Effect of Different Geometrical Inlet Pipes on a High Speed Centrifugal Compressor

Author(s):  
Ce Yang ◽  
Ben Zhao ◽  
C. C. Ma ◽  
Dazhong Lao ◽  
Mi Zhou

Two different inlet configurations, including a straight pipe and a bent pipe, were experimentally tested and numerically simulated using a high-speed, low-mass flow centrifugal compressor. The pressure ratios of the compressor with the two inlet configurations were tested and then compared to illustrate the effect of the bent inlet pipe on the compressor. Furthermore, different circumferential positions of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute are discussed for two purposes. One purpose is to describe the changes in the compressor performance that result from altering the circumferential position of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute. This change in performance may be the so-called clocking effect, and its mechanism is different from the one in multistage turbomachinery. The other purpose is to investigate the unsteady flow for different matching states of the bent inlet pipe and volute. Thus, the frequency spectrum of unsteady pressure fluctuation was applied to analyze the aerodynamic response. Compared with the straight inlet pipe, the experimental results show that the pressure ratio is modulated and that the choke point is shifted in the bent inlet pipe. Similarly, the pressure ratio can be influenced by altering the circumferential position of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute, which may have an effect on the unsteady pressure in the rotor section. Therefore, the magnitude of interest spectral frequency is significantly changed by clocking the bent inlet pipe.

Author(s):  
Ben Zhao ◽  
Dazhong Lao ◽  
Liangjun Hu ◽  
Ce Yang

As inlet bent-pipes are often used in vehicle turbocharger compressors, understanding of the inlet bent-pipe’s effect on centrifugal compressor and the mechanism of flow loss is important to improve the turbocharger compressor performance. Experiment and numerical simulation were carried out on a centrifugal compressor with straight pipe and bent-pipe. Numerical simulated compressor performance was compared with test data obtained from compressor flow bench test and to validate the numerical method. The analysis is mainly based on numerical results and it indicated that the inlet bent pipe induces a serious distortion at impeller inlet and increases the risk of blade high-cycle fatigue. The level of distortion changes to be more serious as the operation point of compressor varies from design point to high load. When an impeller channel enters distortion, the larger pressure difference between inlet and outlet makes this channel get clogged and the flow rate through this channel is reduced. At design point the bent pipe mainly influences the flow loss in the inlet pipe and impeller while at high load more serious flow distortion induced by bent-pipe is able to extend its stronger effect to the downstream diffuser and volute.


Author(s):  
Jeong-Seek Kang ◽  
Sung-Kook Cho ◽  
Shin-Hyoung Kang

The aim of this paper is to understand the time averaged pressure field and unsteady pressure patterns in a high speed centrifugal compressor channel diffuser. Pressure distributions from the impeller exit to the channel diffuser exit are measured and discussed for various flow conditions. Unsteady pressure signals from six fast-response sensors in the channel diffuser are analyzed by decomposition method and wavelet transform. Measured results are shown for various operating condition from choke to surge that the effect of operating condition is well discussed. The strong non-uniformity in the pressure distribution is obtained over the diffuser shroud wall caused by the impeller-diffuser interaction. As the flow rate increases, flow separation near the throat, due to large incidence angle, increases aerodynamic blockage and reduces the aerodynamic flow area downstream. Thus the minimum pressure location occurs downstream of the geometric throat, and it is named as the aerodynamic throat. And at choke condition, normal shock occurs downstream of this aerodynamic throat. The variation in the location of the aerodynamic throat is discussed. The pressure ratio waveforms by blade passing show regular oscillation not only for the normal but also for the surge conditions and the high frequency fluctuations are superposed on the oscillating pressure waveform as the flow rate increases. Periodic unsteadiness by blade passing does not decay in the diffuser channel. It depends on the operating point and is generally larger in the channel than in the vaneless space. Aperiodic unsteadiness rapidly decrease downstream of diffuser channel. At surge, the spectrum becomes broad banded with peaks at the surge frequency as well as blade passage frequency and the impeller rotating frequency. The surge signal was analyzed using wavelet transform and it is found that surge signal is composed of not only surge scale and blade scale but also multi-scale aperiodic waves. The broadband spectrum in surge condition is due to this multi-scale aperiodic waves.


Author(s):  
Mohammad R. Aligoodarz ◽  
Mohammad Reza Soleimani Tehrani ◽  
Hadi Karrabi ◽  
Mohammad R. Roshani

Turbo machineries including compressors performance degrades over the period of operation and deviates from design levels due to causes including dust entrance into the compressor, blades mechanical damage, erosion and corrosion. These lead to reduction in compressor performance, efficiency and pressure ratio. Subsequently gas turbine performance is affected since their operation sate is correlated. In this study the numerical investigation of common causes that determine geometric characteristics of a 2-stage centrifugal compressor running in a gas station, including blades fouling and corrosion is performed. 3D Numerical modeling is implemented along with utilization of Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model and independency from the grids is verified.


Author(s):  
Pau Cutrina Vilalta ◽  
Hui Wan ◽  
Soumya S. Patnaik

Abstract In this paper, we use various regression models and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict the centrifugal compressor performance map. Particularly, we study the accuracy and efficiency of Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) and Artificial Neural Networks in modelling the pressure ratio, given the mass flow rate and rotational speed of a centrifugal compressor. Preliminary results show that both GPR and ANN can predict the compressor performance map well, for both interpolation and extrapolation. We also study the data augmentation and data minimzation effects using the GPR. Due to the inherent pressure ratio data distribution in mass-flow-rate and rotational-speed space, data augmentation in the rotational speed is more effective to improve the ANN performance than the mass flow rate data augmentation.


Author(s):  
Ziliang Li ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Ge Han ◽  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Shengfeng Zhao ◽  
...  

Centrifugal compressors often suffer relatively low efficiency and a terrible operating range particularly due to the complex flow structure and intense impeller/diffuser interaction. Numerous studies have focused on improving the centrifugal compressor performance using many innovative ideas, such as the tandem impeller, which has become increasingly attractive due to its ability to achieve the flow control with no additional air supply configurations and control costs in compressor. However, few studies that attempted to the investigation of tandem impeller have been published until now and the results are always contradictory. To explore the potential of the tandem impeller to enhance the compressor performance and the underlying mechanism of the flow phenomena in the tandem impellers, this paper numerically investigated a high-pressure-ratio centrifugal compressor with several tandem impellers at off-design operating speeds. The results encouragingly demonstrate that the tandem impeller can achieve a performance enhancement over a wide range of operating conditions. Approximately 1.8% maximum enhancement in isentropic efficiency and 5.0% maximum enhancement in operating range are achieved with the inducer/exducer circumferential displacement of [Formula: see text] = 25% and 50%, respectively. The observed stage performance gain of the tandem impellers decreases when the operating speed increases due to the increased inducer shock, increased wake losses, and deteriorated tandem impeller discharge flow uniformity. In addition, the tandem impeller can extend the impeller operating range particularly at low rotation speeds, which is found to be a result from the suppression of the low-momentum fluid radial movement. The results also indicate that the maximum flux capacity of the tandem impeller decreases due to the restriction of the inducer airfoil Kutta–Joukowsky condition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (16) ◽  
pp. 3416 ◽  
Author(s):  
T R Jebieshia ◽  
Senthil Kumar Raman ◽  
Heuy Dong Kim

The present study focuses on the aerodynamic performance and structural analysis of the centrifugal compressor impeller. The performance characteristics of the impeller are analyzed with and without splitter blades by varying the total number of main and splitter blades. The operating conditions of the compressor under centrifugal force and pressure load from the aerodynamic analysis are applied to the impeller blade and hub to perform the one-way Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI). For the stress assessment, maximum equivalent von Mises stresses in the impeller blades are compared with the maximum allowable stress of the impeller material. The effects of varying the pressure field on the deformation and stress of the impeller are also calculated. The aerodynamic and structural performance of the centrifugal compressor at 73,000 rpm are investigated in terms of the efficiency, pressure ratio, equivalent von Mises stress, and total deformation of the impeller.


2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Ubben ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Adjustable diffuser vanes offer an attractive design option for centrifugal compressors applied in industrial applications. However, the knowledge about the impact on compressor performance of a diffuser vane clearance between vane and diffuser wall is still not satisfying. This two-part paper summarizes results of experimental investigations performed with an industrial-like centrifugal compressor. Particular attention was directed toward the influence of the diffuser clearance on the operating behavior of the entire stage, the pressure recovery in the diffuser, and on the diffuser flow by a systematic variation of the parameters diffuser clearance height, diffuser vane angle, radial gap between impeller exit and diffuser inlet, and rotor speed. Compressor map measurements provide a summary of the operating behavior related to diffuser geometry and impeller speed, whereas detailed flow measurements with temperature and pressure probes allow a breakdown of the losses between impeller and diffuser and contribute to a better understanding of relevant flow phenomena. The results presented in Part I show that an one-sided diffuser clearance does not necessarily has a negative impact on the operation and loss behavior of the centrifugal compressor, but instead may contribute to an increased pressure ratio and improved efficiency as long as the diffuser passage is broad enough with respect to the clearance height. The flow phenomena responsible for this detected performance behavior are exposed in Part II, where the results of detailed measurements with pressure probes at diffuser exit and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements conducted inside the diffuser channel are discussed. The experimental results are published as an open computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testcase “Radiver 2.”


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Xu ◽  
R. S. Amano

Centrifugal compressor developments are interested in using optimization procedures that enable compressor high efficiency and wide operating ranges. Recently, high pressure ratio and efficiency of the centrifugal compressors require impeller design to pay attention to both the blade angle distribution and the meridional profile. The geometry of the blades and the meridional profile are very important contributions of compressor performance and structure reliability. This paper presents some recent studies of meridional impacts of the compressor. Studies indicated that the meridional profiles of the impeller impact the overall compressor efficiency and pressure ratio at the same rotational speed. Proper meridional profiles can improve the compressor efficiency and increase the overall pressure ratio at the same blade back curvature.


Author(s):  
Levi André B. Vigdal ◽  
Lars E. Bakken

The introduction of variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) upfront of a compressor stage affects performance and permits tuning for off-design conditions. This is of great interest for emerging technology related to subsea compression. Unprocessed gas from the wellhead will contain liquid condensate, which affects the operational condition of the compressor. To investigate the effect of guide vanes on volume flow and pressure ratio in a wet gas compressor, VIGVs are implemented upfront of a centrifugal compressor stage to control the inlet flow direction. The guide vane geometry and test rig setup have previous been presented. This paper documents how changing the VIGV setting affects compressor performance under dry and wet operating conditions. The reduced performance effect and operating range at increased liquid content are of specific interest. Also documented is the change in the VIGV effect relative to the setting angle.


Author(s):  
C. Rodgers

Centrifugal impeller blade trimming has long been used in the turbocharger industry to adapt a single impeller casting to a series of flow capacities, but surprisingly little published literature exists on the effects of trimming to compressor performance. This paper is presented as partial remedy, and describes the performance characteristics of a single stage centrifugal compressor designed and tested to cover a range of flow requirements by impeller blade and diffuser vane trimming. Stage and component test performance characteristics are presented for five trimmed flowpath contours covering a flow capacity range of approximately five to one at a DeLaval number of 0.75. The impeller tip diameter was 356mm, and the highest overall stage efficiency measured was 84.8% at an (air) pressure ratio of 1.5.


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