Experimental investigation on the vibration characteristics of the compressor in the outdoor unit of a household air conditioner

As a high-speed rotary type machinery, the hermetic rolling piston compressor has been widely used in household air conditioners. Due to the high quality of living standards, a low vibration characteristic becomes a key point of these white household appliances. To investigate the vibration characteristic of the compressor prototype, an experiment has been carried out and three measuring points at the compressor shell have been selected. Five acceleration sensors have been used to record the vibration accelerations in different directions at the three measuring points under the operation speed from 30 Hz to 90 Hz. Three factors including the type of connecting pipe, the vibration isolator, and the binding constraint have been considered to reduce the vibration acceleration. The experimental results show that the radial vibration acceleration of measuring point 1 and the axial vibration acceleration of measuring point 2 exceed 20 m·s −2 when the operation speed reaches 90 Hz and the connecting pipe is bent. Compared with the bent connecting pipe, the unbent connecting pipe has a significant effect on vibration mitigation. Both the vibration isolators and the binding constraint are helpful to reduce the vibration acceleration, however, the binding constraint and the vibration isolators cannot be used at the same time.