A new study involving Dr Kun Liang from the TFMRC has been published in Applied Thermal Engineering, a leading international journal related to the study of components and technolgies related to thermal processes.

The paper is a joint work involving Dr Kun Liang alongside collaborators from Imperial College London, and Yangzhou University and Tongji University in China.

This paper experimentally studies the impact of driving voltage waveforms on the efficiency of linear compressors, employing four different driving waveforms (sine wave without crest, sine wave without trough, sine wave, and sine wave without both crest and trough). The sine wave without a trough demonstrates an 8% enhancement in adiabatic efficiency compared to the standard sine wave. This superior performance is attributed to the reduction in body pressure variation because of faster arrival at datum position, causing lower gas leakage across the radial clearance gap.

This increase in efficiency can lead to more efficient compressors, and ultimately improve overall system performance in applications such as refrigeration and heat pumps. Current research with the TFMRC is focused on linear heat pump technology for low-cost and high-efficiency across the heating season. You can find out a little more by clicking here.

Link to publication:

The Effect of Driving Voltage Waveform on the Efficiency of Linear Compressor, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 243, 122635, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2024.122635