Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Theoretical and experimental studies of water injection

scroll compressor in automotive fuel cell systems
Yuanyang Zhao *, Liansheng Li, Huagen Wu, Pengcheng Shu
National Engineering Research Center of Fluid Machinery and Compressors,
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, PR China
Received 16 April 2004; accepted 21 August 2004
Available online 6 October 2004

Abstract
A water injection scroll compressor to supply clean compressed air to an automotive fuel cell system is
researched. The water is used as both the lubricant and coolant in the compressor. A thermodynamic model
of the water injection scroll compressor considering leakage and heat exchange for use with an automotive
fuel cell system was developed using the conservation of energy and mass equations and the equation of
state. The results show that the scroll compressor has nearly isothermal compression when injecting water
in it. Increasing the compressor rotation speed increases the discharge loss and the volumetric eciency of
the scroll compressor. The dierence between the calculated power and the isothermal power increases as
the compressor rotation speed rises, which means the eciency of the compressor decreases. Increasing the
ow rate of water injected increases the indicated isothermal eciency and decreases the discharge temperature. Under the condition studied, the mass ow rate of water has the greatest eect on the discharge
temperature.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Scroll compressor; Water injection; Fuel cell

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 82675398/2675391; fax: +86 29 83237910/82663792.

E-mail address: zhaoyy@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Y. Zhao).

0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2004.08.006

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Nomenclature
A
c
C
d
h
m
n
N
P
Q
r
Rg
T
V
v
W
Greek
e
h
g
j
q

area
specic heat
ow coecient
moisture content
specic enthalpy
mass
rotation speed
power
pressure
quantity of heat exchange
latent heat of vaporization
gas constant
temperature
volume
specic volume
power
letters
pressure ratio
orbiting angle
eciency
specic heat ratio
density

Subscripts
0, 1, 2 state points
a
air
c
control volume
cr
critical point
d
discharge
l
leakage, liquid
li
leakage in
lo
leakage out
m
mechanical
i
ow into control volume
is
isothermal
o
ow out of control volume
s
suction
v
vapor
w
water

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1. Introduction
The increase of global energy consumption and pollutant emissions has been forcing automobile manufacturers to look for future power systems and alternative drive concepts to improve the
quality of the urban environment and save energy. Nowadays, car manufacturers have presented
alternative drive systems such as electric, hybrid, or proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell
systems. Among these systems, fuel cell systems seem to have the highest potential to compete
with the internal combustion engine, and the fuel cell is also one of the most eective hydrogen
energy applications [1]. A PEM fuel cell automotive engine system is composed of many subsystems, fuel and air supply, cooling, energy management, controller, electric system and the fuel cell
itself. The air supply system is an important part of PEM fuel cell systems, while the compressor is
the core of the air supply system.
In PEM fuel cell systems, air is normally used for the cathode of the fuel cell. Because the partial pressure of oxygen in air is lower than that of the pure gas, compressed air is supplied. Only
with the higher pressure of compressed air can the aims be obtained such as high eciency, power
density, good dynamic performance and compact dimensions of the system.
Scroll compressors have been widely used because of their compactness, high eciency, low
vibration and noise level and excellent running reliability, and they have been developed for
use in the automotive fuel cell system [2,3].
In PEM fuel cell systems, any oil contamination will result in serious performance degradation
of the systems. Hence, some measures have to be taken to avoid oil leakage into the air stream,
either by tting sealing systems or by absolutely avoiding the use of oil or oil containing lubricants. In this paper, water is used as both the lubricant and the coolant.

Fig. 1. Schematic of water injection scroll compressor.

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2. Structure of the prototype of scroll air compressor

Fig. 1 shows the structure of the prototype scroll compressor. There are two water inlets on the
wall of the compressor shell. Part of the water is injected to the compressor suction chamber
through water inlet 1 (shown in Fig. 1) and then ows into the suction chamber directly. The other
water is injected to part of the compressor drive mechanism through water inlet 2. The second
part of the water injected into the compressor lubricates and cools the drive mechanism before
it ows into the compressor suction chamber where it is mixed with the rst part of the water injected. It absorbs the heat from the air in the compression chamber, and it is nally discharged
from the discharge hole.
3. Water injection scroll compressor modeling
3.1. Governing equations
The process of the gas state change in the compression chamber conforms to the following laws:
energy conservation and mass conservation and the equation of state. Selecting one chamber of
the scroll compressor as the control volume, the assumptions for the simulation model are as
follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

The gas properties in the control volume are uniform.

The changes of gravitational and kinetic energy are negligible.
The processes of the gas owing in or out of the scroll compressor are adiabatic steady ow.
Heat transfer between the compressor wrap and the working uid is negligible.
The volumes of the induction chamber and exhaust chamber are innite, and thus, the gas
pulsation is neglected.

Within the control volume, the simultaneous dierential equations of pressure, mass and temperature with respect to the orbiting angle can be deduced from the conservation of energy and
mass equations and the equation of state. The specic expressions are as follows [46]:
Equation for conservation of energy:







oh
oh=oT v  op=ovT dv
1 X dmi
dQ
1

hi  h

dp v ov T
dh V c
dh
op=oT v
dh

1
1 oh=oT v
dh
1 
v op=oT v
Equation for conservation of mass:
dm dmi dmo dmli dmlo


dh
dh
dh
dh
dh
Equation of state:
dT dp dV c dm


dh dh dh
dh

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In Eq. (1), the item dmi means the gas mass owing into the control volume, which includes the
suction gas and the gas leakage into the control volume.
3.2. Mass ow leakage
There are two kinds of leakages in scroll compressors (shown in Fig. 2). One leakage is called
radial leakage and is caused by the gap between the bottoms or the top plate and the scrolls. The
other is called tangential leakage and is caused by the gap between the anks of the two scrolls.
These leakages result in a decrease of the compressor volumetric eciency, and at the same time,
the compression work is increased because the gas leaks from the high pressure chamber to the
low pressure chamber.
In order to predict the performance of the scroll compressor with water injection, the leakage
gas should be calculated. To simplify the simulation model, the leakages are determined by applying the equation of one dimensional compressible ow in a nozzle with an assumption of an isentropic process. The equation of leakage rate is shown as follows [7]:
dml
A
C
v1
dt

2j
j1
2
P 1 v1 ej  e j
j1

In Eq. (4), the item e is dened by following section.

Here, the critical pressure ratio ecr is dened as following:


ecr

2
j1

j
j1

Fig. 2. Leakage diagrammatic sketch.

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Hence, e can be expressed as Eq. (6)

e PP 21

for

e ecr

for

P2
P1
P2
P1

P ecr
6 ecr

In Eq. (4), the area A is the leakage area of the scroll compressor, which is a function of the
scroll design parameters and the compressor clearances [8]. In Eqs. (4) and (6), P1 is the high pressure and P2 is the low pressure, and the leakage gas ows from the high pressure district P1 to the
low pressure district P2.
3.3. Heat exchange
As the water is injected into the scroll compressor chamber, it absorbs heat from the wet air in
the compressor. As the air is compressed, the temperature of the air increases. Water injection
inhibits the increase of the gas temperature, and thus, the compression process is approximately
isothermal, which is the most highly ecient compression process.
The process of heat exchange in the compressor between the air and water is complex, and in
this model, the heat exchange was assumed to be a steady state process.
3.3.1. Suction passage
Heat is exchanged between the suction air and injection water in this passage. Here, we assume
the heat exchange is complete between the air and water, which means that the wet air is saturated
and has the same temperature as the water before compression. Considering this assumption, the
heat exchange in this process can be presented in two parts.
One part is the heating of the water caused by the mechanical loss of the scroll compressor,
which can be expressed as Eq. (7), in which Tw is the water temperature after heated by the
mechanical loss.
1  gm W mw cw T 0  T w

The other part is the heat exchange between the heated water and suction air. In this process, the
balance of heat between the water and air is reached, and the following equation can be derived:
ma cp T 2  T 1 mw cw T w  T 2

Here, using the assumption that the wet air is saturated after heat exchange with the water, this
process can be taken as an adiabatic saturated process. Using the law of energy conservation,
Eq. (9) can be obtained.
h1 d 2  d 1 hL2 h2

where h1 and h2 are the enthalpies of the wet air and d1 and d2 are the moisture contents of the wet
air.
Eq. (9) can also be expressed as
d 1 hv1  hL2 cp T 2  T 1 d 2 hv2  hL2

10

where hv1 and hv2 are the enthalpies of the saturated vapor and hL1 and hL2 are the enthalpies
of the saturation water, respectively.

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From the iterative calculation of Eqs. (7)(10), the state parameters of the suction gas and the
water can be obtained where temperature T2 is the temperature of the water and wet air before
owing into the compressor suction chamber.
3.3.2. Compression process
In this process, we assume that the wet air is always in the saturated state and its temperature
is the same as that of the water. Hence, the following equations can be obtained:
dQ1 mi1  mi  r

11

dQ2 T i  T i1  cw  mi

12

dQ dQ1 dQ2

13

Here, m is the water mass in the control volume and subscripts i and i+1 are the step numbers
in the simulation process.
3.4. Extra power caused by the water injection
When water is injected into the scroll compressor, extra power is required to compress the water
vapor, and the rise of the water pressure with the increase of the wet air pressure also needs power.
The pressure of the water in the compressor chamber rises with the compression of the wet air.
According to the theory of phase equilibrium, the water has the same pressure as the air in the
compressor chamber, and in this process, the compressor is like a water pump. The power to
the water can be calculated by
W1

m_ w
P d  P s
q

14

where m_ w is the water mass ow rate.

The wet air in the scroll compressor chamber is composed of dry air and the vapor evaporated
from the water. Because the amount of vapor in the wet air varies with the process of compression, the power to compress the vapor can be calculated by Eq. (15) in the simulation.
n X
15
V i P i1  P i
W2
60
where Vi is the volume of vapor in the compressor chamber.
Thus, the extra power required by the water injection can be obtained as follows:
Ww W1W2

16

3.5. Numerical method

Taking into account the mass ow leakage and the heat exchange, the dierential respect to the
orbiting angle at a given frequency. After solving these dierential equations, we can obtain the state
parameters of the wet gas in any working condition. From these parameters, some macroeconomic

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Y. Zhao et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

parameters of the scroll compressor can be calculated, such as volumetric eciency, power, isothermal eciency and so on.

4. Experimental investigation
To verify the simulation model, the scroll compressor with water injection was tested in a compressor experimental rig. The conguration of the test scroll compressor was the same as that used
in the simulation. The main parameters of the prototype scroll compressor are listed in Table 1.
The operational conditions of the compressor in the experiment are shown in Table 2. The performance of the scroll compressor was recorded with varying speed from 1000 to 3500 rpm with a
500 rpm interval and varying water ow rate from 60 to 105 kg/h with a 15 kg/h interval.
Fig. 3 shows the experimental system. The air is ltered before entering the scroll compressor
and then is compressed with the water. The mixture of water and air ows into the waterair
separator after discharge from the compressor. Finally, the water is re-injected into the scroll
compressor after being cooled and ltered in the water cooler and lter.
All temperatures in the system were monitored using T-type thermocouples with an uncertainty
of 0.2 C. The compressor power input was monitored using a power meter whose accuracy was
within 0.1% of the reading. The pressures were monitored using pressure sensors, and their overall
error is less than 0.3%. The water mass ow rate was measured by the ow meter with an uncertainty of 0.2% of the reading.
The frequency changer is used in the test system to obtain variable speed performance of the
water injected scroll compressor. The water mass ow rate can be adjusted by the controlling
valve and measured by the ow meter installed on the injected water pipe.

Table 1
Main parameters of the scroll compressor
Delivery (m3/min)
Radius of basic circle (mm)
Scroll pitch (mm)
Scroll width (mm)
Scroll height (mm)
Scroll turns

3.0
6.048
38.0
7.0
60.0
2.25

Table 2
Operational conditions of the scroll compressor
Suction pressure (kPa)
Discharge pressure (kPa)
Suction temperature (C)
Speed of compressor (rpm)
Water mass ow rate (kg/h)

97.2 (local atmospheric pressure)

200.0
26.0
1000; 1500; 2000; 2500; 3000; 3500
60; 75; 90; 105

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1387

Fig. 3. Water injection scroll compressor test system.

Because the water injection is maintained by system pressure, the absolute pressure in the
waterair separator was set to be higher than 0.13 MPa in the experiment. Thus, the reliability
of the running system can be obtained.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Eects of rotation speed of scroll compressor
When the speed of the scroll compressor is varied, its performance varies. Using the simulation
model, the pressurevolume diagram of the compressor control volume was calculated at the
speeds of 1000, 3000 and 5000 rpm, respectively. These results are shown in Fig. 4. Here, Vth is
the maximal suction volume, i.e., the theoretical design volume, and the water mass ow rate is
60 kg/h.
As the speed of the scroll compressor decreases, the leakage masses both in and out of the control volume will increase, but the leakage in mass is larger than the leakage out mass during the
starting stage of compression, so the rate of pressure increase is higher at the lower speed. At the
nal stage of the compression process, the increment of pressure variation is greater at the higher
speed because the mass leakage in is larger than the leakage out. From Fig. 4, it also can be seen
that the discharge loss increases with the increase of rotation speed in the discharge process.
Fig. 5 shows the comparisons of the predicted and measured volumetric eciencies of the scroll
compressor when the water mass ow rate is 60 kg/h. It can be seen that the volumetric eciency of
the scroll compressor increases with rotation speed of the scroll compressor, but the increase rate
decreases. The results of calculation and experiment compare reasonably well. The calculated volumetric eciency was higher than the measured value with a mean deviation of 0.95%. The maximum deviation of the calculated volumetric eciency was approximately 1.43% at 1000 rpm,
which might have resulted from some deviations in the prediction of leakage by neglecting the
water eects.

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Y. Zhao et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

1000 rpm
3000 rpm
5000 rpm

220

Pressure (kPa)

200
180
160
140
120
100

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

Volume ratio (V/Vth)

Fig. 4. Pressurevolume diagram at rotation speeds.

Volumetric efficency

1.00

0.95

Cal.

0.90

Exp.
0.85

0.80

0.75
1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

Rotation speed (rpm)

Fig. 5. Volumetric eciency of compressor.

Fig. 6 shows the compressor shaft power at dierent rotation speeds when the water mass ow
rate is 60 kg/h. Here, the isothermal power is obtained from Eq. (17).
Pd
17
N is ma Rg T s  ln =gm
Ps
The calculated compressor power shows good agreement with the measured value with a mean
deviation of 7.28%. The maximum deviation of the calculated value was 10.51% at 3500 rpm,
which might have resulted from some deviations in the prediction of mechanical loss by neglecting
the water eects. However, the deviation decreased with the reduction of speed.
The isothermal power is the least power for all kinds of compression processes. The dierence
between the actual power and the isothermal power shows the degree to which the compression
process deviates from isothermal compression. From Fig. 6, it can be seen that the dierence between the actual and isothermal power increases when the compressor rotation speed increases.

Y. Zhao et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

5000

Cal.
Isothermal
Exp.

4000

Power (W)

1389

3000

2000

1000

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

Rotation speed (rpm)

Fig. 6. Comparison of compressor powers.

This means that the eciency of the compressor is higher at low rotation speed than that at high
speed.
5.2. Eects of injected water mass on performance of the compressor
From the calculations of the simulation model, the relationship between the pressurevolume
diagram and the mass of injection water is shown in Fig. 7 and, at the same time, compared with
the ideal processes, adiabatic and isothermal processes. Here, the predicted data was calculated
for the speed of 3000 rpm.
For the injection water mass of the research, the simulated processes approached the isothermal
process very well, which is shown in Fig. 7. When the water injection mass increases, the degree of
the approach to the isothermal process increases. From Fig. 7, it also can be seen that the pressure
of an adiabatic process is the biggest and that of an isothermal process is the least among all the

Pressure (kPa)

250

Injection water mass:

40 kg/h
100 kg/h
Adiabatic
Isothermal

200

Pd

150

100

0.0

0.2

0.4

vd 0.6

0.8

1.0

Volume ratio (V/Vth)

Fig. 7. Pressurevolume diagram for dierent injection water mass.

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Y. Zhao et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

Isothermal indicated efficiency

1.00

Rotation speed:
3000 rpm
5000 rpm

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.90
0

20

40

60

80

100

Injection water mass flow rate (kg/h)

Fig. 8. Change of isothermal indicated eciency.

processes at the end of compression (Vd shown if Fig. 7). Hence, at the same discharge pressure
Pd, the isothermal process discharge loss is the least and that of the adiabatic process is the most.
Fig. 8 shows the predicted isothermal indicated eciency of the water injection scroll compressor from the simulation model. Here, the isothermal indicated eciency is dened as
gis ma Rg T s  ln

Pd
=N i
Ps

where Ni is the actual indicated power and is calculated by the simulated data
Z
n
V dp
Ni
60

18

19

The value of the isothermal indicated eciency presents the degree to which the process approaches the isothermal process. This value rises with decreasing rotation speed or/and increasing
ow rate of injection water mass.
Fig. 9 shows that the discharge temperature decreases as the injection water mass ow rate increase. Here, the measured and calculated temperatures are obtained for the compressor speed of
3000 rpm. The mean error between the measured and the calculated temperature is 5.41%, and the
calculated data is larger than that of the experiment. One reason is that the heat transfer between
the wet air and the compressor shell is not considered in the simulation model.
5.3. The extra power required by the water injection
Table 3 shows the predicted extra power required by the water injection. The following predicted data was calculated with the water mass ow rate of 60 kg/h. It can be seen from this that
the power to the water is 0.275% of the total indicated power when the speed is 1000 rpm and
0.049% when the speed is 5000 rpm. The power to compress the water vapor is less than 2.5%
of the total indicated power at all calculated speeds. Thus, the total extra power required by
the water injection is less than 3% of the compressor indicated power.

Discharge temperature (K)

Y. Zhao et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 13791392

326

1391

Cal.
Exp.

324
322
320
318
316
314
40

60

80

100

Injection water mass flow rate (kg/h)

Fig. 9. The eect of water mass on discharge temperature.

Table 3
Extra power required by the water
Speed (rpm)
Indicated power (W)
Power to the water (W)
Power compress vapor (W)

1000
639.89
1.76
10.81

3000
2111.20
1.76
49.02

5000
3607.94
1.76
87.27

6. Conclusions
On the basis of the conservation of energy and mass equations and the equation of state, the
mathematical model of a water injection scroll compressor used in the automotive fuel cell system
was developed. The leakage and heat exchange between the air and water were taken into account.
The predictions agree well with the measured results.
The results of simulation and experiment show that the scroll compressor has nearly isothermal
compression with water injection. Increasing the compressor rotation speed increases the discharge loss and increases the volumetric eciency of the scroll compressor. The calculated volumetric eciency was higher than the measured value with a mean deviation of 0.95%. The
compressor power has a linear relationship with the speed. The dierence between the calculated
power and isothermal power increases with speed, which means the eciency of the compressor
decreases. Increasing the ow rate of water injection mass increases the isothermal indicated eciency and decreases the discharge temperature. The extra power required by the water injection is
less than 3% of the total compressor indicated power under the speeds studied. Under the conditions studied, the water ow rate has the greatest eect on the discharge temperature.
Acknowledgements
The work described in the paper is funded by the key Research Project Fund of the Chinese
Ministry of Education (grant no. 104211) and the Doctoral Foundation of Xian Jiaotong
University (DFXJTU 2003-6).

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