Numerical analysis on the deformation of scroll teeth of variable base circle radius scroll expander

For research on the effect of different working loads on the deformation of variable base circle radius scroll expander scroll teeth, a multi-field-coupled calculation method is proposed to reveal the deformation law of scroll teeth under different working loads. In this paper, the equations of the variable base radius profile are derived using the normal isometric method to establish a three-dimensional model of the variable base radius scroll expander. The CFD dynamic mesh technique is used to simulate the working process of a variable base radius scroll expander to obtain the flow field variation in the inner part of the working chamber. The results of the simulation are applied to the scroll teeth by interpolation to analyze the deformation of the scroll under single-field loading and multi-field coupling, to obtain the deformation law of the scroll teeth. The results of the study show that the deformation of the scroll teeth does not decrease linearly with the involute spreading angle from the head to the tail of the teeth due to the uneven temperature distribution of the scroll expander. The thermal stress of the temperature load impacts the deformation trend and amount of the scroll tooth, whereas the gas force load just modifies the amount of scroll tooth deformation and has a lower effect on the scroll tooth's deformation trend. Under different loads, the same deformation and different deformation on the scroll teeth can interact with each other to reduce the scroll tooth deformation to a certain extent.