Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Heat Transfer Inside A Hollow Piston Rod

The heat transfer in the system piston - piston rod - crosshead of reciprocating compressors can be influenced by a fluid enclosed in an internal cavity. Thus, heat is transferred by the fluid flow inside the hollow parts utilizing the reciprocating motion. Subsequently, the high working frequency of such compressors can lead to an improved cooling of the high temperature compressor parts in comparison with conventional solid material designs.  For the experimental examination of this cooling concept a test rig has been set up at the Technische Universität Dresden which comprises a vertically oscillating hollow rod that is heated at its upper end and cooled at its lower end. Among other factors the heat transfer of this cooling concept is affected by the internal diameter of the piston rod. In order to quantify the influence of the internal diameter on the axial heat transfer three different hollow rods with varying internal diameters where investigated by means of temperature measurements.  The experimental results are presented and the influence of the size of the cavity is discussed. Furthermore, the measured temperatures are used for numerical simulations of the test rig in order to derive the axial heat flux of the fluid inside the cavity. Based on the resulting values the heat transfer capability of the investigated cooling concept can be examined with respect to the internal diameter and the benefit for the cooling of different compressor components can be estimated.