---,+--,ghlee@doowon.ac.kr)CompressorResearchLab.,DoowonTechnicalCollege,Ansung-shi,Kyonggi-do,SouthKorea(+---,+--,leetjin@incheon.ac.kr)ABSTRACTThispaperpresentsaqualitativeintroductiontothecompressorvalvedesignanddevelopmenteffortsbyconsideredflexibilityandreliability.Flexibilitythatisrelatedtocompressorefficiencyandstructuralreliabilityaretwomainimportantfactorsincompressorvalvedesign.Inthisstudy,wehavedesignedtheoptimalCOcompressorvalveconsideredthesefactors.Toobtainoptimalvalveflexibilityweperformedtosystemsimulationofcompressor.Fromthissimulation,wecouldgetsomeimportantdataatvalvedesignliketheoptimalnaturalfrequencyandtheheightofretainer.Foreachcasebendingstress,contactstressandnaturalfrequencywereobtainedbyfiniteelementanalysis.Alsowestudiedthefatiguestabilitytoobtainoptimalvalveshapethatensuredtoreliability..INTRODUCTIONIncompressor,suctionanddischargevalveareoneofthekeycomponentswhichmai