Numerical Analysis of a Novel Twin-Impeller Centrifugal Compressor

Abstract

Centrifugal compressors are widely used in many industrial fields such as automotive, aviation, aerospace. However, these turbomachines suffer instability phenomenon when the flow rate is too high or too low, called rotating stall and surge. These phenomena cause the operation failure, pressure fluctuations and vibrations of the thorough system. Numerous mechanical solutions have been presented to minimize these instabilities and expand the operating range towards low-flow rates like active control of the flow path, variable inlet guide vane and casing treatment. Currently, our team has developed a novel compressor composed of a twin-impeller powered by autonomous systems. We notice the performance improvement and instabilities suppression of this compressor experimentally. In this paper, an active control method is introduced by controlling the speed and rotation direction of the impellers to expand the operating range. A CFD study is then conducted to analysis flow morphology and thermodynamic characteristics based on the experimental observations at three special points. Numerical results and experimental measurements of compressor maps are consistent.

Keywords

• twin-impeller compressor
• surge improvement
• co-rotating method
• active control
• numerical method
• operating extension