Superheating in reciprocating compressors occurs as the fluid refrigerant flows through the suction system and enters the cylinder. This process adversely affects the efficiency of small compressors adopted for household refrigeration. The present paper reports a study of heat transfer inside the cylinder of a reciprocating compressor considering the effect of flow through the suction and discharge valves. The associated turbulent flow is solved with the RNG k-ε model and the near wall region is accounted for by two different approaches. Predictions for instantaneous wall heat transfer are obtained for actual operating conditions and compared with values returned by correlations available in the literature. It is found that the in-cylinder heat transfer is strongly affected by the suction and discharge processes.
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