Apparatus and method for controlling a compressor
AssigneesPratt & Whitney Canada Corp., Polyvalor, Limited Partnership
InventorHuu Duc Vo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compressor comprises a casing having an inner surface surrounding a rotor assembly, the rotor assembly having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially outwardly extending rotor blades, each blade having leading and trailing edges and a tip, the compressor further comprising at least one plasma actuator for suppressing rotating stall inception of the compressor, the at least one plasma actuator being mounted adjacent to the blade tips.
Claims5
A method of using a plasma actuator for suppressing rotating stall inception of a compressor, the compressor including a casing having an inner surface surrounding a rotor assembly, the rotor assembly having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially outwardly extending rotor blades, each blade having leading and trailing edges and a tip, the plasma actuator including a plurality of discrete independent circumferentially adjacent plasma actuator sections provided circumferentially around the casing near the blade tips of the rotor assembly, the method comprising:
- a) actuating the independent circumferentially adjacent plasma actuator sections in a substantially circumferentially uniform manner to suppress tip clearance flow features responsible for spike rotating stall inception;
- and then
- b) actuating the independent circumferentially adjacent plasma actuator sections in a substantially sinusoidal manner to introduce a substantially sinusoidal circumferential perturbation in pressure rise around the compressor to suppress modal stall inception.
A method of using a plasma actuator for suppressing rotating stall inception of a compressor, the compressor including a casing having an inner surface surrounding a rotor assembly, the rotor assembly having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially outwardly extending rotor blades, each blade having leading and trailing edges and a tip, the plasma actuator including independent circumferentially adjacent plasma actuator sections provided circumferentially around the casing near the blade tips of the rotor assembly, the method comprising actuating the respective plasma actuator sections in a circumferential sequence to induce circumferentially varying axial flow acceleration within a tip clearance gap region of the rotor assembly, thereby resulting in a circumferential perturbation in pressure rise around the compressor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.