Centrifugal compressor
AssigneeNorthern Research & Engineering Corp.
InventorsMichael C. Swarden, Shankar S. Magge, Willem Jansen, Anthony F. Carter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improvement for extending the stable operating range of a centrifugal compressor comprises a circumferentially extending series of slots adjacent the leading edges of a series of compressor vanes such that there is relative motion between the series of slots and the vanes as the compressor impeller is driven in rotation.
Claims17
In a centrifugal compressor having casing structure defining inlet and outlet passages and a gas flow path between said passages,
- an impeller in said casing structure mounted for rotation about a compressor axis, said impeller having a circumferentially arranged series of impeller vanes in said gas flow path and arranged to receive gas from said inlet passage and to discharge gas centrifugally in a radially outward direction, and
- a diffuser section in said gas flow path downstream from said impeller, said diffuser section having a circumferentially arranged series of vanes in said gas flow path and extending in a radially outward direction through said diffuser section from said impeller towards said outlet passage,
- an improvement for extending the stable operating range of said centrifugal compressor comprising
- a circumferentially extending series of slots disposed at the periphery of said impeller adjacent the leading edges of the diffuser vanes, each said slot extending generally in the direction of said gas flow path, and said series of slots being disposed such that there is relative motion between said series of slots and said diffuser vanes as said impeller is driven in rotation.
In a centrifugal compressor having casing structure defining inlet and outlet passages and a gas flow path between said passages,
- an impeller in said casing structure mounted for rotation about a compressor axis, said impeller having a circumferentially arranged series of impeller vanes in said gas flow path and arranged to receive gas from said inlet passage and to discharge gas centrifugally in a radially outward direction, and
- a diffuser section in said gas flow path downstream from said impeller, said diffuser section having a circumferentially arranged series of vanes in said gas flow path and extending in a radially outward direction through said diffuser section from said impeller towards said outlet passage,
- an improvement for extending the stable operating range of said centrifugal compressor comprising
- a circumferentially extending series of slots at the periphery of said impeller adjacent the leading edges of said diffuser vanes such that there is relative motion between said series of slots and said series of diffuser vanes as said impeller is driven in rotation,
- said series of slots extending in a radial direction with their walls skewed at an angle of at least 30.degree. to the axis of rotation of said impeller and having a slot depth to vane height ratio of less than 0.5.
In a centrifugal compressor having casing structure defining inlet and outlet passages and a gas flow path between said passages,
- an impeller in said casing structure mounted for rotation about a compressor axis, said impeller having a circumferentially arranged series of impeller vanes in said gas flow path and arranged to receive gas from said inlet passage and to discharge gas centrifugally in a radially outward direction, and
- a diffuser section in said gas flow path downstream from said impeller, said diffuser section having a circumferentially arranged series of venes in said gas flow path and extending in a radially outward direction through said diffuser section from said impeller towards said outlet passage,
- an improvement for extending the stable operating range of said centrifugal compressor comprising
- a first circumferentially extending series of slots in said casing structure adjacent the leading edges of said impeller vanes and a second circumferentially extending series of slots disposed at the periphery of said impeller adjacent the leading edges of said diffuser vanes, each said slot extending generally in the direction of said gas flow path such that there is relative motion between each series of slots and the adjacent set of vanes as said impeller is driven in rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.