Experimental investigation into the effect of oil separators on screw chiller noise

Amey Majgaonkar; A. Karthikeyan; Virendra Bhojwani; M. ArulMurugan; J. Jayaprabakar

Research Article

Recieved:

26/07/2025

Accepted:

20/10/2025

Page:

–

doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.17515/resm2025-1045st0626rs

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Experimental investigation into the effect of oil separators on screw chiller noise

Amey Majgaonkar^1,², A. Karthikeyan¹, Virendra Bhojwani³, M. ArulMurugan⁴, J. Jayaprabakar¹

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
²Kirloskar Chillers Pvt. Ltd., Satara, Maharashtra, India
³MITADT University, Loni, Pune, Maharashtra, India
⁴Department of Mechanical Engineering, S.A. Engineering College, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

The discharge gas from the oil injected twin-screw compressor contain refrigerant and oil mixture. The oil must be separated effectively from refrigerant with lowest pressure drop and returned to the compressor for the reliable and efficient chiller operation. An oil separator is used for this purpose. The type and design of the oil separator impact in the discharge gas pressure drop, velocity, turbulence and consequently influences a chiller noise. The influence of discharge piping and oil separator configuration on the twin-screw chiller noise are studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling and by performing experiments. The oil separator design and double outlet discharge piping contributes in the noise reduction of 2.1 dB(A) at full (100%) load and 1.6 dB(A) at part (50%) load respectively. The design also reduces the pressure drop and improves the oil separation efficiency. Splitting the screw compressor discharge gas contributes in noise reduction and has potential to reduce the overall cost.