ASHRAE STANDARD

69 -1990
Method of Testing Discharge Line Refrigerant
oil separator
Introduction

Two procedures for measurement of oil carryover

Method A –

 Mechanical means of collecting and calculating the oil in the vapour

stream.
 Oil concentration more than 2500 ppm.
 Suited for small flow rates and high oil carryover.

Method B –

 Method A is not practical for large quantities of oil injection required by

screw compressors and cannot measure the small quantities of oil carry
over associated with high efficiency oil separators.
 Mechanical sampling and chemical analysis.
 For oil concentrations of 1ppm to 2500ppm.

Method A can be used for high concentrations and does not require a
chemical analysis; Method B can be used for low concentrations and high
oil flow rates.

This standard does not provide a method or technique for establishing

published ratings on oil separators.

Scope –

This standard provides a test method for determining the oil separator
efficiency of refrigerant discharge line oil separators. The methods of
measurement described in this standard however can also be used to
determine the rate at which oil is introduced by a compressor into its own
discharge vapour stream.

Method A

 Oil separator to be tested should have low oil flow rates to minimize the
size of the test equipment required.
1. Reciprocating compressor – low oil flow rate
2. Oil injected Screw compressor – High flow rate.
 A) Description of test method and procedure
I. General flow scheme
 Refrigerating system to be used for testing should be equipped with
means for measuring and independently varying, over the desired
ranges of conditions, the refrigerant pressure and temperature and
refrigerant and oil mas flow rates through the Test separator.
 The refrigerant vapour leaving the compressor is conditioned to the
desired oil concentration before entering the separator under test by
passing the vapour in sequence through the equipment listed as listed
below.
i. Conditioning separator(COS)
 Purpose:- Reduces the oil concentration in the discharge
stream to or below minimum oil concentration at which the
performance of the test separator is to be examined.
 Conditioning separator is required only if the concentration of
oil in the compressor discharge stream exceeds the minimum
concentration at which the test separator is to tested.
 To know whether COS is needed or not, a test must be run
without COS at maximum and minimum mass refrigerant flow
and at zero oil input rate to determine if the compressor used
in the system is itself circulating so much oil at either condition
that the base rate must be reduced to achieve the desired
minimum oil flow rate in to the test separator.
 That is to achieve minimum oil flow rate into the test
separator,
 Use Temprite coalescent OS for this
 The oil removed by the COS can be returned directly to the
compressor crack case without measurement. If oil in the
crack case is sufficient, the oil may be returned directly to the
oil reservoir.
ii. Heat exchanger
 For cooling or heating the discharge vapour to the desired
temperature.
iii. Oil vapour mixing
 A metered oil input is required for raising the oil concentration
 iv. Standard inlet test section
 To establish temperature, solubility and particle size
distribution equilibrium that will be consistent from test to
test.
 From Test separator, stream goes to scavenging separator and
oil is recovered from the bottom of the test separator.
v. Scavenging separator (SS)
 The size or efficiency or efficiency of SS must be adequate to
ensure that separation of an oil rich phase in the liquid
receiver does not occur.
 The presence of oil or oil-rich phase in the receiver invalidates
the test.
 Use Temprite coalescent OS for this
 The SS can be omitted if characteristics of the refrigerant and
oil are such that they are completely miscible throughouyt the
range of concentrations occuring.
vi. Inlet pressure regualting valve(IPRV)
 For adjusting the pressure in the test sperator.
vii. Condenser
 Condenser should hav eadequte capacity tonproduce a
condesnsing pressure equal to or less than the minimum
pressure desired in the test seperator.
viii. Receiver
 According to standard, the receiver shall be equiped with all
necessary safety devices and shall be equiped with glass tube
type level gauge g;ass for dual purpose of observing the level
of liquid refrigerant in the receiver and for visually confirming
that only one liquid phase is present.
ix. Liquip sampling
 This is for determinimnation of oil concentration in the liquid
refrigerant -> Discribed later
x. Evaporator,EV and suction line
 These are designed to allow the operator to vary the suction
presdsure at the compressor for adjusting the refrigerant mass
flow rate in the test stream to that desired.
 xi. Compressor
 The compressor used can be of any type capable of delivering
the desired range of refrigerant mass flows over the desired
range of discharge pressures and maximum oil carryover of 2
gpm.
II. Equipment
A. Oil Reservoir
 The oil to be pumped into the discharge stream before the standard
inlet test section should be stored in the reservoir.
 This reservoir should have capacity sufficient to allow continuous
operation for 90 minutes at the desried maximum oil input rate.
 This reservoir should be always maintained atleast half full.
 The reservoir shall be heated and maintained at a temperature 5.6o C
±0.5o C above the vapor stream of the compressor discharge.
 The oil in the reservoir shall be maintained at a refrigerant pressure
corrsponding to the 4.4o C±0.5o C temeprature of the refrigerant
employed in the system.
 Recirculating pump - Stirring of the oil in the reservoir is needed to
ensure the solubility equilibrium between the refrigerant vapor and
the oil. This can be done by using oil pump to circulate and
recirculate the oil in the reservoir by spraying it through the covering
blanket of the refrigerant vapor.
 Oil pump – To deliver the oil at the rate required by test into the
discharge line together with means for adjusting rate.
 Oil flow meter – To measure the oil flow rate to delivered to
discharge vapor stream. This can be either turbine or other
electromechanical flowmeter or constant pressure drop meter
(Rotameter) with a measuring range sufficient to ensure
measurement of oil input flow rate with an accuracy of ±5% of the
rate measured.
 Oil input to discharge Line –
 To ensure uniformity and consistency of the particle size
distribution entering the test seperator, the oil should not be
sprayed into the discharge gas steam.
  According to standard, oil should be fed from tube of 0.5
inch(12.7mm) ID.
 This tube should be inserted 6 inch(152.4mm) before the
inlet of the standard inlet test section.
 The oil inlet tube shall not project more than
0.12inch(3.2mm) into the interior of the discharge line.
 Oil make up The oil inreservoir can be replenished by any of the
following method
1. By fresh oil from source outside the system pumped directly
to the resevoir at a rate not exceeding 1.5 times the metered
input rate of oil into the standard inlet test section.
2. By oil from compressor crank case in excess of that requried
to maintain the compressor oil level. This excess oil can be
pumped or drained back to the oil reservoir.
B. Standard Inlet Test section (SITS)
 The SITS has two parts, the turbulator which is a sequence of
standard short radius copper elbows, and a settling section, which is
a straight horizontal tube whose length is 50 times the inside
diameter.
 The tube used in SITS should be Type L and have the same diameter
as the inlet fitting size of the test oil seperator.
 The outlet of the SITS (Should be horizontal) shall be soldered or
coupled directly to the test seperator inlet.
 The discharge line and all components between the outlet of the
heat exchanger and the inlet of the test seperator must be insulated.
 This insulation should be such that, no more than 5.6 o C temperature
change occurs in the discharge stream, from outlet of the heat
exchanger to inlet of the test seperator, when metered oil input is
zero.
C. Refrigerant liquid sampling means
 For the determining oil concentration, refrigerant liquid sample is
removed from the system into cylinder consisting valve, filter and
capillary assembly.
 The cylinder should atleast have inside diameter 4 inch (101.6mm)
and 10 inch (254mm) length.
  The weight of the empty cylinder should be less than 1.36 kg with
filter and capillary assembly attached.
 This cylinder should withstadn any pressure imposed by the test
procedure.
D. Sight Glass
 Sight glasses are to be selected for design pressure (or higher) and
with a minimum FOS of 1.5
III. Test Procedure
a. Select the desired values for test conditions – The test condtions include
the following
 Type of the refrigerant
 Type of oil
 Refrigerant flow rate(Minimum and maximum)
 Oil flow rate, net – oil flow from reservoir into discharge line.
 Oil flow rate, gross – oil flow net plus oil in discharge vapor stream
leaving COS.
 Refrigerant pressure and temperature entering test seperator.
b. Adjust the system to desired test conditions
c. Calibrate the conditoning seperator
 The oil concentration in the outlet stream of COS should be
determined under following conditions.
1. With test seprator installed in position and functioning with
no metered oil input, at maximum and minimum refrigerant
flow rate.
2. With test seperator in position and functioning with
maximum metered oil input, at maximum and minimum
refrigerant flow.
3. From above data, oil flow in discharge stream Vs Refrigerant
mass flow can be ploted.
4. The oil concentrtion in the conditoned stresm for each test
shall be interpolated from this plot.
d. Determine existance of equilibrium conditions
 Test for equlibrium - To ensure the conditon of the equlibrium, 3
tests must be run each with a duration of 30 min. The stability of the
 observed condtions within the three sequential runs ensures the
condition of equlibrium.
 When standard deviation of the mean of all the individual
observations of each quantity does not exceed 5% of the mean of
each, the series will qualify for a condition of equlibrium. The
quantities to be considered are
 Refrigerant flow rate though test seperator
 Oil flow from oil reservoir into discharge line
 Oil removed from test seperator
 Oil concentration in liquid reciever
 Absolute pressure entering test seperator
 Refrigerant temeprature entering test seperator.
e. Determiniation of oil concentration in liquid from receiver
 The refrigerant sampling container, consiting of the cylinder valve,
capillary and fliter assembly.
 Initially this sampling apparatus is connected to a vaccum pump and
evacuated to a pressure equal to or below 2mm of HG absolute and
then weighed with an accuracy of 0.454 gms.
 The cylinder shall be connected by a flexible conduit to a tap on the
bottom of the liquid line in accordance with below figure.
  The cylinder should be kept on weighing scale during refrigerant
withdrawl procedure.
 When approximately 0.454kg of refrigerant has been withdrawn ,
both valves shall be closed, the cylinder and conduit should be
seperated and filter and capillary assembly attached.
 This assembly should be weighed to nearest 0.454gms.
 After weighing, the cylinder should be chilled to a temperature that
refrigerant pressure inside will reach 51.7kPa ± 17.2 kPa.
 The valve of cylinder shall be opened. The cylinder then be
transferred to room abmient (18.3 o C -29.4o C).
 The rate of the refrigerant escape will be governed by capailary
restrictor and by heat transfer from ambient to chilled cylinder.
 Whern refrigerant has stoped escaping the 6.4mm flare at the outlet
of the capilary shall be connected to vaccum pump and evacuated to
2mm of Hg.
 The assembly shall be immediately reweighed to the nearest 0.454
gms.
f. Measurement of seperated oil
 Recovery vessel
 The test seperator and SS (if used) shall discharge seperated oil
into individual recovery vesserls as shaown below.


  Oil from each seperator should enter a 3 way petcock, one branch
of this petcock leads to waste at atmospheric pressure and other
nbranch to the previsously weighed recovery vessel.
 This recovery vessel should be suitqable for vaccum service with a
internal diameter not less than 101.6mm and large enough to
contain wice the oil emitted by the seprator during test run.
 Each weighing shall include the recovery vessel, its contents and
vent and evacuation filter assembly but not the 3 way petcock nor
its plug nor any interconnecing tubing.
 Where the tests are not for ratings or where the test seperator does
not include an automatic oil return flow control mechanism, the
construction and control method can be used as below.
 The internal float pin of the scavenging oil seperator shall be
removed and the leaving oil shall be controlled by a manually
controlled needle valve so adjusted that no oil accumulated in the
seperator.
 To facilitate manual control, a sight glass should be installed in the
side of the scavenging seperator above oil outlet fitting and the
needle value adjusted to maintain the oil level at a mark on the
sightglass.
 Since oil may leave the test seperator in pulses and spurts (move
with a sudden burst of speed), the duration of a test run shall be at
least for 30 minutes and shall begin and end after the end of one
spurt and before the begining of the next spurt.
 After the termination of the test run, The recovery vessel retaining
the recoverd oil shall bwe connected to a vaccum pump and
maintained at a pressure equal to or less than 2mm of Hg. For a
period of one hour.
 Air should be allowed to enter the recovery vessel to restore its
pressure to atmospheric. The vessel should be sealed and weighed
after it has cooled to room temperature.
 The initial and final weighings should be conducted with an accuracy
of 0.454gms.
 g. Measure Dissolved refrigerant in oil stored in Reservoir.
 After each test run, a measured weight of oil equal to amount
removed from the test separator during the test run, but not less
than 170.2gm shall be removed under pressure from oil pump
discharge delivering oil to the inlet of the standard test section.
 This oil shall be delivered to and collected by a container of the type
used to sample liquid refrigerant from the receiver as described
previously (e).
 Sample shall be treated with all the procedure explained in (e)
h. Oil balance.
 The oil input to test section and total oil from the test and scavenging
separators and the oil transmitted to the liquid receiver must balance
within 5%
IV. Instruments
i. Temperature measurement instruments
 According to ASHRAE 41.1 -1986
 Accuracy 1.7o C
 The accuracy of temperature measurements taken in connection
with oil or refrigerant flow measurements shall be at least ±0.3o C.
ii. Pressure measurements
 Barometric pressure should be read before each test.
 If difference between barometric pressure and that observed
exceeds 12.7mm of Hg, all pressure gauge readings shall be
corrected accordingly.
 All refrigerant pressure measurements shall be made with
pressure measuring instruments sufficiently accurate to
determine the equilibrium temperature of the refrigerant within
±0.6o C.
 Vacuum measurements shall be made by thermocouple gauge.
iii. Refrigerant flow rate.
 Refrigerant flow through test separator shall be measured with an
accuracy of ±5%.
 If all the refrigerant vapour discharged by compressor traverses
the standard test section and the test separator, any of the
 following methods can be used for determining refrigerant mass
flow rate.
A. Calibrated compressor
B. Suction orifice meter – ASHRAE 20-70
C. Floating bobbin type liquid flow meter.
D. Water cooled condenser method
E. Low side calorimeter method – ASHRAE 20-700
F. Any other method that has been calibrated by a calorimeter
or by water cooled condenser method so that an accuracy
of measurement of ±5% of refrigerant flow rate is achieved.
 If for the purpose of the flow control some of the refrigerant
vapour discharged by compressor is bypassed back to its suction
without traversing the SITS and test separator, the methods A, B C
and F cannot be used. In such case only D &F methods should be
used.
iv. Oil flow rate
 The oil flow rate leaving the oil reservoir and entering the
discharge line at the inlet of the test section shall be measured
with an accuracy of ±5% by any of the following methods.
 Rotameter flow meter
 Positive displacement meter
 Volume methods employing a calibrated sight glass on the
reservoir
 Ultrasonic flow meter.
v. Weight
 Weight measurements shall be done with a weighing scale
capable of measuring to an accuracy of 0.454gms.
 This accuracy shall be confirmed before and after each test by the
use of standard weights.
V. Data to be recorded
 Test separator specifications
a. Standard rating and conditions of rating
b. Test separator external diameter (mm), Dex
c. Test separator overall height (mm), Hoa
d. Test separator shell height (mm), Hs
e. Inlet connection diameter, Dli and fitting type.
f. Outlet lead diameter, Dlo and fitting type
g. Shell thickness
h. Rated working pressure
i. Refrigerant flow rate min and max., pressure and temperature.
 Test data
i. Determine refrigerant flow rate
 By Water cooled condenser method

ii. Oil concentration in Liquid refrigerant receiver

 Weight of sampling vessel plus filter and capillary assembly
tube, empty W1lr
 Weight of the sampling vessel plus filter and capillary tube,
full W21r
 Weight of vessel plus filter and capillary tube, after
refrigerant has been boiled off and evacuated, W3lr
 Net weight of the refrigerant mixture , W4lr
 Net weight of oil, W5lr

iii. Oil from test seperator

 Weight of the collecting vessel, empty Wlts
  Weight of collecting vessel with oil removed by test seperator
before evacuation, W4ts
 Weight of the colleting vessel with oil removed after
evacuation , W5ts
 Time for first delivery of the oil into receving vessel (min) , T1
 Time for last delivery of the oil into receving vessel (min) , T2
 Time (total) oil delivered to receiving vessel, (min) , T2-T1
iv. Scavenging seprator data
 Weight of collecting vessel, W1ss
 Weight of colelcting vessel with oil removed by test seprator
before evacuation , W2ss
 Weight of colelcting vessel with oil removed by test seprator
after evacuation , W3ss
 Time of frist delivery of oil to receiving vessel,T1
 Time of last delivery of oil to receiving vessel, T2
 Time(Total) oil delivered to receiving vessel, T2-T1
v. Oil input rate.
 Rotameter or flowmeter reading, Mo2
VI. Computations
i. Calibration of condining seperator

ii. Test seperator efficiency