The ingestion of liquid refrigerant into the compressor, also known as liquid slugging, has been established as a common cause of failure in reciprocating compressors. Due to the difficulty of directly identifying the presence of liquid in the compressor cylinder, this paper proposes and develops a method of identifying slugging-induced overpressures in reciprocating compressors by analyzing the electrical power flowing into the compressor motor. In order to validate the performance of this detection method, measurements are also made of the cylinder pressures, the discharge pressure, and the compressor speed. Results from the experimental implementation of these fault detection techniques are provided to illustrate the accuracy by which electrical measurements can be used to identify this mechanical fault.
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