A Numerical Study on the Design and Flow Patterns of Compressor Impeller in a Marine Engine Turbocharger
The centrifugal compressor design of the high-speed marine engine (500–900 kW) turbocharger has been done. Increased Higher compressed air and power density help improvement of the engine performance and power. The centrifugal compressor of the marine engine turbocharger is composed of impeller, 1st vaneless diffuser, vaned diffuser, 2nd vaneless diffuser and volute casing. The design process is achieved by three following stages. First, quasi-two dimensional code is used to determine the main geometry of the compressor. Second, three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equation is applied to analyze the flow pattern and structures of the compressor blade loading. Here, among compressor impeller geometry, blade height variables are mainly changed. Smooth flow guidance has to precede and flow separation symptoms must not appear within compressor impeller. When the loading distribution is inadequate from blade hub to shroud, new curved profile should be designed to minimize the pressure loss. By analyzing the internal flow fields for the compressor impeller geometry variations, three dimensional impeller design profile has been confirmed. Compressed air pressure and mass flow rates from new optimized design were 2.7%, 27.3% higher than that of old one each other. Third, analyzed results are compared with experimental data for the verification of the present design method.