Compressor Overheating

Submission to RAC October 2003 - About 1,950 words Abridged version available (not quite finished)

By Trevor Dann

Not a new problem - But perhaps a lesson that needs re-learning

During a recent discussion with a client in the Supermarket maintenance field, the conversation moved onto an old problem, that prompted me to look out an old article concerning the above subject, long forgotten and certainly overlooked. That is the ever present problem of compressor overheating, and the secondary problems this causes. As a compressor re-manufacturer we routinely deal with compressor failure and as a result we tend to place most external failures in two broad camps - Electrical & Mechanical. The commonest general external problem related to mechanical failure is commonly accepted to concern lubrication failure. Whereas often this is as a direct or indirect effect of liquid refrigerant return or migration to the compressor during operation and / or at start up, a significant number of compressor failures also displaying lubrication impairment as prime failure arise due to compressor overheating. This is particularly the case upon long pipe run, remote systems. These units commonly operate with relatively high suction superheat conditions at the compressor and this can lead to excessive heat build up in the compressor, adversely affecting the oil viscosity and thus degrading the lubrication of the moving parts. Compressor Overheating It is an anomaly that in an Industry dedicated to providing cooling solutions to our clients that compressor overheating could be considered a significant problem. Indeed it was learnt long ago that premature compressor failure on most low temperature systems related to compressor overheating. Field experience learnt as our Industry developed in the 1970s proved such failures could be eliminated by reducing compressor discharge temperatures. It would be hugely beneficial if a compressor design allowed reliable operation under the most arduous conditions, with no concern of overheating. But there are distinct limits to compressor function, thus whereas thoughtful design can reduce or minimise problems, we are dealing with physical laws of nature and at extreme operating conditions we exceed these at our peril. Very often we expect the compressor to survive localised temperatures and conditions beyond the capabilities of the best refrigeration compressor. Many system designers and service staff presume the compressor has few limitations, particularly when the systems are well established. But many many systems undergo considerable modification as a result of store refits and upgrades. We have all seen such systems, extra pipes here, another compressor there. Just how many of these modifications took full account of the original design specification and limits of the compressors installed ? All this has been considerably further confused by the rush to find new refrigerants to replace CFCs, after all it is still less than 8 years since these became outlawed (R12 & R502). Many service staff become blinkered by the fact that certain machines on a pack survive the similar operational conditions, often ignoring the multiple failure on an adjacent machine. In fact there are normally very good explanations and significantly different factors affecting even neighbouring compressors on the same system. These apparently good machines are then

Compressor Overheating

cited as evidence that failure reports are false. When re-manufactured units are involved this is a major area of disagreement between Warranty assessor and the Service client. Undoubtedly another significant factor is the general lack of proper training available to many service engineers. Liquid refrigerant return is a problem more heavily focused upon, and certainly this is a problem affecting any system design. Compressor overheating most affects long run systems such as supermarket pack systems and thus the effect is not seen as significant on modular or smaller systems. But just because fewer systems are really prone to this problem, the overall volume of failure is surprisingly high, not least due to the quantity of compressors on the average pack and the frequency of such systems on supermarket applications. Thus lack of effective experience and a general hammering of Liquid refrigerant being the greatest of mechanical ills does mask this problem area. I know I myself rarely give this aspect due credence ! Perhaps because of inbred fears of liquid refrigerant problems our Industry overlooks high temperature failures ! If upper cylinder temperature exceed 150 oC the oil film literally evaporates from the bearing parts, cylinder walls, etc., leaving surfaces devoid of lubricant film. However, the highly refined or indeed synthetic oils we use are highly resistant to breakdown, and carbon build up on the valve plate simply does not occur on otherwise well maintained systems. This simply leads the Assessor to misdiagnose the failure, commonly attributing liquid refrigerant return as the culprit. I can certainly testify to the truth of this last remark ! Compressor rating data provided by the OEM does little to help, as this is often mis interpreted. Data is normally presented at a certain standard to allow comparison at a fixed level of certain parameters. For instance one large manufacturer presents their application data with a fixed return gas temperature of 25oC. This particular level was probably selected many years ago as a convenient level, perhaps for testing, but with larger systems now demanded by the supermarket environment plus a common requirement for low temperature systems evaporating at -40oC on a single stage system, there is a common tendency to find systems taking this 25oC level as read as an acceptable design criterion. A system designed at this level has an effective operating superheat of 65oK. Users of the data have simply interpreted the published rating data with 25oC return gas a part of the recommendation. The net result of such high suction conditions upon the compressor is to remove all suction cooling effects required by the hermetic motor with the knock on result of unacceptably high discharge conditions, particularly in high ambient conditions. There exist many variables affecting any system in operation, and pack systems complicate this situation further. The poor old compressor has to cope with the actual effect of all these variations in practice, and it is certainly the case these lead on to many premature failures when the systems and their other static components start to age or undergo ill thought out modifications. It is also quite understandable to realise why the end user has difficulty evaluating the reliability of his systems which he might desire when considering future developments. Even the Design Engineer struggles with a good design, taking account of such variable factors, when the available anecdotal feedback is cloudy or mis-represented. Lack of general appreciation of this as problem amongst those at the heart of the maintenance of such systems further complicates the situation because often there is a real problem of lack of acceptance or realisation of the extent of Compressor Overheating as a detrimental problem. 3

Functional limits Modern refrigeration oils will start to break down chemically at temperatures above 175oC. In a pure (refrigerant gas) environment the oils may retain a stability above this level, but often even the best system will have moisture air or other contaminants present, leading to breakdown at the lower level. Oil evaporation will occur regardless of system cleanliness. A high level of piston ring wear can occur above a temperature of 150oC, well below the carbonisation temperature, simply because the oil has evaporated. Field studies suggest reliable long life operation for a well designed and proven compressor requires that internal parts, and in particular valve port temperatures, do not exceed 145oC. It should also be realised the discharge line temperature a few inches from the compressor could fall 25oC to 40oC, from the peak internal temperature, but this condition is highly variable according to compressor design, load condition, head pressure, and mass flow of the refrigerant. However, it is not unreasonable to presume a discharge temperature above 135oC represents a certain danger level, with below 105oC a level below which continued long term operation can be better relied upon. Sump temperature is also an important consideration here, as the oil flow around the compressor is a major mechanism for transporting excessive heat away from the critical parts and out of the machine, either to its surroundings, oil cooler, or the gas flowing through. Prior to oil evaporation a considerable reduction in viscosity will occur, and this will become dangerously low at oil temperatures above 95oC, however upper cylinder parts will not all experience the peak temperature, but any parts requiring a reliable supply of lubricant will need that oil to have a suitable degree of viscosity remaining. The answer here is that the lower the temperature away from this level (95oC) the better. Low temperature applications Since R502 was banned in 1995, the current refrigerants of choice for Low Temperature applications are either R404a or R502 drop in replacements such as R408a (FX10). Both these gases possess similar operational characteristics to R502, which had a practical base limit of -40oC evaporating, and providing a well designed evaporator is selected, an effective lower achieved temperature of about -35oC can be reached. However, using these gases at any evaporation condition below -20oC, with the suction condition at the Data Comparison Level (25oC) then the upper cylinder discharge temperature will exceed 150oC, well into the fatal zone. Therefore it is vital the suction must be kept cool, and well below the Data Comparison Level. The situation may be unwittingly impaired further by secondary problems of installation: hot plantroom, lack of cooling air supply to compressor/s, excessively high ambient conditions, system degradation & modification. Also at low temperature operating conditions the decreasing density of the refrigerant gas plus the increasing heating effect of higher compression ratios combine to create higher discharge temperatures which cannot be adequately controlled by suction gas cooling. The high superheat further reduces the available suction gas cooling, and add to this a lack of ventilation 4

cooling can all contribute to a general increase in operational temperatures throughout the compressor, with many internal regions reaching critical point. The result of the requirement for consistent low temperatures means many low temperature systems require the compressor to be operating on the edge of its operating envelope even in near ideal conditions. Thus as soon as any variable factors arising from numerous reasons occur the compressor will be pushed over the limit for long life expectation, and whereas the compressor may not fail immediately, compressor lifespan will undoubtedly be greatly reduced. Thus the key here is to keep the suction temperature as low as possible, without compromising the other crucial area, liquid refrigerant return. Adequate ventilation to the plantroom is essential, but fully lagged suction lines, and possible de-superheating close to the compressor or at the suction header and correct and diligent maintenance of the system are all vital. Alarms & Prevention Currently most compressors utilise thermal protection for the motor windings, but this is not effective in this scenario because the high temperatures naturally occur as part of the compression cycle, downstream of the motor stator. Certain OEMs now fit sensors to the compressor discharge and one has even dispensed with the motor sensors entirely. Liquid injection systems are also found for instance Copeland Demand Cooling and Bitzer CIC systems, but these are aimed at R22 systems, and are not intended for general R502 based systems. Other manufacturers use oil coolers to improve the heat removal effected by the oil circulation. Conclusions Compressor overheating is a poorly recognised problem, particularly on multiple compressor remote systems, such as supermarket packs. Any effort to attain better understanding of this problem can only help improve compressor longevity. Every effort should be made to minimise suction line temperatures by insulating lines wherever feasible. In writing this article I must acknowledge Copeland (USA) and their article on this subject issued as Application Engineering Bulletin AE-1260 dated 15th November 1980. As you will note not that recent a discovery !