A critical review of the experimental studies related to twin screw compressors

Twin-screw compressors are often used for generating compressed fluids useful for various industrial applications, thereby necessitating the need for evolving energy efficient designs. In the past few decades, several experimental studies were conducted to understand the phenomenon inside the twin-screw compressor, thereby leading to performance improvement and design optimization. The present study summarizes the various experimental investigations on screw compressors which include analysis related to various parameters such as leakages, pulsations, noise, liquid injection, capacity control, pressure losses, optimization of rotor, indicator diagrams, etc. In order to improve the understanding of thermo-fluid-solid interaction phenomenon in twin-screw compressor, further investigations using visualization techniques such as LDV/PIV are suggested. As the leakages within the screw compressor are complex phenomenon, it is suggested to explore simplified experimental and numerical studies by simulating the leakages using equivalent nozzles and developing appropriate leakage models.