Introduction on automotive a/c compressor type - Part 2

Continue from my last post, here i gonna talk about Rotary Compressor. As the name suggest, this kind of compressor uses rotary type positive displacement mechanism to compress gases. And the most popular compressor being used under rotary in car a/c can be divided into two, which is Rotary Vane Compressor, and Rotary Scroll Compressor.


Picture show a Rotary Vane in left and Rotary Scroll in right of the Rotary Type Compressor.

Rotary compressor is becoming more and more popular in car a/c system because of the light weight in design, less moving parts compare to reciprocating compressor, and the most importance is the volume it can handle at a time despite its small size is very large compare to reciprocating compressor.

Rotary compressor need less maintenance as long as there is enough oil for lubrication. Also, rotary compressor have less size and weight when compare to a reciprocating compressor. Rotary compressor have a variable volume which it can process at a time, not like a reciprocating that have a fixed volume.

Variable volume make car manufacturer hard to calculate the size of condenser and evaporator, and also the quantity of refrigerant needed to be used in their car. Car manufacturer need to run a long testing on their car to make sure the cooling is enough which will make the production cost higher.

There is several reason why rotary compressor is gaining it popularity. First is, the compressor can handle a large volume of refrigerant which will make the use of refrigerant become less compare to reciprocating compressor. Second, the less moving parts will make the sound and noise produced when the a/c is operation become less when compare to a reciprocating compressor. And final is the lightweight and small size of rotary compressor will make the car lighter and save more space that will benefit in fuel economic.

So this is what i have so far with this 3 kind of compressor. I will talk in detail in future for each compressor. Stay tune for more on.

Introduction on automotive a/c compressor type - Part 1

In this post, i gonna talk about compressor type that is use in the automotive industries. There are several type of compressor that is used in car a/c. Among those, there is two type that is popular  which can category into Reciprocating type and Rotary type.

Reciprocating type can also be called as Piston type compressor. This type of compressor provide excellent and efficient refrigerant movement inside a/c system and it is the most commonly used compressor to this day.

Reciprocating compressor is a fixed volume compressor, it using the movement of piston to create suction and compress to move the refrigerant inside the a/c inlet. This kind of compressor have a certain volume ratio that cannot be altered, hence the volume of refrigerant a piston compressor can suck and discharge at a time is fixed.

The properties of fixed volume provide the car manufacturer an easier way to do the math on how much is the refrigerant, and also how big is the condenser and evaporator needed to be used on their vehicle to provide a adequate cooling for car user.


                                   Picture show piston type compressor with cut away

The picture above is common piston compressor that can be found easily. Many manufacturer comes with their own design, but all with a same basic principle like below:

I not gonna talk bout how is the compressor work in this post, as this is just a introduction to the type of compressor that can be found in car a/c, so i will leave the detail for future.I will talk on Rotary type compressor on my next post. Stay tune for more.