Quantification of flow and retention of oil in compressor discharge pipe

This paper presents a new method to measure the oil retention and oil circulation ratio (OCR) in the compressor discharge pipe based on oil film thickness, oil film average velocity, oil droplet size, oil droplet velocity, and system mass flow rate. Oil flow parameters are quantified based on visualization using high-speed camera and video processing techniques. The estimated oil retention and oil circulation ratio results are compared quantitatively with the results from sampling measurements under different compressor speed and compressor types. The agreement between video results and sampling measurements verify the accuracy of this innovative method, which can also be applied in other annular-mist flow analysis. It also shows that most of the oil exists in film by mass while oil droplets contributes more to the oil mass flow rate because oil droplets travel in a much higher speed.