The improved valve assembly of swash plate compressor for vehicle air conditioning system

At the present the swash plate type compressor which is a kind of the reciprocating compressor has been used to the air conditioning system for the vehicle. This compressor consists of cylinder, piston, swash plate, shoe and valve assembly, and is operated by the rotation of swash plate which is connected to the vehicle engine drive at the high speed this compressor operates from 800rpm to 4000rpm. Also the displacement range of vehicle compressor is about from 90cc to 180cc. Therefore in the reciprocating compressor, the valve assembly is the main design parameter in order to improve the compressor performance. This paper presents the optimal design method of suction valve and discharge valve of swash plate compressor. It also shows the compressor performance analysis on the suction valve shape and the two suction port shape with the large valve flow area and the low valve lift height. Also the discharge port flow analysis for reducing the pressure drop was carried out by CFD and the two stage discharge port was designed with low over pressure and small dead volume. Finally the improved valve assembly was manufactured and the compressor performance test was carried out. As the test results, we could get the about 12.7% increase of compressor performance under general operating conditions like as suction pressure 2.8 bar, abs, discharge pressure 16 bar, abs and super heated temperature 10K.