LAUSR

Abstract This paper presents an investigation regarding the effect of oil stirrer on the performance of oil supply system for variable speed rotary compressors. Oil supply rate for oil pump with an oil stirrer is calculated by means of numerical simulation. To validate the simulation model, a novel test rig is built to perform oil flow rate measurements under different operating conditions. Good agreement between the simulation model and the experiment has been achieved. The results show that oil supply rate can be increased markedly with the help of oil stirrer whereas stirrer heights and geometric structures do not cause significant variations in oil pumping performance in the current situations of this research. Particularly, it is found that when the rotational speed is high enough, oil supply rate will stay stagnant or even depressed with an increase in rotational speed rather than simply increases with the speed.