DESIGN OF EFFICIENT OIL COALESCER FOR HELIUM COMPRESSOR AND OIL REMOVAL SYSTEM

摘要

In the screw compressor of helium refrigerator/liquefier, large quantity of lubricating oil is mixed withrnhelium gas during compression process, which is removed by the oil removal system (ORS), placed at therndownstream of the compressor. All most all oil should be removed from helium stream before it goes to therncold box for its liquefaction. The ORS has coalescer system to remove oil particles by coalescing technique.rnPresent analysis is related to the design of coalescer for removal of oil particles from the helium stream atrnpressure 14 bar and temperature about 300 K. The estimated oil content at the outlet of the second coalescerrnhousing is 50 PPB (parts per billion) by volume. This paper will discuss the concept and details of findingrncoalescing efficiency and coalescing mechanisms. Different coalescing mechanisms contribute in capturingrnof oil droplets depending on size of oil droplets. Fibre diameter and face velocity play major roles forrndeciding the efficiency of coalescing. Analysis shows that as fibre diameter decreases, pressure droprnincreases and coalescing efficiency increases. All these details are discussed in this paper.