Scroll compressor

[2] Creux invented the compressor as a rotary steam engine concept, but the metal casting technology of the period was not sufficiently advanced to construct a working prototype, since a scroll compressor demands very tight tolerances to function effectively.

In the 1905 patent, Creux defines a co-orbiting or spinning reversible steam expander driven by a fixed radius crank on a single shaft.

[4] The first practical scroll compressors did not appear on the market until after World War II, when higher-precision machine tools enabled their construction.

In 1981, Sanden began manufacturing the first commercially available scroll compressors for automobile air conditioners.

The use of a dynamic discharge valve is more prominent in high pressure ratio applications, typical of refrigeration.

[21] The scroll compressors are more efficient in this case because they do not have a dynamic discharge valve that introduces additional throttling losses.

This is a result of under-compression losses that occur at high pressure ratio operation of the positive displacement compressors that do not have a dynamic discharge valve.

By comparison, reciprocating compressors leave a small amount of compressed gas in the cylinder, because it is not practical for the piston to touch the head or valve plate.

Scroll compressors tend to be very compact and smooth running and so do not require spring suspension.

This allows them to have very small shell enclosures which reduces overall cost but also results in smaller free volume.