Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B (대한기계학회논문집B)

The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (대한기계학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Aerodynamic Design and Numerical Study of a Propane-Refrigerant Centrifugal Compressor for LNG Plant

LNG 플랜트용 프로판 냉매 원심압축기의 공력설계 및 전산해석적 연구

  • Park, Joo-Hoon (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Lee, Won-Suk (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Shin, You-Hwan (Energy Mechanics Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Kim, Kwang-Ho (Energy Mechanics Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Lee, Yoon-Pyo (Energy Mechanics Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Chung, Jin-Taek (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.)
  • 박주훈 (고려대학교 기계공학과) ;
  • 이원석 (고려대학교 기계공학과) ;
  • 신유환 (한국과학기술연구원 에너지메카닉스센터) ;
  • 김광호 (한국과학기술연구원 에너지메카닉스센터) ;
  • 이윤표 (한국과학기술연구원 에너지메카닉스센터) ;
  • 정진택 (고려대학교 기계공학과)
  • Received : 2010.12.13
  • Accepted : 2011.05.20
  • Published : 2011.08.01
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

We design a four-stage propane-refrigerant centrifugal compressor for an LNG plant. Using a commercial code, we aerodynamically designed the compressor at each design point of the corresponding stages. We estimated the one-dimensional aerodynamic design output and the three-dimensional shape of the impeller flow passage via three-dimensional flow analysis. In particular, we discuss in detail the flow characteristics of the impeller and the vaneless diffuser passages of the fourth-stage compressor in terms of the velocity fields, the pressure, and the entropy distributions of the flow passages. We include the flow effects of the tip clearance flow, because at this stage the rotating speed and total inlet pressure are higher than those at the other compressor stages are. We carried out performance tests of the designed compressor stages using propane as a refrigerant in the LNG cycle. The practical evaluation could lead to design enhancements in the future.

본 연구에서는 4단으로 구성된 LNG 플랜트용 프로판 냉매 원심 압축기 각 단의 설계점에 대해 상용 코드를 이용하여 공력설계를 하였다. 1차원 공력 설계 결과와 3차원 유로 형상의 타당성은 유동해석을 통해 확인하였다. 특히 입구전압이 높고 회전수가 큰 4단 압축기 임펠러의 유로와 베인리스 디퓨저 내부 유동에 대한 속도장, 압력장 및 엔트로피 등의 유동특성에 대해 고찰하였고, 아울러 익단 간극이 유동장에 미치는 영향에 대해서도 알아보았다. 본 연구 결과는 프로판 냉매 압축기의 시스템 제작에 활용될 것이며 추후 실제 실험결과와 비교하고자 한다. 향후 설계된 프로판 냉매압축기에 대한 LNG 플랜트에서의 실증시험을 통해 구체적인 설계결과에 대한 평가 및 설계 개선이 이루어지리라 생각한다.

Keywords

References

  1. Hwang, I. J., 2007, "Pre-Planing Research Report of Gas Plant R&D Center," Gas Plant R&D Center.
  2. Jang, Y. S., 1997, "Performance and heat transfer characteristics of a heat pump system using hydrocarbon refrigerant mixtures," Ph.D. Thesis, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
  3. Lee, M. Y., 2005, "A Study on Performance Characteristics of Propane/Isobutane Refrigerant Mixtures in a Domestic Small Multi-Refrigeration System," Trans. of the KSME B, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 271-278. https://doi.org/10.3795/KSME-B.2005.29.2.271
  4. Yoon, W. J. and Kim, Y. C., 2002, "Performance Characteristics of Propane / isobutane Mixtures in a Small Refrigeration System," Journal of the SAREK, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 73-83.
  5. Lee, H. S., 2009, "Development and Technology of Refrigerant Compressor for LNG Plant," Journal of the SAREK, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 18-23.
  6. User's Manual, RCOM1DR ver 1.3, MEEREX.
  7. NIST Standard Reference Database 23, Version 8.0, 2007, " Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties," USA.
  8. User's Guide, 2008, ANSYS-BladeGen v.12.
  9. Lee, K. Y., Choi, Y. S. and Park, W. J., 2004, "Numerical Study on Tip Clearance Effect on Performance Characteristics of a Centrifugal Compressor for a R134a Turbo-Chiller," Journal of the KFMA, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 38-44. https://doi.org/10.5293/KFMA.2004.7.6.038
  10. User's Guide, 2008, ANSYS-TurboGrid v12.
  11. Eum, H. J. and Kang, S. H., 2002, "Numerical Study on Tip Clearance Effect on Performance of a Centrifugal Compressor," Summer Conference of the SAREK, pp. 636-642.
  12. CFX-12 Documentation, 2009, ANSYS CFX.
  13. Menter, F., C. Ferreira, J., Esch, T. and Konno, B., 2003, "The SST Turbulence Model with Improved Wall Treatment for Heat Transfer Predictions in Gas Turbines," International Gas Turbine Congress 2003, Tokyo, IGTC 2003-TS-059s.
  14. Marconcini, M., Rubechini, F., Arnone, A. and Ibaraki, S., 2008, "Numerical Investigation of a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor," Journal of Turbomachinery, Vol. 130.

Cited by

  1. A Study on Estimating the Next Failure Time of LNG FPSO Compressor vol.19, pp.3, 2014, https://doi.org/10.7315/CADCAM.2014.203