons and
Noise in Pump, Fan, and Compre ssor
Install ations, " The Institu tion of
Mechan ical Engine ers, London, England ,
1975, pp. 63-68.

9.

Singh, R., and Soedel, W. , "A Review

of Compre ssor Lines Pulsati on Analys is
and Muffler Design Researc h - Part I:
Pulsati on Effects and Muffler Criteri a,"
Proceed ings of the 1974 Purdue Compressor Technol ogy Confere nce, Purdue
Univer sity, West Lafaye tte, Indiana ,
USA, 1974, pp. 102-111 .

CONCLUSIONS
There is reason to believe that the derived
formula can be useful to compre ssor designers.
It was used in the diagno sis of a
unsuita ble plenum in a helium diving compressor and also in the redesig n of this
compre ssor with good success . This is
present ed as a case study elsewhe re in
these proceed ings.
REFERENCES
10.

1.

Trella, T.J., and Soedel, W., "Effect

of Valve Port Gas Inertia on Valve
Dynamic s - Part I: Simula tion of
Poppet Valve," Proceed ings of the
1974 Purdue Compre ssor Technol ogy
Confere nce, Purdue Univer sity, West
Lafaye tte, Indiana , USA, pp. 190-197 .

2.

Trella, T.J., and Soedel, W., "Effect

of valve Port Gas Inertia on Valve
Dynami cs - Part II: Flow Retarda tion
at Valve Opening ", Proceed ings of
the 1974 Purdue Compre ssor Technol ogy
Confere nce, Purdue Univer sity, West
Lafaye tte, Indiana , USA, pp. 198-207 .

3.

Soedel, w., Padilla Navas, E., and

Kotalik , B.D., "On Helmho ltz Resona tor
Effects in the Dischar ge System of
a Two-Cy linder Compre ssor" Journal
of Sound and Vibrati on, Vol. 30, No. 3,
1973, pp. 263-277 .

4.

Elson, J.P., and Soedel, W., "Simula tion

of the Interac tion of Compre ssor Valves
with Acoust ic Back Pressur es in Long
Dischar ge Lines", Journal of Sound and
Vibrati on, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1974, pp.
211-220 .

5.

Soedel, W., "Manifo ld ~esign of Piston

Machin ery Using a Helmho ltz Resona tor
Approa ch," Reducti on of Machin ery
Noise (Revise d Edition ), Purdue University, West Lafaye tte, Indiana , USA,
1975, pp. 320-327 .

6.

Trella, T.J., and Soedel, w., "Lumped

Parame ter Modelin g of a Nonline ar
Pneuma tic-Mec hanical System, " ASME
Paper 71-Vib r-41, 1971.

7.

Soedel, W., "On the Simula tion of

Anecho ic Pipes in Helmho ltz Resona tor
Models of Compre ssor Dischar ge System s,"
Proceed ings of the 1974 Purdue Compressor Technol ogy Confere nce, Purdue
Univer sity, West Lafaye tte, Indiana ,
USA, pp. 136-139 .

324

Singh, R., and Soedel, W., "A Review

of Compre ssor Lines Pulsati on Analys is
and Muffler Design Researc h - Part II:
Analys is of Pulsati ng Flows," Proceed ings of the 1974 Purdue Compre ssor
Technol ogy Confere nce, Purdue Univer sity,
West Lafaye tte, Indiana , USA, 1974,
pp. 112-120 .

....

I_

A_ -----

fiGURE

DISCHARGE SYSTEM

CALCULATED WITH
SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE

~ 0.2
.........

REF'

[4]

(fJ

<:(

0:::

z:
w

0:::
::l

0.1

0::
CL

w
(lJ

0:::

<:(

::r:
u

(fJ

VALVE OPENS

.001

.002

.003

.004

,005

TIME [SEC]
FIGURE

CoMPARISON oF CALCULATED PLENUM PREssuRE

r1EAsuREn VALUEs

325

HnH

.006