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Old 11-17-16, 10:49 PM   #5
jeff5may
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Rotary "rolling piston" compressors are the most efficient of the compressor types, but are more complex and difficult to overhaul than recips. Scroll compressors are less efficient, but are much quieter than the other two at equivalent capacity. This efficiency difference isn't large, and depending on capacity and speed range, each type trades places with each other for bragging rights. Multi-stage, intercooled recip compressors are more efficient than the other two, but are EXPENSIVE. Then again, they are easier to overhaul.

Way back in the day, all refrigeration equipment was expensive, most manufacturers put recip compressors in everything they made. During the jet age, much research was applied to the refrigeration industry. The manufacturers figured out the rolling piston compressors are less expensive to build, and are more tolerant of liquid ingestion than recips.
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