The scroll compressor was invented in 1905, but the metal casting technology of the period was not advanced enough to make them. Scroll compressors require a really tight tolerance. They started being made just after WWII, and started being commercially produced in large volumes beginning the in 80’s, as refrigeration compressors. They still are very popular in the refrigeration industry, and in the last ten years or so, scroll compressors have become a major player in compressed air – an industry that’s been dominated by reciprocating and screw compressors.
Scroll compressors use two interleaving scrolls, one is moving and one is stationary. The moving one doesn’t actually rotate – it orbits. Air gets trapped in the inlet, and ask the orbiting scroll moves, the spiral volume the air is trapped in gets smaller and smaller.
The scroll compressor was invented in 1905, but the metal casting technology of the period was not advanced enough to make them. Scroll compressors require a really tight tolerance. They started being made just after WWII, and started being commercially produced in large volumes beginning the in 80’s, as refrigeration compressors. They still are very popular in the refrigeration industry, and in the last ten years or so, scroll compressors have become a major player in compressed air – an industry that’s been dominated by reciprocating and screw compressors.
Scroll compressors use two interleaving scrolls, one is moving and one is stationary. The moving one doesn’t actually rotate – it orbits. Air gets trapped in the inlet, and ask the orbiting scroll moves, the spiral volume the air is trapped in gets smaller and smaller.