Research progress and outlook of refrigeration compressor for commercial and industrial applications at low temperature

With the development of economy in China, people payed more attention to the improvement in living standards. Retailing, food safety and pharmaceuticals industry received high attention, which accelerated the development of commercial and industrial refrigeration field, such as food freshkeeping, cold storage and cold-chain transportation. Hence, technology of refrigeration compressor at low temperature was developing. The refrigeration compressors for commercial and industrial applications at low temperature were divided into four types, including reciprocating compressor, screw compressor, scroll compressor and rotary compressor respectively. These four types of compressors were investigated from the viewpoints of research status, which was helpful to determine the advantages and application of each compressor. The relative technology and results of these four types of compressors were summarized from the perspectives of structural design, thermal performance, working fluids and operation. Furthermore, based on the high requirement of new retail and cold chain, the technical difficulties and contradiction between the existing products and the market demand were presented. An outlook from the perspectives of structure improvement, efficiency improvement, operation and artificial intelligence was presented, which provided reference for researchers, manufacturers and policy makers in the field of refrigeration compressor at low temperature for commercial and commercial applications. © 2021, Central South University Press. All right reserved.