Open Access

ARTICLE

Research on Variable Condition Properties and Experimental Verification of a Variable Cross-Section Scroll Expander

Junying Wei¹, Guangxian Yin², Jihao Zhang², Wenwen Chang², Chenrui Zhang², Zhengyi Li¹, Long Chang¹, Minghan Peng^3,*

1 College of Energy Storage Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China
2 College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China
3 College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Qingdao City University, Qingdao, 266106, China

* Corresponding Author: Minghan Peng. Email:

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2025, 23(4), 1185-1201. https://doi.org/10.32604/fhmt.2025.067244

Received 28 April 2025; Accepted 26 June 2025; Issue published 29 August 2025

Abstract

The scroll expander, as the core component of the micro-compressed air energy storage and power generation system, directly affects the output efficiency of the system. Meanwhile, the scroll profile plays a central role in determining the output performance of the scroll expander. In this study, in order to investigate the output characteristics of a variable cross-section scroll expander, numerical simulation and experimental studies were conducted by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods and dynamic mesh techniques. The impact of critical parameters on the output performance of the scroll expander was analyzed through the utilization of the control variable method. It is found that increasing the inlet pressure and temperature within a certain range can improve the output power of the scroll expander. However, the increase in temperature and meshing clearance leads to a decline in the overall output performance of the scroll expander, leading to a decrease in volumetric efficiency by 8.43% and 12.79%, respectively. The experiments demonstrate that under equal inlet pressure conditions, increasing the inlet temperature elevates both the rotational speed and torque output of the scroll expander. Specifically, compared to operating at normal temperatures, the output torque increases by 21.8% under high-temperature conditions. However, the rate of speed and torque variation decreases as a consequence of enlarged meshing clearance, resulting in increased internal leakage and reduction in isentropic efficiency.

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Keywords

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