Effects of Variable Diffuser Vanes on Performance of a Centrifugal Compressor with Pressure Ratio of 8.0

Mohsen Ebrahimi, Qiangqiang Huang, Xiao He and Xinqian Zheng
Additional contact information
Mohsen Ebrahimi: Turbomachinery Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Qiangqiang Huang: Turbomachinery Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xiao He: Turbomachinery Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xinqian Zheng: Turbomachinery Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: In numerous applications, centrifugal compressors are required to provide a high pressure ratio with good efficiency while also working in a wide operating range. This is a challenge because as pressure ratio increases, efficiency and operating range inevitably decline. This paper studies the effects of a variable geometry diffuser on the performance and operating range of a centrifugal compressor with high pressure ratios of up to 8.0. The numerical method employed three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. An analysis of the matching of the vaned diffuser with the impeller for different working conditions and diffuser vane angles is presented. The results show that improved matching of the adjusted diffuser increased efficiency by 4.5%. The range extension mechanism of the variable diffuser is explained, and it is shown that adjusting the vane angle by +6° to ?6° extended the operating range of the compressor by up to 30.0% for pressure ratios between 5.0 and 6.0. The interaction between diffuser and impeller was examined, and the independent characteristic of the impeller is illustrated. The connection between the incidence angle at the leading edge of the impeller and flow separation near the tip of the impeller is discussed.

Keywords: centrifugal compressor; gas turbine; turbocharger; variable geometry; diffuser; high pressure ratio; diffuser impeller interaction; incidence angle; matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/5/682/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/5/682/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:682-:d:98500

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().