No abstract

The stability considerations of centrifugal compressors become increasingly severe with the high pressure ratios, especially in aero-engines. Diffuser is the major subcomponent of centrifugal compressor, and its performance greatly influences the stability of compressor. This paper experimentally investigates the roles of vanes in diffuser on component instability and compression system instability. High pressure ratio centrifugal compressors with and without vanes in diffuser are tested and analyzed. Rig tests are carried out to obtain the compressor performance map. Dynamic pressure measurements and relevant Fourier analysis are performed to identify complex instability phenomena in the time domain and frequency domain, including rotating instability, stall, and surge. For component instability, vanes in diffuser are capable of suppressing the emergence of rotating stall in the diffuser at full speeds, but barely affect the characteristics of rotating instability in the impeller at low and middle speeds. For compression system instability, it is shown that the use of vanes in diffuser can effectively postpone the occurrence of compression system surge at full speeds. According to the experimental results and the one-dimensional flow theory, vanes in diffuser turn the diffuser pressure rise slope more negative and thus improve the stability of compressor stage, which means lower surge mass flow rate.

Pressure pulsation widely exists in power machinery combining compression components and pipelines. It has substantial effects on the performance of compressor as part of the compression system, as well as the engine. In this paper, the pressure pulsations under different excitation frequencies are measured and analyzed in the intake system of a turbo-charged and inter-cooled internal combustion engine. It is pointed out that the amplification of the pressure pulsation at the compressor inlet and outlet is caused by the coupling effects within the compression system, which consequently lead to the formation of a stable standing wave. Further research indicates that the pulsation at the compressor boundary will cause its pressure ratio to fluctuate. Additionally, because the compressor characteristic curve resembles a concave function, the fluctuation of transient pressure ratio will further cause the time-averaged pressure ratio to decline. Finally, the impact on engine performance is evaluated based on a well-validated simulation model.