Due to environmental issues, the development of low energy consumption products has become one of the main topics in the home appliance industry. The energy consumption of a refrigerator depends on the efficiency of its compressor as well as on the refrigerator cycle design, such as the capacity modulation. In this study, a dual capacity, i.e., two-step capacity modulation (TCM), reciprocating compressor is developed. In a TCM compressor, capacity modulation is achieved by changing the dead volume in the cylinder. Instead of a concentric sleeve, an eccentric sleeve, a key, and a spring are used to change the dead volume for the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of a motor. When the compressor changes its operating mode from full capacity to partial capacity or in opposite direction, the key may collide with the eccentric sleeve. The structural reliability and mode change reliability were confirmed by analysis and experiment.
