Mechanism of stall and surge in a centrifugal compressor with a variable vaned diffuser

To expand the stable operating range of compressors, understanding the mechanism of flow instability at low flow rates is necessary. In this paper, the mechanism of stall and surge in a centrifugal compressor with a variable vaned diffuser is experimentally investigated, where the diffuser blade setting angle can be adjusted. Many dynamic pressure transducers are mounted on the casing surface of the compressor. From the design condition to surge, dynamic pressure data is recorded throughout the gradual process. According to the signal developing status, the typical modes of compressor instability are defined in detail, such as stall, mild surge, and deep surge. A relatively high-frequency stall wave originates in the impeller and propagates to the diffuser, and finally stimulates a deep surge in the compressor. The compressor behavior during surge differs at different diffuser vane angles. When the diffuser vane angle is adjusted, both the unstable form and the core factor affecting the overall machine stability change. A specific indicator is proposed to measure the instability of each component in a compressor, which can be used to determine the best region for stability extension technologies, such as a holed casing treatment, in different compressor applications.

Numerical and experimental comparison of the vaned diffuser interaction inside the impeller velocity field of a centrifugal pump

The paper refers to the analysis of interactions between the impeller and the vaned diffuser based on the air model of a radial flow pump.The study deals with a numerical simulation of the flow for a full 360°entire impeller and diffuser.The task is carried out closely under the design operating conditions and for one particular position of the impeller blade with respect to the diffuser frame.Among all the results,the focus is mainly on the flow pattern at the exit part inside the impeller facing the diffuser vanes.The results are compared to the available PIV measurements.

Aerodynamic Performance and Noise Characteristics of a Centrifugal Compressor with Modified Vaned Diffusers

Improvement of aerodynamic performance and reduction of interaction tone noise of a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffusers are discussed by experiments and visualization techniques using a colored off-film method. The focus of the research is concentrated on the leading edge shape of diffuser vanes that are deeply related to the generation mechanism of the interaction tone noise. The compressor-radiated noise can be reduced by more than ten decibels by using modified diffuser vanes which have 3-D tapered shapes on both pressure and suction sur- faces of the leading edge. Furthermore, by adopting the proposed modified diffuser vanes, the secondary flow which is considered to be an obstruction of diffuser pressure recovery can be suppressed, and also the pressure decrease observed in the throat part of the diffuser flow passage is reducible. Thus, the proposed diffuser vanes show a favorable result for both noise and the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal compressor, and offer a few basic guidelines for the diffuser vane design.

Temporal Behaviour of a Corner Separation in a Radial Vaned Diffuser of a Centrifugal Compressor Operating near Surge

The temporal behaviour of a flow separation in the hub-suction side comer of a transonic diffuser is studied thanks to unsteady numerical simulations based on the phase-lagged approach. The validity of the numerical re- sults is confn＇med by comparison with experimental unsteady pressure measurements. An analysis of the instan- taneous skin-friction pattern and particles trajectories is presented. It highlights the topology of the separation and its temporal behaviour. The major result is that, despite of a highly time-dependent core flow, the separation is found to be a ＂fixed unsteady separation＂ characterized by a fixed location of the main saddle of the separation but an extent of the stall region modulated by the pressure waves induced by the impeller-diffuser interaction.

A Real-coded Genetic Algorithm Applied to Optimum Design of a Low Solidity Vaned Diffuser for Diffuser Pinup

A numerical procedure for hydrodynamic redesign of the conventional vaned diffuser into the low solidity vaned diffuser by means of a real-coded genetic algorithm with Boltzmann, Tournament and Roulette Wheel selection is presented. In the first part, an investigation on the relative efficiency of the different real-coded genetic algorithm is carried out on a typical mathematical test function. The real-coded genetic algorithm with Boltzmann selection shows the best optimization performance compared to the Tournament and Roulette Wheel selection. In the second part, an approach to redesign the vaned diffuser profile is introduced. Goal of the optimum design is to search the highest static pressure recovery coefficient and low solidity vaned diffuser. The result of the low solidity vaned diffuser optimum design confirms that the efficiency and optimization performance of the real-coded Boltzmann selection genetic algorithm outperforms the other selection methods. A comparison between the designed low solidity vaned diffuser and original vaned diffuser shows that the diffuser pump with the redesigned low solidity vaned diffuser has the higher static pressure recovery and improved total hydrodynamic performance. In addition, the smaller outlet diameter of designed vaned diffuser tends to a more compact size of diffuser pump compared to the original diffuser pump. The obtained results also demonstrate the real-coded Boltzmann selection genetic algorithm is a promising optimization algorithm for centrifugal pumps design.

HYDRODYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF LOW SOLIDITY VANED DIFFUSER FOR A CENTRIFUGAL PUMP USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS

This paper presents a hydrodynamic redesign of the conventional vaneddiffuser into the low solidity varied diffuser for the maximum static pressure recovery in acentrifugal pump. A Bezier curve representation for profile description was coupled with ablade-to-blade flow calculation and a real-coded genetic algorithm. A low solidity vaned diffuser of0.89 in solidity was obtained through the present optimum design. Numerical analysis andexperimental test were made to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance of the centrifugal pump withthe designed low solidity vaned diffuser and original vaned diffuser. The obtained resultsdemonstrate that the centrifugal pump with the optimized vaned diffuser has compact size comparedwith the original one while the performance requirements have been met.

Applications of Additively Manufactured Adjustable Vaned Diffusers in Centrifugal Compressor

As a variable-condition adjustment technology,the adjustable vaned diffusers(AVDs)can expand the working flow range of the compressor in the compressed air energy storage(CAES)system and improve its aerodynamic performance.In order to investigate the regulatory mechanism of AVDs and capture the details of vane loading distribution for the diffuser design optimization,additively manufactured AVDs for testing in a centrifugal compressor closed test facility are designed and implemented.Firstly,the regulation law of AVDs was summarized by numerical analysis and experimental support,and the corresponding vane loading data was extracted for the distribution law.Then,based on the distribution characteristics,3D diffuser models were designed suitably for the adjustable components.Then,the laser selective melting(SLM)technology and die steel material 1.2709 were selected for metal printing according to the actual operating environment.Finally,performance testing and accuracy detection were performed on the finished test pieces,almost all inlet hole’s deviations were within the 0.3 mm tolerance.The research results indicated that additive manufacturing can significantly improve the accessibility of the internal flow channels of the diffuser,and derive the load of the blade on the pressure surface and suction surface in detail,also provide adjustable functions for variable operating conditions.It can not only break through the traditional processing bottleneck of the complicated internal flow channels of AVDs but also improve the design matching degree with adjustable components;simultaneously,it ensures high performance with high precision and effectively shortens the long lead time.

Unsteady Behavior of Leading-edge Vortex and Diffuser Stall in a Centrifugal Compressor with Vaned Diffuser

The characteristics of a rotating stall of an impeller and diffuser and the evolution of a vortex generated at the diffuser leading-edge(i.e., the leading-edge vortex(LEV)) in a centrifugal compressor were investigated by experiments and numerical analysis. The results of the experiments revealed that both the impeller and diffuser rotating stalls occurred at 55 and 25 Hz during off-design flow operation. For both, stall cells existed only on the shroud side of the flow passages, which is very close to the source location of the LEV. According to the CFD results, the LEV is made up of multiple vortices. The LEV is a combination of a separated vortex near the leading-edge and a longitudinal vortex generated by the extended tip-leakage flow from the impeller. Therefore, the LEV is generated by the accumulation of vorticity caused by the velocity gradient of the impeller discharge flow. In partial-flow operation, the spanwise extent and the position of the LEV origin are temporarily transmuted. The LEV develops with a drop in the velocity in the diffuser passage and forms a significant blockage within the diffuser passage. Therefore, the LEV may be regarded as being one of the causes of a diffuser stall in a centrifugal compressor.

Effect of high negative incidence on the performance of a centrifugal compressor stage with conventional vaned diffusers

Three vaned diffusers, designed to have high negative incidence (-8°) at the design operating point, are studied experimentally. The overall performance (efficiency and pressure ratio) are measured at three rotational speeds, and flow angles before and after the diffuser are measured at the design rotational speed and with three mass flow rates. The results are compared to corresponding results of the original vaneless diffuser design. Attention is paid to the performance at lower mass flows than the design mass flow. The results show that it is possible to improve the performance at mass flows lower than the design mass flow with a vaned diffuser designed with high negative incidence. However, with the vaned diffusers, the compressor still stalls at higher mass flow rates than with the vaneless one. The flow angle distributions after the diffuser are more uniform with the vaned diffusers.

Numerical Investigation of Rotating Stall in Centrifugal Compressor with Vaned and Vaneless Diffuser

This study presents a numerical simulation of the stall and surge in a centrifugal compressor and presents a description of the stall development in two different cases.The first case is for a compressor with vaneless diffuser and the second is for a compressor with vaned diffuser of the vane island shape.The main aim of this study is to compare the flow characteristics and behavior for the two compressors near the surge operating condition and provide further understanding of the diffuser role when back flow occurs at surge.Results showed that for a location near the diffuser entrance,the amplitude of the static pressure fluctuations for the vaneless diffuser case is higher than that for the vaned diffuser case near surge condition.These pressure fluctuations in the case of the vaneless diffuser appear with a gradual decrease of the mean pressure value as a part of the surge cycle.While for the case of the vaned diffuser,the pressure drop during surge occurs faster than the case of the vaneless diffuser.Also,results indicated that during surge in the case of vaneless diffuser,there is a region with low velocity and back flow that appears as a layer connecting all impeller passages near shroud surface and this layer develops in size with time.On the other hand,for the case of vaned diffuser during surge,the low velocity regions appear in random locations in some passages and these regions expand with time towards the shroud surface.Results showed that during stall,the impeller passages are exposed to identical impact from stall cells in the case of vaneless diffuser while the stall effect varies from passage to another in the case of the vaned diffuser.

Numerical Investigation of the Centrifugal Compressor Stability Improvement by Half Vaned Low Solidity Diffusers

Centrifugal compressors for the fuel cell vehicles often operate near the surge line compared with the turbocharger compressors.Low solidity and half vaned diffusers are recognized as good ways to improve the stability of the centrifugal compressor.The presented work investigated four diffuser configurations (i.e.,the vaneless diffuser (VLD),full-height low solidity vaned diffuser (LSVD),hub-side half vaned diffuser (HVD) and shroud-side half vaned diffuser (SVD)) through steady-state and unsteady numerical simulations.The results show that the best performance is achieved by the LSVD,HVD and SVD at the design,surge and choke conditions.The flow rate at the surge operating point of the HVD has decreased by 15.53% compared with the LSVD,and 9.21% compared with the VLD.At near surge operating point,a longitudinal suction side passage vortex is formed on the hub of the LSVD and rotates as circumferential stall cells.A hairpin vortex is formed along the leading edge and is dragged by the main flow along the suction side as a local vortex shedding.The mechanism of the stability improvement by half vaned diffusers is that the tip leakage vortex migrates from the clearance side to the vane mounting side and replenishes the low-momentum zone on the mounting side.The best position where the half vaned diffuser should be mounted is based on the impeller outlet flow conditions,namely,the location of the wake region,where the meridional velocity and relative stagnation pressure is low.

Effects of Diffuser Vane Geometry on Interaction Noise Generated from a Centrifugal Compressor

The characteristics of interaction tone noise radiated from a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser are discussed by experiments, including visualization techniques using the oil-film method. Research attention is paid to the leading edge geometries of the diffuser vanes that are deeply related to the generation mechanism of the interaction tone noise. The compressor-radiated noise can be reduced by several decibels by setting some clearances in both the hub and shroud surfaces of the diffuser wall along with some decline in the pressure-rise coefficient. Since the decline turned out to be caused by the flow impingement and also by the secondary flow within the diffuser passages, several new types of diffuser vane geometries which do not detract from both the performance and noise level are developed and utilized for the experiments. The presented diffuser vane geometries will offer a few basic guidelines for the diffuser vane design.

Influence of volute distortion on the performance of turbocharger centrifugal compressor with vane diffuser

As the geometry of the volute of turbocharger compressor is non-axisymmetric,it causes a distortion at the outlet of the diffuser and influences the upstream components.A distortion model in which a pressure distortion was applied as outlet boundary condition was established to simulate the distortion induced by the volute.It turned out to be sufficient to impose a circumferentially asymmetric pressure distribution at the outlet of the diffuser to replace the volute.Based on the distortion model which was verified,the influence of the amplitude of the distortion on the performance of centrifugal compressor was studied in detail.The results show that the distortion severely harms aerodynamic stability of the investigated compressor.The larger the amplitude of the distortion,the worse the performance of the compressor.The distortion induced by asymmetric volute propagates to upstream components and causes local flow separation at part of diffuser and impeller,and then causes the compressor surge.When the amplitude of the volute distortion is 10%,the stable flow range of the centrifugal compressor decreases to near zero.To authors’knowledge,the relationship between the compressor performance and distortion amplitude is first obtained quantitatively,which provides evidence to improve the performance of turbocharger compressor by decreasing the distortion induced by asymmetric volute.

Effects of Tapered Diffuser Vane on the Flow Field and Noise of a Centrifugal Compressor

The effects of a three-dimensional tapered diffuser vane on the flow field and noise radiated from a centrifugal compressor are investigated by both CFD analyses and experiments. Tapered diffuser vanes are very useful not only for the reduction of the interaction tone noise but also for the improvement of the pressure recovery characteristics within the diffuser passage. By using tapered diffuser vanes, the interaction area between the impeller-discharge flow and diffuser vanes becomes small, and then the noise level of the discrete tone can be reduced remarkably as a result. Furthermore, by utilizing the visualization technique of vortical structures based on the CFD results, the scale of vortex shedding leaving from the leading edge of the diffuser vanes is found to be contracted and a tendency for the turbulence level to decrease is observed. This may be the cause of the attenuation of broadband noise components. The secondary flow, which is considered to be an obstruction of diffuser pressure recovery, can also be suppressed by the tapered diffuser vanes, and the pressure decrease observed in the throat part of the diffuser passage is further reducible.

Noise Reduction and Surge Margin Improvement Using Tapered Diffuser Vane in a Centrifugal Compressor

Improvement of surge margin and reduction of interaction tone noise radiated from a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser is discussed from experiments and CFD analyses.Two types of one-side tapered diffuser vanes,which are shroud-and hub-side tapered vanes,were used in the experiments.The height of the leading edge of the tapered vanes varied from 100% to 10%.Both types of tapered vanes are effective for the reduction of the interaction tone noise radiated from the compressor,because of the smaller interaction area between impeller-discharge flow and diffuser vane surface.Especially,the hub-side tapered diffuser vane suppresses the evolution of the leading-edge vortex,which causes reverse-flow in the diffuser passage.Furthermore,the hub-side tapered diffuser vane,which has an optimized diffuser leading edge shape,can improve the compressor pressure-rise characteristics at low-flow operation and can enlarge the surge margin.

Unstable Head-Flow Characteristic Generation Mechanism of a Low Specific Speed Mixed Flow Pump

This paper treats the flow instabilities in a mixed flow pump with a vaned diffuser. Test pump has a positive slope of a head-flow performance curve at 65% flow rate of BEP (Best Efficiency Point) because of a rotating stall. Dynamic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and pressure fluctuation measurements are used for investigating the propagation mechanism of a rotating stall. It was found that unstable performance was caused by periodical large scale abrupt backflow generated from the vaned diffuser to the outlet of impeller. Further, the relation between the static pressure at the inlet of diffuser vane and the internal flow condition was clarified. From these experimental results, in order to improve the positive slope of a head-flow performance curve, to suppress the growth of strong vortex toward the inlet of diffuser vane was proved to be a key point.