Development of single screw compressor technologies and their tendency

Abstract

Single screw compressor (SSC), a strong competitor of the twin screw compressor, is regarded as an excellent gas compressor because of symmetrical structure and balanced gas forces on the screw rotor. However, the market for the SSC is tiny compared with that for the twin screw compressor because of the serious abrasion of star-wheel teeth. In recent years, this problem has been solved due to the development of the new profiles of meshing pairs, and the SSC has attracted more attention due to its high application potential for low-temperature heat pump, mechanical vapor recompression, and two-phase expansion. Nevertheless, there are still many technical problems remained to be solved for applying SSC to these fields urgently. In this paper, a comprehensive review on the progress and development of SSC technologies is presented. The review first combs the current situation of SSC products. Besides, the design and processing of meshing pairs are clarified and analyzed. Moreover, the working process of SSC and its performance in new applications are discussed in detail. Finally, the further research direction of the SSC is also discussed, which will be beneficial for designing high-efficiency SSC.

A Review of Recent Research and Application Progress in Screw Machines

“…As for single-screw machines, the two-stage water-injected SSC unit gains popular application for polyethylene terephthalate bottle blowing system, but the stability of SSC is hard to be guaranteed in practice [6,126]. Furthermore, the scholars at Beijing University of Technology [40,60,[127][128][129][130][131][132] carried out lots of experimental studies on self-developed SSEs using compered air as the working fluid.…”

“…Twin-screw machines have occupied a large market share in industrial positive displacement machines due to their high reliability, high efficiency, easy operation, well adaptability, and low maintenance costs [5]. Meanwhile, single-screw machines have exhibited sustained growth of market share in several applications because of the balanced loading of the main screw, high volumetric efficiency, low noise, and low vibration [6]. Considering the different applications of gas compression and expansion, there are four kinds of screw machines: twin-screw compressor (TSC), twin-screw expander (TSE), single-screw compressor (SSC), and single-screw expander (SSE).…”

“…Wei et al [7] summarized the research status of the leakage, rotor geometry, sealing and lubrication, processing and manufacturing of TSEs, and introduced the application status and potential utilization of TSEs. With respect to single screw machines, Wu and Zhang [6] gave a comprehensive review of the progress and development of SSC technologies, from the perspective of the current situation of SSC products, the design and processing of meshing pairs, the working process, and its performance in new applications. Ziviani et al [8] focused on the geometry modeling of single-screw machines with emphasis on expanders.…”

Analysis of turbulent cavitation effects on water-lubricated bearing in single screw compressors

“…The water-lubricated single screw compressor (WL-SSC) has high application potential for use in mechanical vapor recompression due to its excellent force balance characteristics and oil-free compressed vapor (Wu and Zhang, 2022). In WL-SSC, mechanical seals and water barriers are usually installed between the screw and the rolling bearings to prevent water from entering the rolling bearings, as shown in Figure 1(a).…”

Computational Fluid Dynamics Evaluation of an Oil-flooded Screw Compressor

“…Screw compressors are compact, volumetric rotary devices with a few moving parts that function efficiently over a wide range of speeds and pressures [1]. Their application in many areas is relatively new.…”