Drawing performance

characteristics of the
centrifugal compressor
and finding the surge line

ANKIT KUMAR (M.TECH)

Reg no-172268
DHIRAJ KUMAR(M.TECH)
Reg no-172307
 INTRODUCTION
 COMPRESSOR
 CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR
 COMPRESSOR CHARACTERISTICS
 CHARACTERISTIC CURVE
 LOSSES IN A CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR
 SURGING
INTRODUCTION:

 In general, it is not so easy to predict performance characteristics

for a centrifugal compressor as for an axial-flow one, because the
former has many difficulties in comparison with the latter.
 Prediction is especially hard in cases when configurations of
elements composing the compressor are varied.
 Investigations concerning conversions of performance
characteristics obtained by employing air as a working fluid to those
obtained with gases other than air.
 Within a centrifugal compressor, the flow behaviour is
accompanied with many kinds of losses, the mechanisms of which
are complicated, especially in impeller channels.
COMPRESSORS:

 A brief description of different types of fluid machines

using water as the working fluid .
 However, there exist a large number of fluid machines in
practice, that use air, steam and gas (the mixture of air
and products of burnt fuel) as the working fluids.
 The density of the fluids change with a change in
pressure as well as in temperature as they pass through
the machines.
 These machines are called 'compressible flow
machines’ .
 Apart from the change in density with pressure, other
features of compressible flow, depending upon the
regimes, are also observed in course of flow of fluids
through compressors.
 the basic equation of energy transfer along with the
equation of state relating the pressure, density and
temperature of the working fluid and other necessary
equations of compressible flow, are needed to describe
the performance of a turbomachine.
 In practice two kinds of compressors centrifugal and
axial are generally in use.
CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR:
 Centrifugal compressors are rotodynamic type
compressors.
 In this compressor energy is transfer to fluid by dynamic
means from a rotating member to the continuously
flowing working fluid.
 A general arrangement of centrifugal compressor is
similar to a centrifugal pump.
 It is a continuously flow machine suitable for large flow
rate at moderate pressure.
 A pressure ratio of 4:1 can be achieved with single stage
centrifugal compressor and higher pressure ratio 12:1 is
possible with multi stage centrifugal compressor.
A centrifugal compressor essentially
consists of three components.
 1. A stationary casing
 2. A rotating impeller as shown in Fig. which
imparts a high velocity to the fluid. The impeller may be
single or double sided as show in Fig, but the
fundamental theory is same for both.
 3. A diffuser consisting of a number of fixed diverging
passages in which the air is decelerated with a
consequent rise in static pressure.

(b) (c) (d)

Figure 6.1 Schematic views of a centrifugal compressor
Compressor characteristics
 Compressor characteristic is the curve to show the
behaviour of fluid, like change in pressure, temperature,
entropy, flow rate etc. as it passes through a Dynamic
compressor at different compressor speeds.
 The function of a compressor is to increase the pressure
of a fluid passing through it, so that the exit pressure is
higher than the inlet pressure.
 Due to this property, compressors are used in a wide
range of machines, such as refrigerators, cars, jet
engines and industrial processes.
fig: The theorectical characteristic curve


 Figure 8.3 Variations of pressure ratio over the complete range of mass flow
for different rotational speeds
Losses in a Centrifugal Compressor

 Frictional losses: A major portion of the losses is due to fluid friction in

stationary and rotating blade passages.
 Incidence losses: During the off-design conditions, the direction of relative
velocity of fluid at inlet does not match with the inlet blade angle and
therefore fluid cannot enter the blade passage smoothly by gliding along
the blade surface.
 Clearance and leakage losses: Certain minimum clearances are necessary
between the impeller shaft and the casing and between the outlet
periphery of the impeller eye and the casing. The leakage of gas through
the shaft clearance is minimized by employing glands. The clearance losses
depend upon the impeller diameter and the static pressure at the impeller
tip.
 The variations of frictional losses, incidence losses and the total losses with
mass flow rate are shown in Figure.8.1
Surging:
 Surging is the complete breakdown of steady flow in the
compressor which occurs at low flow rate.
 Surging takes place when compressor is operated off
the design point and it affects the whole machine and
this is aerodynamically and mechanically undesirable.
 It can damage the rotor bearings, rotor seals,
compressor driver and affect the whole cycle operation.