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Geometry of screw compressor rotors and their tools

Article  in  Journal of Zhejiang University - Science A: Applied Physics & Engineering · April 2011
DOI: 10.1631/jzus.A1000393

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GEOMETRY OF SCREW COMPRESSOR ROTORS AND THEIR TOOLS

Nikola Stosic, Ian K Smith, Ahmed Kovacevic and Elvedin Mujic

Centre for Positive Displacement Compressors
City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom
http://www.city-compressors.co.uk, [email protected]

SUMMARY
Screw compressor is a common type of machine used to compress gases. It consists of a pair of meshing
rotors with helical grooves machined in them contained in a casing, which fits closely round them. The
rotors and casing are separated by very small clearances. The rotors mesh like gears in such a manner that
as they rotate the space formed between them and the casing is reduced progressively. Thus any gas trapped
in this space is compressed.
Although the principles of operation of helical screw compressors have been well known for more than 120
years, it is only during the past 40 years that they have become widely used. The main reasons for that were
their poor efficiency and the high cost of manufacturing their rotors. Two main developments led to a
solution to these difficulties. The first was the introduction of the asymmetric rotor profile approximately 35
years ago which substantially reduced the blow-hole area, which was the main source of internal leakage,
and thereby raised the thermodynamic efficiency of these machines to roughly the same level as that of
traditional reciprocating compressors. The second was the introduction of precise thread milling machine
tools at approximately the same time which made it possible to manufacture accurately and economically
items of complex shape, such as the rotors.
From then on, as a result of their ever improving efficiencies, high reliability and compact form, screw
compressors have taken an increasing share of the compressor market, especially in the fields of
compressed air production, and refrigeration and air conditioning, and today, a good proportion of
compressors manufactured for industry are of this type.
This paper presents a method of general geometrical definition of screw machine rotors and its
manufacturing tools. It describes the details of lobe shape specification and focuses on a new lobe profile
which yields a larger cross-sectional area and shorter sealing lines resulting in higher delivery rates for the
same tip speed. A well proven mathematical model was used to determine its optimum profile, size and the
volume ratio and compressor ports to achieve the superior compressors.
Key Words: Geometry of screw compressors, Rotor lobe profile, Cutting tools

NOTATION

A Area of passage cross section surface ω Angular speed of rotation

C Rotor centre distance Σ Shaft angle
p Rotor lead
r Rotor radius Subscripts
t Rotor parameter w pitch circle
x, y, z Rotor coordinates 1 main rotor
θ Rotor angle of rotation 2 gate rotor

1
1 INTRODUCTION
Screw compressors are reliable and compact machines and, as pointed out by Fleming, Tang and Cook,
1998, represent a success story of the 20th century. The main reasons for that are the development of novel
rotor profiles, which have drastically reduced internal leakage, and advanced machine tools, which can,
according to Holmes, 1999, manufacture the most complex shapes to tolerances of 3 micrometers at an
acceptable cost. Rotor profile enhancement is still the most promising means of further improving screw
compressors and rational procedures are now being developed both to replace earlier empirically derived
shapes and also to vary the proportions of the selected profile to obtain the best result for the application for
which the compressor is required.
A screw machine volume is defined by the rotor profile and port shape and size. The gearing algorithm used
for the rotor profiling demonstrates the meshing condition which enables a variety of rotor primary curves to
be defined either analytically or by discrete points. The most efficient contemporary profiles were obtained
from a combined rotor-rack generation procedure.
Screw compressor consists essentially of a pair of meshing helical lobed rotors, which rotate within a fixed
casing that totally encloses them, as shown in Fig 1. The space between any two successive lobes of each
rotor and its surrounding casing forms a separate working chamber. The volume of this chamber varies as
rotation proceeds due to displacement of the line of contact between the two rotors. It is a maximum when
the entire length between the lobes is unobstructed by meshing contact with the other rotor. It has a
minimum value of zero when there is full meshing contact with the second rotor at the end face. The two
meshing rotors effectively form a pair of helical gear wheels with their lobes acting as teeth. These are
normally described as the male or main rotor and the female or gate rotor respectively.

a) View from Front and Top b) View from Bottom and Rear
Fig 1 Screw Compressor Rotors
As shown in Fig 1a, gas enters through the suction, or low pressure port presented in light shade. It thus fills
the spaces between the lobes, starting from the ends corresponding to A and C. As may be seen, the trapped
volume in each chamber increases as rotation proceeds and the contact line between the rotors recedes. At
the point where the maximum volume is filled, the inlet port terminates and rotation proceeds without any
further fluid admission in the region corresponding to the dark shaded area.
Viewed from Fig. 1b, it may be seen that the dark shaded area begins, from the end corresponding to A and
C, at the point where the male and female rotor lobes start to re-engage. Thus, from that position, further
rotation reduces the volume of gas trapped between the lobes and the casing. This causes the pressure to rise.

2
At the position where the trapped volume is sufficiently reduced to achieve the required pressure rise, the
ends of the rotors corresponding to D and B are exposed to an opening presented in light shade, which forms
the high pressure or discharge port. Further rotation reduces the trapped volume causing the fluid to flow out
through the high pressure port at approximately constant pressure. This continues until the trapped volume is
reduced to virtually zero and all the gas between the lobes is expelled. The process is then repeated for each
chamber.
The meshing action of the lobes, as they rotate, is the same as that of helical gears but, in addition, their
shape must be such that at any contact position, a sealing line is formed between the rotors and between the
rotors and the casing in order to prevent internal leakage between successive trapped passages. A further
requirement is that the passages between the lobes should be as large as possible, in order to maximise the
fluid displacement per revolution. Also, the contact forces between the rotors should be low in order to
minimise internal friction losses. A typical screw rotor profile is shown in Fig. 2 with their sealing lines, as
well as the clearance distribution, scaled 50 times between two rotor racks in the transverse cross section are
presented far above.

Fig 2 Screw rotor profile: 1-main, 2-gate, 3-rotor external and 4-pitch circles, 5-sealing line, 6-clearance
distribution and 7-rotor flow area between the rotors and housing
Screw machines have a number of advantages over other positive displacement types. Firstly, unlike
reciprocating machines, the moving parts all rotate and hence can run at much higher speeds. Secondly,
unlike vane machines, the contact forces within them are low, which makes them very reliable. Thirdly, and
far less well known, unlike the reciprocating, scroll and vane machines, all the sealing lines of contact which
define the boundaries of each cell chamber, decrease in length as the size of the working chamber decreases
and the pressure within it rises, this minimises the escape of gas from the chamber due to leakage during the
compression or expansion process.
Serious efforts to develop screw machines began in the nineteen thirties, when Alf Lysholm, a Swedish
engineer used a screw compressor as a part of the gas turbine and all modern developments in this machine
stem from his pioneering work. From then until the mid nineteen sixties, the main drawback to their
widespread use was the inability to manufacture rotors accurately at an acceptable cost. Two developments
then accelerated their adoption. The first was the development of milling machines for thread cutting. The

3
use of this for rotor manufacture enabled these components to be made far more accurately at an acceptable
cost. The second occurred in nineteen seventy three, when SRM, in Sweden, introduced the “A” profile,
which reduced the internal leakage path area, known as the blow hole by 90%. Screw compressors could
then be built with efficiencies approximately equal to those of reciprocating machines and the use of screw
compressors, especially of the oil flooded type, was then proliferated.
To perform effectively, screw compressor rotors must meet the meshing requirements of gears while
maintaining a seal along their length to minimise leakage at any position on the band of rotor contact. It
follows that the compressor efficiency depends on both the rotor profile and the clearances between the
rotors and between the rotors and the compressor housing.
The efficient operation of screw compressors is mainly dependent on proper rotor design. An additional and
important requirement or the successful design of all types of compressor is an ability to predict accurately
the effects on performance of the change in any design parameter such as clearance, rotor profile shape, oil
or fluid injection position and rate, rotor diameter and proportions and speed.
Screw compressor rotors are usually manufactured on specialised machines by the use of formed milling or
grinding tools. Machining accuracy achievable today is high and tolerances in rotor manufacture are of the
order of 5 µm around the rotor lobes. Holmes, 1999 reported that even higher accuracy was achieved on the
new Holroyd vitrifying thread-grinding machine, thus keeping the manufacturing tolerances within 3 µm
even in large batch production. This means that, as far as rotor production alone is concerned, clearances
between the rotors can be as small as 12 µm.
Now, when tight clearances are introduced and internal compressor leakage rates become small, further
improvements are only possible by the introduction of more refined design principles. The main requirement
is to improve the rotor profiles so that the internal flow area through the compressor is maximised while the
leakage path is minimised and internal friction due to relative motion between the contacting rotor surfaces
is made as small as possible. As precise manufacture permits rotor clearances to be reduced, the likeliehood
of direct rotor contact is increased. Hard rotor contact leads to increase of temperature because of friction
and consequently deformation of the gate rotor, increased contact forces and ultimately rotor seizure. Hence
the profile should be designed so that the risk of seizure is minimised.

2 REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY ROTOR PROFILES OF SCREW COMPRESSORS

A practice predominantly used today for generation of screw compressor rotor profiles is to create primary
profile curves on one of real screw rotors and to generate a corresponding secondary profile curve on
another rotor using some appropriate condition of conjugate action. Any curve can be used as primary one,
but traditionally circle is the most commonly used. All circles with centres on pitch circles generate a similar
circle on another rotor. It is the same if circle centres are at the rotor axes.
Circles with centres out of pitch circles and any other curve, like ellipses, parabolae, hiperbolae have their
more elaborate counterparts, they produce generated curves, so called trochoids, on the other rotor.
Similarly, points located on one rotor will cut epi- or hypocycloids on the other rotor. The skill used to
produce rotors was for decades limited to the appropriate choice of the primary arc which will enable a
derivation of the appropriate secondary profile.
Symmetric circular profile consist of circles only, Lysholm’s asymmetric profile apart of pitch circle located
circles introduces a set of cycloides on the high pressure side forming the first asymmetric screw rotor
profile. The SRM asymmetric profile employs an eccentric circle on the low pressure side of the gate rotor,
followed later by the SKBK profile introducing the same on the main rotor. In both cases evolved curves
were given analytically as epi- or hypocycloids. SRM “D” profile consist exclusively of circles, all of them
were eccentrically positioned on the main or gate rotor.

4
Symmetric circular, Nilson, 1952 Lysholm’s asymmetric, Lysholm, 1967

SRM ‘A’ profile, Shibbie 1979 SKBK profile, Amosov, 1977

SRM "D" profile, Astberg, 1982 FuSheng profile, Lee 1988

Compair profile, Hough et al, 1984 Hyper profile, Chia Hsing, 1995

Rinder’s profile, Rinder, 1987 ‘N’ profile, Stosic, 1996

Fig 3 Most popular screw compressor rotors today

5
All patents followed give primary curves on one and secondary, generated curves on another rotor, all
probably based on derivations of the classical gearing or other similar condition. More recently, the circles
are gradually replaced by other curves, such as elipses in FuSheng profiles, parabolae in Compair and
Hitachi profiles and hyperbolae in Hanbel ‘hyper’ profile. The hyperbola in the latest profile seems to be the
most appropriate replacement giving the best ratio of the rotor displacement and seal line length.
Another practice to generate screw rotor profile curves is to use immaginary, or ‘nonphysical’ rotors. Since
all gearing equations are independent of the coordinate system in which they are expressed, it is possible to
define primary arcs as given curves using a coordinate system which is independent of both rotors. By this
means, in many cases the defining equations may be simplified. Also, the use of one coordinate system to
define all the curves further simplifies the design process. Typically, the template is specified in a rotor
independent coordinate system. The same is valid for a rotor of infinite radius which is a rack. From this, a
secondary arc on some of the rotors is obtained by the procedure, which is called a ‘rack generation’. The
first ever published patent on rack generation Mensen, 1977 lacks of practicality but conveniently uses the
theory. Rinder, 1987 and recently Stosic, 1996 give a good basis for the screw compressor profile
generation.
An efficient screw compressor needs a rotor profile which has a large flow cross section area, a short sealing
line and a small blow-hole area. The larger the cross section area the higher the flow rate for the same rotor
sizes and rotor speeds. Shorter sealing lines and a smaller blow-hole reduce leakages. Higher flow and
smaller leakage rates both increase the compressor volumetric efficiency, which is the rate of flow delivered
as a fraction of the sum of the flow plus leakages. This in turn increases the adiabatic efficiency because less
power is wasted in the compression of gas which is recirculated internally. The optimum choice between
blow hole and flow areas depends on the compressor duty since for low pressure differences the leakage rate
will be relatively small and hence the gains achieved by a large cross section area may outweigh the losses
associated with a larger blow-hole. Similar considerations determine the best choice for the number of lobes
since fewer lobes imply greater flow area but increased pressure difference between them.
The search for new profiles has been both stimulated and facilitated by recent advances in mathematical
modelling and computer simulation. These analytical methods may be combined to form a powerful tool for
process analysis and optimisation and thereby eliminate the earlier approach of intuitive changes, verified by
tedious trial and error testing. As a result, this approach to the optimum design of screw rotors lobe profiles
has substantially evolved over the past few years and is likely to lead to further improvements in machine
performance in the near future.
The majority of screw compressors are still manufactured with 4 lobes in the main rotor and 6 lobes in the
gate rotor with both rotors of the same outer diameter. This configuration is a compromise which has
favourable features for both, dry and oil-flooded compressor application and is used for air and refrigeration
or process gas compressors. However, other configurations, like 5/6 and 5/7 and recently 4/5 and 3/5 are
becoming increasingly popular. Five lobes in the main rotor are suitable for higher compressor pressure
ratios, especially if combined with larger helix angles. The 4/5 arrangement has emerged as the best
combination for oil-flooded applications of moderate pressure ratios. The 3/5 is favoured in dry applications,
because it offers a high gear ratio between the gate and main rotors which may be taken advantage of to
reduce the required drive shaft speed.
Fig. 3 shows pairs of screw compressor rotors plotted together for their comparison. They are given by their
commercial name or by name which denote their patent.

3 DESIGN OF SCREW COMPRESSOR HOUSINGS AND CHOICE OF BEARINGS

Although advanced rotor profiles are a necessary condition for a screw compressor to be efficient, all other
components must be designed to take advantage of their potential if the full performance gains are to be
achieved. Thus rotor to housing clearances, especially at the high pressure end must be properly selected.

6
This in turn requires either expensive bearings with smaller clearances or cheaper bearings with their
clearances reduced to an acceptable value by preloading.
A screw compressor, especially of the oil flooded type, which operates with high pressure differences, is
heavily loaded by axial and radial forces which are transferred to the housing by the bearings. Rolling
element bearings are normally chosen for small and medium screw compressors and these must be carefully
selected to obtain a satisfactory design. Usually two bearings are employed on the discharge end of the rotor
shafts in order to absorb the radial and axial loads separately. Also the distance between the rotor centre
lines is in part determined by the bearing size and internal clearance.
A contact force between rotors, which is determined by the torque transferred between rotors, plays a key
role in compressors of a direct rotor contact. The contact force is relatively small in the case of a main rotor
driven compressor. In the case of a gate rotor drive, the contact force is substantially larger and this case
should be excluded from any serious consideration.
The same oil is used for oil flooding and for bearing lubrication but the supply to and evacuation from the
bearings is separate to minimise the friction losses. Oil is injected into the compressor chamber at the place
where thermodynamic calculations show the gas and oil inlet temperature to coincide. The position is
defined on the rotor helix with the injection hole located so that the oil enters tangentially in line with the
gate rotor tip in order to recover as much as possible of the oil kinetic energy.
To minimise the flow losses in the suction and discharge ports, the following features are included. The
suction port is positioned in the housing to let the gas enter with the fewest possible bends and the gas
approach velocity is kept low by making the flow area as large as possible. The discharge port size is first
determined by estimating the built-in-volume ratio required for optimum thermodynamic performance. It is
then increased in order to reduce the exit gas velocity and hence obtain the minimum combination of internal
and discharge flow losses. Therefore, since the casing should be carefully dimensioned to minimize its
weight, the reinforcing bars across the suction port to improve its rigidity at higher pressures. Screw
compressor is a very simple heat machine with only a few moving parts, two rotors and usually four to six
bearings. Screw compressor designs evolved through history to very typical forms. It must be added that
recent advances in the development of advanced low friction rolling element bearings highly contribute to
the result.
A tendency is to get as small as possible machine to produce and perform satisfactory. This means that the
rotor tip speed is kept as high as possible, but still in some limits to result in the acceptable machine
efficiency. It is almost a rule to apply rolling bearings wherever possible to use their advantage of smaller
clearances compared with dynamic journal bearings. The ports are made as wide as possible to minimize
suction and discharge gas speeds. All this give very similar screw compressor designs and departures from
them are almost negligible.
Screw machines are used today for a variety of applications both as compressors and expanders. They
operate on a variety of working fluids which may be gases, dry vapours or multi-phase mixtures with phase
changes taking place within the machine. Their mode of operation may be without internal lubrication, oil
flooded or with other fluids injected during the compression or expansion process. For optimum
performance from such machines, a specific design and operating mode is needed for each application.
Hence, it is not possible to produce efficient machines by the specification of a universal rotor configuration
or set of working parameters, even for a restricted class of compressors. Both because of this variety of uses
and the geometric complexity of these machines, detailed thermodynamic analysis and study of the influence
of various design parameters on the machine performance are probably more important, though less
straightforward, than for other types of machine which perform similar functions. It follows that a set of well
defined criteria governed by an optimisation procedure is a prerequisite for achieving optimum performance
for each application. Such guidelines are also essential for further improvement of existing screw
compressor designs, and broadening the range of uses for these machines. More detailed information on
screw compressor design can be found in the textbook Stosic, Smith and Kovacevic, 2005a.

7
4 GEOMETRY OF SCREW COMPRSSOR ROTORS
The rotor lobe profiles have to be defined together with the remaining rotor parameters before the rotor and
housing geometry can be fully specified. To explain the rotor profiling principles, a default profile version is
used, so called Demonstrator, which can take any realistic combination of numbers of lobes in the main and
gate screw rotors. However, any other known or a completely new profile can be generated, with little
modification. Such profiles must, of course, satisfy geometrical constraints in order to obtain a realistic
solution. The subroutines to calculate a majority of the existing screw compressor rotor profiles can be
obtained upon request.

4.1 Envelope Method as a Basis for Profiling of Screw Compressor Rotors

The envelope method is used here as a basis for generation of the screw compressor rotor profile. The
method states that two surfaces are in mesh if each generates or envelops the other under a specified relative
motion. This is becoming increasingly popular, and details of how it may be applied to screw compressor
rotor profiles, have been given by Stosic, 1998. Although a generation screw compressor rotors can be fully
regarded as a two-dimensional problem, a three-dimensional approach is given here as a general starting
point, which further gives an opportunity to generate the rotor tools from the same equations. Andreev, 1961
and, more recently, Xing, 2000, also use the envelope method for screw compressor rotor generation in their
books on screw compressors. A similar approach was applied by Tang, 1995. The envelope method is used
as a basis for generation of screw compressor rotors and rotor manufacturing tools in this work.
Following Stosic, 1998, screw compressor rotors are treated here as crossed helical gears with nonparallel
and nonintersecting axes as presented in Fig 4. X01, y01 and x02, y02 are the point coordinates at the end rotor
section in the coordinate systems fixed to the main and gate rotors. Σ is the rotation angle around the X axes.
Rotation of the rotor shaft around Z axis is the natural rotor movement in its bearings. While the main rotor
rotates through angle , the gate rotor rotates through angle τ=r1w/r2wθ =z2/z1θ, where rw and z are the pitch
circle radii and number of rotor lobes respectively. In addition we define external and internal rotor radii: r1e
= r1w + r1 and r1i = r1w - r0. The distance between the rotor axes is C = r1w + r2w, while p is a rotor lead given
for the unit rotor rotation angle. Indices 1 and 2 relate to the main and gate rotor respectively.
The procedure starts with a given, or generating surface r1(t,θ) for which a meshing, or generated surface is
to be determined. A family of such generated surfaces is given in parametric form by: r2(t,θ,τ), where t is a
profile parameter while θ and τ are motion parameters.
r1 = r1 ( t ,θ ) = [ x1 , y1 , z1 ] = [ x01 cos θ − y01 sin θ , x01 sin θ + y01 cos θ , p1θ ] (1)

∂r1 ∂x1 ∂y1 ∂x01 ∂y ∂x ∂y

 

= , ,0 = cosθ − 01 sin θ , 01 sin θ + 01 cosθ ,0 (2)




∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t

∂r1 ∂x1 ∂y1



= , , p1 = [ − y01 , x01 , p1 ] (3)





∂θ ∂θ ∂θ

r2 = r2 ( t ,θ , τ ) = [ x2 , y2 , z2 ] = [ x1 − C , y1 cos Σ − z1 sin Σ, y1 sin Σ + z1 cos Σ ] =

(4)
[ x02 cos τ − y02 sin τ , x02 sin τ + y02 cos τ , p2τ ]
∂r2
= [ − y2 , x2 , p2 ] = [ x02 sin τ + y02 cos τ , x02 cos τ − y02 sin τ , p2 ] =
∂τ (5)
p1θ sin Σ − y1 cos Σ, p2 sin Σ + ( x1 − C ) cos Σ, p2 cos Σ − ( x1 − C ) sin Σ
 

8
 Fig 4 Coordinate system of helical gears with nonparallel and nonintersecting axes
The envelope equation, which determines meshing between the surfaces r1 and r2 is:
∂r2 ∂r2 ∂r2



× ⋅ =0


(6)
∂t ∂θ ∂τ
 

Together with equations for these surfaces, it completes a system of equations. If a generating surface 1 is
defined by the parameter t, the envelope may be used to calculate another parameter θ, now a function of t,
as a meshing condition to define a generated surface 2, now the function of both t and θ. The cross product
∂r2
in the envelope equation represents a surface normal and is a relative, sliding velocity of two single
∂τ
points on the surfaces 1 and 2 which together form the common tangential point of contact of these two
surfaces. Since the equality to zero of a scalar triple product is an invariant property under the applied
coordinate system and since the relative velocity may be concurrently represented in both coordinate
systems, a convenient form of the meshing condition is defined as:
∂r1 ∂r1 ∂r1 ∂r1 ∂r1 ∂r2




× ⋅ =− × ⋅ =0
 

(7)
∂t ∂θ ∂τ ∂t ∂θ ∂τ
   

Insertion of previous expressions into this envelope condition leads to:

∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x

 

C − x1 + ( p1 − p2 ) cot Σ x1 1 + y1 1 + p1 p1θ 1 + ( p2 − C cot Σ ) 1 = 0



(8)




∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t
 

This is applied here to derive the condition of meshing action for crossed helical gears of uniform lead with
nonparallel and nonintersecting axes. The method constitutes a gear generation procedure which is generally
applicable. It can be used for synthesis purposes of screw compressor rotors, which are effectively helical
gears with parallel axes. Formed tools for rotor manufacturing are crossed helical gears on non parallel and
non intersecting axes with a uniform lead, as in the case of hobbing, or with no lead as in formed milling and
grinding. Templates for rotor inspection are the same as planar rotor hobs. In all these cases the tool axes do
not intersect the rotor axes.
Accordingly the notes present an application of the envelope method to produce a meshing condition for
crossed helical gears. The screw rotor gearing is then given as an elementary example of its use while a
procedure for forming a hobbing tool is given as a complex case.

9
The shaft angle Σ, centre distance C, and unit leads of two crossed helical gears, p1 and p2 are not
interdependent. A meshing of crossed helical gears is still preserved: both gear racks have the same normal
cross section profile, and the rack helix angles are related to the shaft angle as Σ=ψr1+ψr2 This is achieved by
the implicit shift of the gear racks in the x direction forcing them to adjust accordingly to the appropriate
rack helix angles. This certainly includes special cases, like that of gears which may be orientated so that the
shaft angle is equal to the sum of gear helix angles: Σ=ψ1 + ψ2. Furthermore a centre distance may be equal
to the sum of the gear pitch radii: C=r1+r2.
Pairs of crossed helical gears may be with either both helix angles of the same sign or each of opposite sign,
left or right handed, depending on the combination of their lead and shaft angle Σ.
The meshing condition (8) can be solved only by numerical methods. For the given parameter t, the
∂x01 ∂y01
coordinates x01 and y01 and their derivatives and are known. A guessed value of parameter θ is
∂t ∂t
∂x1 ∂y
then used to calculate x1, y1, and 1 . A revised value of θ is then derived and the procedure repeated
∂t ∂t
until the difference between two consecutive values becomes sufficiently small.
For given transverse coordinates and derivatives of gear 1 profile, θ can be used to calculate the x1, y1, and
z1 coordinates of its helicoids surface. The gear 2 helicoids surface may then be calculated. Coordinate z2 can
then be used to calculate τ from and finally, its transverse profile point coordinates x2, y2 can be obtained.
A number of cases can be identified from this analysis.
(i) When Σ=0, the equation meets the meshing condition of screw machine rotors and also helical gears
with parallel axes. For such a case, the gear helix angles have the same value, but the opposite sign and the
gear ratio i=p2/p1 is negative. The same equation may also be applied for the generation of a rack formed
from gears. Additionally it describes the formed planar hob, front milling tool and the template control
instrument.
(ii) If a disc formed milling or grinding tool is considered, it is sufficient to place p2=0. This is a singular
case when tool free rotation does not affect the meshing process. Therefore, a reverse transformation cannot
be obtained directly.
(iii) The full scope of the meshing condition is required for the generation of the profile of a formed hobbing
tool. This is therefore the most complicated type of gear which can be generated from (8).

4.2 Direct Digital Simulation

A standard intrinsic feature of perhaps every existing design software package is to extract the overlapping
areas of planar shapes or volumes of spatial bodies. It can be conveniently used to find a corresponding
profile from a given profile. This subtraction may either be static, when the overlapping elements are
extracted from the stationary assembly, or dynamic, when the subtraction is performed for a sequence of
succeeding positions to give a generated profile or body over a complete cycle. All kind of relative motion
can be imposed between the elements, thus a variety of gear pairs can be designed on parallel, intersecting or
nonintersecting and nonparallel axes. A known profile will therefore cut the required shape from a ‘blank’
with an arbitrary starting shape. This feature enables non-specialists to generate their own rotor profiles
without knowledge of comprehensive mathematical methods or use of specialized generation software tools.
More details on direct digital simulation of screw compressor rotors may be found in Stosic, 2008.
Application of DDS in generation of a female rotor from its male counterpart is presented in Fig 5.

10
 Fig 5 Example of a female rotor enveloped by its male counterpart by use of Direct Digital Simulation,
shown by a bold line on the left

4.3 Meshing of Rotor Profiles

Screw machine rotors have parallel axes and a uniform lead and they are therefore a form of helical gears.
Centre distance for this particular case is C=r1w+r2w. Rotors make line contact and the meshing criterion in
the transverse plane perpendicular to their axes is the same as that of spur gears. Although spur gear meshing
fully defines helical screw rotors, it may be more convenient to use the envelope condition for crossed
helical gears and simplify it by setting Σ=0, to get the required meshing condition.
To start the procedure of rotor profiling, the profile point coordinates in the transverse plane of one rotor, x01
∂x01 ∂y01 dy01
and y01 and their first derivatives, either and or must be known. This profile may be
∂t ∂t dx01
specified on either the main or gate rotors or in sequence on both. Also the primary profile may also be
defined as a rack.
Since Σ=0, the general meshing condition presented in Appendix 1 reduces for a screw machine rotor to:
 

dy01 C C
ky01 − sin θ + kx01 + cos θ = 0
 

 

(9)
dx01 i i
where i=p2/p1 and k=1-1/i. This equation can be solved only numerically, similarly as its original.
θ still can be obtained only numerically. Once obtained, the distribution of θ along the profile may be used
to calculate the meshing rotor profile point coordinate, as well as to determine the sealing lines and paths of
proximity between the two rotors. Rotor rack coordinates may also be calculated from the same
θ distribution.
Since τ=θ/i for parallel axes, the meshing profile equations of the gate rotor in the transverse plane are
calculated as:

11
 Fig 6 Screw compressor rotors with parallel shafts and their coordinate systems
θ
x02 = x01 cos kθ − y01 sin kθ − C cos
i
(10)
θ
y02 = x01 sin kθ + y01 cos kθ + C sin
i
Rack coordinates can be obtained uniquely if the rack-to-rotor gear ratio i tends to infinity:
x0 r = x01 cos θ − y01 sin θ
(11)
y0 r = x01 sin θ + y01 cos θ − r1θ
Conversely, if the gate rotor curves are given, generated curves will be placed on the gate rotor and similar
equations with substituted indices will be used to generate the main rotor profile.
However, if the primary curves are given on the rack, their coordinates x0r and y0r, as well as their first
∂x0 r ∂y dy0 r
derivatives, and 0 r , or should be known and the generated curves will be calculated at the
∂t ∂t dx0 r
rotors as:
x01 = x0 r cos θ − ( y0 r − r1w ) sin θ
(12)
y01 = x0 r sin θ + ( y0 r − r1w ) cos θ
after the meshing condition is obtained from:
dy0 r
( r1wθ − y0 r ) − ( r1w − x0 r ) = 0 (13)
dx0 r
The rack meshing condition θ can be solved directly and does not require a numerical procedure in its
evaluation, which is another advantage of the rack generation method.

12
The presented procedure to solve the meshing condition numerically or directly enables introduction of a
variety of primary arc curves and basically offers a general procedure. Further on, a numerical derivation of
primary arcs enables a totally general approach when only the coordinates of the primary curves must be
known, not their derivatives. In such a case, any analytical function and even discrete point functions can be
used as primary arcs. This approach introduces an additional simplicity into the procedure. Only the primary
arcs should be given, secondary ones are not derived and they are evaluated automatically by means of the
numerical procedure.
The sealing line of screw compressor rotors is somewhat similar to the gear contact line. Since there exists a
clearance gap between rotors, the sealing line is a line consisting of points of the most proximate rotor
position. Its coordinates are x1, y1and z1 and they are calculated for the same θ distribution. The most
convenient practice to obtain an interlobe clearance gap is to consider the gap as the shortest distance
between two rotor racks of the main and gate rotor sealing points in the cross section normal to the rotor
helicoids.
The rotor racks, obtained from the rotors by the reverse procedure, can include all manufacturing and
positioning imperfections. Therefore the resulting clearance distribution may represent real life compressor
clearances. From normal clearances, a transverse clearance gap may be obtained by the appropriate
transformation.
As it has already been mentioned in this chapter, the profile point coordinates in the transverse plane of one
∂x01 ∂y01 dy01
rotor, x01 and y01 and their first derivatives, either and or must be known. Since the rotor
∂t ∂t dx01
coordinates are integrals of their derivatives, it appears that only derivatives must be known to be able to
generate the whole rotor profile from their initial condition. More information on this method is given in
Stosic, 2005.
For a further analysis of the compressor geometry, several generic definitions are introduced here. A centre
distance between the rotors axes is C= r1w + r2w, where r1w and r2w are radii of the main and gate rotor pitch
r2 w z2
circles respectively. A rotor gear ratio is i = = , where z1 and z2 are now numbers of lobes on the
r1w z1
main and gate rotor. Since the screw compressor rotors are three-dimensional bodies, a helix angle ψ is
tgψ r
defined at a rotor radius, while ψw corresponds to the pitch circle, = Helix angle defines a rotor
tgψ w rw
h
lead h, which can be given relative to the unit angle p = . Rotor length L, wrap angle ϕ and lead are
2π
L h
interrelated = = p . If the rotors are unwrapped, a simple relation between the wrap and helix angles
ϕ 2π
ϕr 2π rw
can be established, tgψ w = w = . Lead angle is a complement of the helix angle.
h L
Rotor displacement is a product of the rotor length and its cross section area, which is denoted number 1,
while the overlapping areas on the main and gate rotors are denoted by number 2, as presented in Stosic,
1998.

4.4 Features of ‘N’ Rotor Profiles

Following is a detailed presentation of rotor creation by the rotor generation and rack generation procedures.
The rotor profile in the first case is a hypothetic one and it has not yet been used in practice and no

13
compressors have ever been manufactured around it. However, this profile has been frequently used for the
purpose of education and the same rotor profile is given as a demonstrator in Demo software. Furthermore,
this profile may very conveniently be used as a basis for individual development of screw compressor rotors
and such use is encouraged here. The second example is ‘N’ rotor generated from its rack and this profile is
protected by series of international patents, Stosic, 1996.

4.4.1 Demonstrator Rotor Profile (‘N’ Rotor Generated)

Demonstrator profile is a rotor generated ‘N’ profile and it is not a patented rack generated ‘N’ profile. A
primary or generating lobe profile of the Demonstrator consists of circles only and it is given on the main
rotor and the profile is divided into several segments. The division between the profile segments is denoted
by capital letters and each segment is defined separately by its characteristic angles, as shown in the Fig 7.
The lobe segments of this profile are essentially parts of circles on one of the rotor and trochoid curves
corresponding to the circles on the opposite rotor.
The following summarizes the specific expressions for the x-y coordinates of the lobe profiles for the main
screw rotor, with respect to the centre of the rotor O1. Given are the pitch radii, r1w and r1w and rotor radii r,
r0, r2, r3 and r4. External and internal radii are calculated as r1e = r1w + r and r1i = r1w - r0, as well as r1e = r1w + r
and r1i = r1w - r0 for the main and gate rotor respectively.

Fig 7 Demonstrator ‘N’ Profile, above, Rack generated ‘N’ Profile, below
When all segments of the main rotor are known, they are used as source curves. The gate rotor lobe in whole
is now generated by the meshing procedure described in the previous section.

14
Although being plainly simple, almost generic, the Demonstrator profile contains all features which
characterize modern screw rotor profiles. Pressure angles on the both, flat and round profile lobes are
different of zero, which is a prerequisite for a successful manufacturing. The profile is generated by the
curves and not by points which enhance its manufacturability even more. By changing its parameters, C, r,
r0, r2, r3 and r4 , a variety of profiles can be generated, some of them with positive gate rotor torque, some of
them suitable for low pressure ratios, some of them for high pressure ratio compression. The profile is fully
computerized and can be used for demonstration, teaching and development purposes.

4.4.2 City ‘N’ Rack Generated Rotor Profile

Patented ‘N’ rotors are calculated by the rack generation procedure. This distinguishes ‘N’ rotors from
almost any other screw compressor rotors existing today in the screw compressor community. A large blow-
hole area, characterizing the rack generated rotors, is in ‘N’ rotors overcome by generating the high pressure
side of a rack by means of a rotor conjugate action which undercuts a single appropriate curve on the rack.
Such rack is then used for profiling both the main and gate rotors. The method and its extensions were used
by authors to create a number of different rotor profiles, some of them used in Stosic and Hanjalic, 1997.
The following is a brief description of a rack generated “N” rotor profile, typical for a family of rotor
profiles designed for the efficient compression of air, common refrigerants and a number of process gases.
Rotors are generated by the combined rack-rotor generation procedure. Its features are such that it may be
readily modified further to optimize performance for any specific application.
The coordinates of all primary arcs on the rack are summarized here relative to the rack coordinate system.
The lobe of the rack is divided into several arcs. The divisions between the profile arcs are denoted by
capital letters and each arc is defined separately, as shown in the Fig. 7 where the rack and rotors are shown.
All curves at ‘N’ profile are given as a “general arc” form of the type: axp+byq=1. Straight lines, circles,
parabolae, ellipses and hyperbolae are all easily distinguished by selecting appropriate values for parameters
a, b, p and q.
Segment DE is a straight line on the rack, EF is a circular arc of radius r4, segment FG is a straight line for
the upper involute, p=q=1, while segment GH on the rack is a meshing curve generated by the circular arc
G2H2 on the gate rotor. Segment HJ on the rack is a meshing curve generated by the circular arc H1J1 of the
radius r2 on the main rotor. Segment JA is a circular arc of radius r on the rack, AB is an arc which can be
either circle, or prabola or hyperbola or ellipse, segment BC is a straight line on the rack matching the
involute on the rotor round lobe andnt CD is a circular arc on the rack, radius r3.
Although the full evaluation of a rotor profile requires more than just a geometric assessment, some of the
key features of the ‘N’ profile may be readily appreciated by comparing it with three most popular screw
rotor profiles already described here, a) ‘Sigma’ profile by Bammert, 1979, b) SRM ‘D’ profile by Astberg,
1982, and c) ‘Cyclon’ profile by Hough and Morris, 1984. All rotors are shown in the Fig 8 where it can be
seen that the “N” profiles have a greater throughput and a stiffer gate rotor for all cases where other
characteristics such as blow-hole area, confined volume and high pressure sealing line lengths are identical
in the designs compared.
Also, the low pressure sealing lines are shorter, but this is less important because the corresponding
clearance can be kept small.
The blow-hole area may be controlled by adjustment of the tip radii on both the main and gate rotors and
also by making the gate outer diameter equal to or less than the pitch diameter. Also sealing lines can be
kept very short by constructing most of the rotor profile from circles whose centres are close to the pitch
circle. But, any decrease in the blow-hole area will increase the length of the sealing line on the flat rotor
side. A compromise between these trends is therefore required to obtain the best result.

15
 Fig 8 ‘N’ Rotors compared with ‘Sigma’, SRM ‘D’ and ‘Cyclon’ rotors

4.5 Rotor Position in Compressor Bearings

Rotor axial and radial forces are transferred to the housing by the bearings. Rolling element bearings are
normally chosen for small and medium screw compressors and these must be carefully selected to obtain a
satisfactory design. Usually, two bearings are employed on the discharge end of each of the rotor shafts in
order to absorb the radial and axial loads separately. Also, the distance between the rotor centre lines is in
part determined by the bearing size and internal clearance. Any production imperfection in the bearing
housing, like displacement or eccentricity, will change the rotor position and thereby influence the
compressor behaviour.
The bearings are labelled 1 to 4, and their clearances, as well as the manufacturing tolerances of the bearing
bores, δx and δy in the x and y directions respectively are presented in the same figure. The rotor centre
distance is C and the axial span between the bearings is a.
All imperfections in the manufacture of screw compressor rotors should fall within and be accounted for by
production tolerances. These are the wrong position of the bearing bores, eccentricity of the rotor shafts,
bearing clearances and imperfections and rotor misalignment. Together, they account for the rotor shafts not
being parallel. Let rotor movement δy in the y direction contain all displacements, which are presented in Fig
9 and cause virtual rotation of the rotors around the X1, and X2 axes, as shown in the same figure. The
movement δx can cause the rotor shafts to intersect. However, the movement δy causes the shafts to become
non-parallel and non-intersecting. These both change the nature of the rotor position so that the shafts can no
longer be regarded as parallel. The following analytical approach enables the rotor movement to be
calculated and accounts for these changes.
Vectors r1=[x1,y1,z1] and r2, now represent the helicoid surfaces of the main and gate rotors on intersecting
shafts. The shaft angle ζ, is the rotation about Y.
r2 = [x2 , y 2 , z 2 ] = [x1 cos ς − z1 sin ς − C , y1 , x1 sin ς + z1 cos ς ] (14)

δx
tgς = (15)
a

16
 Fig 9 Rotor shafts in the compressor housing and displacement in bearings, Coordinate systems of rotors
with intersecting shafts
Since this rotation angle is usually very small, equation (14) can be rewritten in a simplified form as
equation, which can be used more easily for further analysis.
r2 = [x 2 , y 2 , z 2 ] = [x1 − z1ς − C , y1 , x1ς + z1 ]
The rotation ζ will result in a displacement –z1ζ in the x direction and a displacement x1ζ in the z
direction, while there is no displacement in the y direction. The displacement vector becomes:
∆r2 = [− z1ς ,0, x1ς ]
In the majority of practical cases, x1 is small compared with z1 and only displacement in the x direction need
be considered. This means that rotation around the Y axis will practically change the rotor centre distance
only. Displacement in the z direction may be significant for the dynamic behaviour of the rotors.
Displacement in the z direction will be adjusted by the rotor relative rotation around the Z axis, which can be
accompanied by significant angular acceleration. This may cause the rotors to lose contact at certain stages
of the compressor cycle and thus create rattling, which may increase the compressor noise.
Since the rotation angle ζ caused by displacement within the tolerance limits is very small, a two-
dimensional presentation in the rotor end plane can be applied, as is done in the next section.
As shown in Fig 4 where the rotors on the nonparallel and nonintersecting axes are presented, vectors
r1=[x1,y1,z1] and r2, given by equation (10) now represent the helicoid surfaces of the main and gate rotors
on the intersecting shafts. Σ is the rotation angle around the X axes given by (16).
r2 = [x 2 , y 2 , z 2 ] = [x1 − C , y1 cos Σ − z1 sin Σ, y1 sin Σ + z1 cos Σ ] (16)

δy
tgΣ = (17)
a
Since angle Σ is very small, equation (16) can be rewritten in simplified form, which facilitates further
analysis.
r2 = [x 2 , y 2 , z 2 ] = [x1 − C , y1 − z1Σ, y1Σ + z1 ]
The rotation Σ will result in displacement –z1Σ in the y direction and displacement y1Σ in the z direction,
while there is no displacement in the x direction. The displacement vector can be written as:
∆r2 = [0,− z1Σ, y1Σ ]
Although, in the majority of practical cases, displacement in the z direction is very small and therefore
unimportant for consideration of rotor interference, it may play a role in the dynamic behaviour of the rotors.

17
The displacement in the z direction will be fully compensated by a regular rotation of the rotors around the Z
axis. However, the angular acceleration involved in this process may cause rotors to lose contact at some
stages of the compressor cycle.
Rotation about the X axis is effectively the same as if the main or gate rotor rotated relatively through angles
θ=-z1Σ/r1w or τ=z1Σ/r2w respectively and the rotor backlash will be reduced by z1Σ. Such an approach
substantially simplifies the analysis and allows the problem to be presented in two dimensions in the rotor
end plane.
Although the rotor movement described here are entirely three-dimensional, their two-dimensional
presentation in the rotor end plane section can be used for analysis. The end plane clearance gap can then be
obtained from the normal clearance by appropriate transformation.
If δ is the normal clearance between the rotor helicoid surfaces, the cross product of the r derivatives, given
in the left hand side of equation (7), which defines the direction normal to the helicoids, can be used to
calculate the coordinates of the rotor helicoids xn and yn from x and y to which the clearance was added as:
δ dy δ dx δ dx dy
xn = x + p , yh = y − p , zn = (x +y ) (18)
D dt D dt D dt dt
where the denominator D is given as:


2  

2
dx dy dx dy
D= +p + x +y
  

2 2
p 








(19)
dt dt dt dt
The xn and yn serve to calculate new rotor end plane coordinates, x0n and y0n, with clearances from equation
(1) for angles θ=zn/p and τ respectively. X0n and y0n now serve to calculate the transverse clearance δ0 as the
difference between them, as well as the original rotor coordinates x0 and y0.
If by any means, the rotors change their relative position, the clearance distribution at one end of the rotors
may be reduced to zero at the flat side of the rotor lobes. In such a case, rotor contact will be prohibitively
long on the flat side of the profile, where the dominant relative rotor motion is sliding. This indicates that
rotor seizure will almost certainly occur in that region if the rotors come into contact with each other.
This situation indicates that a non-uniform clearance distribution should be applied to avoid hard rotor
contact in rotor areas where sliding motion between the rotors is dominant.

4.6 Optimisation of Rotor Profiles

The full rotor and compressor geometry, like the rotor throughput cross section, rotor displacement, sealing
lines and leakage flow cross section, as well as the suction and discharge port coordinates can be calculated
from the rotor transverse plane coordinates and the rotor length and lead. The compressor built-in volume
ratio is also used as an optimisation variable. These values are later used as input parameters for the
calculation of the screw compressor thermodynamic process, usually by use of mathematical models. The
compressor geometry is recalculated for any variation of the input parameters. Computation of the
instantaneous cross-sectional area and working volume can thereby be calculated repetitively in terms of the
rotation angle.
Minimization of the output from the process equations leads to the optimum screw compressor geometry and
operating conditions. These can be defined as either the highest flow and compressor volumetric and
adiabatic efficiencies, or the lowest compressor specific power. More information on screw compressor
optimisation is given by Stosic et al, 2003b, where an example is given involving nine variables. These
include the rotor radii, defined by four rotor profile parameters, the built–in volume ratio, the compressor
speed and the oil flow, temperature and injection position. A Box constrained simplex method, which is a

18
robust procedure that has already been applied in many other engineering applications, was used to find the
local minima. It stochastically selects a simplex, which is a matrix of independent variables and calculates
the optimisation target. In the case of the examples given, this was the minimum compressor specific power.
All effects are present and often they exert an opposing influence. The geometry of screw machines is
dependent on a number of parameters whose best values to meet specified criteria can, in principle, be
determined by a general multi-variable optimization procedure. In practice it is preferable to restrict the
number of parameters to a few, which are known to be the most significant, and restrict the optimization to
them only.
As any other optimisation, the screw compressor profile and compressor design optimisation must be
considered with the extreme caution. Namely, since the multivariable optimisation usually finds only the
local minima, these may not necessarily be globally the best optimisation result. Therefore, an extended
calculation should inevitably follow before a final decision on the compressor design is made.

5 GEOMETRY OF ROTOR MANUFACTURING TOOLS

This section describes generation of formed tools for screw compressor hobbing, milling and grinding based
on envelope gearing procedure. The hobbing too, as well as milling and grinding tools are presented in Fig
10.

5.1 Hobbing Tools

A screw compressor rotor and its formed hobbing tool are meshing crossed helical gears with nonparallel
and nonintersecting axes. The hob is simply a helical gear in which each tooth is referred to as a thread.
Owing to their axes not being parallel, there is only point contact between them whereas there is line contact
between the screw machine rotors. The need to satisfy the meshing equation given in (8), leads to the rotor -
hob meshing requirement for the given rotor transverse coordinate points x01 and y01 with their first
dy01
derivative . The hob transverse coordinate points x02 and y02 can then be calculated. These are sufficient
dx01
to obtain the coordinate R2 = x01 + y01 . The axial coordinate z2, calculated directly, and R2 are hob axial
2 2

plane coordinates which define the hob geometry. .

Reverse calculation of the hob - screw rotor transformation, permits the determination of the transverse rotor
profile coordinates which will be obtained as a result of the manufacturing process. These may be compared
with those originally specified to determine the effect of manufacturing errors such as imperfect tool setting
or tool and rotor deformation upon the final rotor profile.
dR2
For the purpose of reverse transformation, the hob longitudinal plane coordinates R2 and z2 and should
dz2
be given. The axial coordinate z2 is used to calculate τ= z2/p2, which is then used to calculate the hob
transverse coordinates:
x02 = R2 cos τ , y02 = R2 sin τ (20)
These are then used as given coordinates to produce a meshing criterion and the transverse plane coordinates
of the ‘manufactured’ rotors by using equation (8).

19
 Fig 10 Rotor manufacturing tools: left hobbing, right milling tool

5.2 Milling and Grinding Tools

Formed milling and grinding tools may also be generated by placing p2=0 into the general meshing equation
(8) and then following the procedure of this section. The resulting meshing condition now reads as:
∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x

 

[C − x1 + p1 cot Σ ] x1 1 + y1 1 + p1 p1θ 1 − C cot Σ 1 = 0



(21)



∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t
 

However in this case, if one expects to obtain screw rotor coordinates from the tool coordinates, the
singularity imposed does not permit the calculation of the tool transverse plane coordinates. The main
meshing condition cannot therefore be applied. For this purpose another condition is derived for the reverse
milling tool to rotor transformation from which a meshing angle τ is calculated:
 

dz dz
R2 + z2 2 cos τ + ( p1 + C cot Σ ) 2 sin τ + p1 cot Σ − C = 0
 

!
(22)
dR2 dR2
Once obtained τ will serve to calculate rotor coordinates after the ‘manufacturing’ process. The obtained
rotor coordinates will contain all manufacturing imperfections, like mismatch of the rotor – tool centre
distance, error in the rotor – tool shaft angle, axial shift of the tool or tool deformation during the process as
they are imposed to the calculation process. A full account of this useful procedure is given by Stosic 1998.

5.3 Quantification of Manufacturing Imperfections

A rotor - tool transformation is used here for a milling tool profile generation. A reverse procedure is used to
calculate the ‘manufactured’ rotors. The rack generated 5-6 128 mm rotors described by Stosic, 19998 are
used as given profiles: x(t) and y(t). Then a tool - rotor transformation is used to quantify the influence of
manufacturing imperfections upon the quality of the produced rotor profile. Both, linear and angular offset
were considered.

20
 Xh , Xt

Yt

CUTTING TOOL

Rt
τ

Zt X
Σ

Y C
Yh
θ
Yh

ROTOR

Zh, Z

Fig 11 Rotor and tool coordinate systems

Figs 12 and 13 present the rotors, main manufactured with the shaft angle offset of 0.5o and gate with the
centre distance offset of 40 µm given in bold compared with the original rotors given by light line on the
left. The departures are scaled 50 times. On the right, the rotors are manufactured with imperfections, main
with the tool axial offset of 40 µm and gate with the certain tool body deformation which resulted with the
0.5o offset of the relative motion angle θ. The original rotors are given by dash line.
More information is given in Stosic 2006.

5.4 Compensation of Tool Wear

Tool wear is inevitable in any machining process. Following Stosic, 2006, where a geometric study of tool
wear was performed, it can be shown that tool wear is proportional to the relative speed of the tool and the
rotor. The tool wear caused by machining of the rotors in the example given in Fig 2 is presented in Fig 8

21
with the tool wear scaled 50 times and superimposed on the unworn tool profile to demonstrate its
distribution.

Fig 12 Left, the effect of a 0.1 o error in the tool-rotor shaft angle. Right, the effect of a 50 µm error in the
tool-rotor centre distance

Fig 13 Left, the effect of a 50 µm error in the axial tool position, Right the effect of a 0.01 o mismatch of the
meshing angle due to the tool deformation

The worn tool produces the rotors presented in Fig 14 left, where their departure from the rotor theoretical
rotor profile is scaled 50 times and superimposed on the theoretical profile. It can be seen from the figure
that the departure of the manufactured rotors from the theoretical ones is not uniform and that it is larger at
the regions where the relative tool to rotor speed is higher.
It is logical to expect that this difference can be compensated by adjusting the tool setting in the machine.
Indeed, if the tool to rotor centre distance and the angle between the rotor and tool shafts are adjusted to
depart from their theoretical values, a better match of the manufactured and theoretical rotors may be
achieved.
The result of such a procedure is presented in Fig 14 right. The original rotors, machined by the unworn tool,
are presented by a light line. The departure of the rotors manufactured by the worn tool, which position is
corrected by a 50 µm reduction in centre distance and a 0.1 o adjustment in the tool-rotor shaft angle from
the theoretical rotors is scaled 50 times and superimposed on the original rotors, shown in bold.

22
 Fig 14 Left, the effect of tool wear, Right, tool wear compensation. The original rotors machined by the
unworn tool, light line, departure of the rotors manufactured by the worn tool, corrected by a 50 µm
reduction in the centre distance and a 0.1 o variation in shaft angle
It can be seen by comparison of Fig 14 that the effect of the tool wear is reduced at least twofold if
compensation is applied. This means that the tool operating life may be more than doubled before dressing
or sharpening is required if its wear is compensated by the adjustment of the tool setting parameters.

6 CONCLUSIONS
Although the screw compressor is now a well developed product, greater involvement of engineering
science in the form of computer modelling and mathematical analysis at the design stage, makes further
improvements in efficiency and reduction in size and cost possible. Despite the advanced stage of modern
rotor profile generation, there is still scope for new methods or procedures to improve them further and to
produce stronger but lighter rotors with higher displacement and lower contact stress. The procedures
described in this paper serve as a basis for employment of design software used for the development of
screw machines. It requires only few input parameters, which specify geometry and operating conditions of
a screw compressor.

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