A new compressor design to reduce the impact of air conditioning and refrigeration

[begreen]

This looks like a clever and efficient design that could change a lot in the world of refrigeration, heat pumps and air conditioning. It uses less power, delivers higher pressure, and presents little start-up surge current to the grid. It will be interesting to see if it turns into a practical alternative to the reciprocating piston compressor.

Super-efficient linear compressor could vastly reduce air con power use

Compressor efficiency might not sound like the most exciting topic in the world, but consider this: the hotter the world gets – and the wealthier its developing countries become – the more air conditioners will come online. According to the IEA, fans and air con already represent an astonishing 10…

newatlas.com

 

[ABMax24]

I've got a linear compressor in my LG fridge, and so far it works pretty well. The interesting thing though is the duty cycle, it seems like it is always running, at least 50% duty cycle depending on the interior temperature of the house. Granted it only pulls about 75 watts when it is running.

The simplicity of the design seems to be a be advantage, granted it requires some kind of inverter to produce the DC waveform to operate the magnets, but this then lends itself to variable speed operation and could be make it very useful in AC/heatpump systems.

 

[woodgeek]

Residential heatpumps currently use scroll compressors... pistons were phased out years ago.

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Otherwise, seems like a nice innovation.

 

[begreen]

Residential heatpumps currently use scroll compressors... pistons were phased out years ago.

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Otherwise, seems like a nice innovation.

Yes, though a lot of commercial refrigeration still uses pistons. It will be interesting to see if this starts showing up in the scroll compressor world as a competitive alternative.