• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1395-1400
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• 2004

A centrifugal compressor for geothermal heat pump system using R134a as working fluid has been developed. The centrifugal compressor consists of an impeller with splitters, two vaneless diffuser, a low solidity vaned diffuser and a volute. In this compressor, diffuser blade angles are controlled to satisfy both heating and cooling conditions. A aerodynamic design was done by applying the repeating design procedure including a meanline design, a 3D geometry generation and fluid dynamic calculation. In this paper, design and performance prediction results of the compressor are presented.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.280-283
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• 2008

This study is concerned with development of air supply system in 250kW MCFC fuel cell system. The turbo blower is decided as an air supply system to increase the efficiency of fuel cell system. The turbo blower consists of an impeller, two vaneless diffuser, a vaned diffuser and a volute. The cascade diffuser is used to raise the efficiency of turbo blower. An aerodynamic design was done by applying the repeating design procedure including a meanline design, a 3D geometry generation and fluid dynamic calculation. It is confirmed from meanline and 3D flow analysis results that the operating range is enough and design requirements are successfully achieved. The performance test results were also included in this paper.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.5-10
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• 2010

This study is concerned with effects of impeller blade thickness on performance of a turbo blower. This turbo blower is developed as an air supply system in 250 kW MCFC system. The turbo blower consists of an impeller, two vaneless diffusers, a vaned diffuser and a volute. The three dimensional, steady state numerical analysis is simultaneously conducted for the impeller, diffuser and volute to investigate the performance of total system. To consider the non-uniform condition in volute inlet due to volute tongue, full diffuser passages are included in the calculation. The results of numerical analysis are validated with experimental results of thin blade thickness. Total pressure ratio, efficiency, slip factor and blade loading are compared in two cases. The slip factor is different in two cases and the comparison of two cases shows a good performance in thin blade thickness in all aspects.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2012

The objective of the present investigation is to explore the possibility of improving the performance of a centrifugal fan at low Reynolds numbers using a simple passive means, namely Gurney flap (GF). GFs of 1/$8^{th}$ inch brass angle (3.175 mm) corresponding to 15.9% of blade exit height or 5.1% of blade spacing at the impeller tip are attached to the impeller blade tip on the pressure surface. Performance tests are carried out on the centrifugal fan with vaneless diffuser at five Reynolds numbers (viz., 0.30, 0.41, 0.55, 0.69, $0.82{\times}10^5$, i.e., at five speeds respectively at 1,100, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 rpm) without and with GF. Static pressures on the vaneless diffuser hub and shroud are also measured for each speed at four flow coefficients [${\phi}$=0.23 (below design flow coefficient), ${\phi}$=0.34 (design flow coefficient), ${\phi}$=0.45 (above design flow coefficient) and ${\phi}$=0.60 (above design flow coefficient)] with and without GF. From the performance curves it is found that the performance of the fan improves considerably with GFs at lower Reynolds numbers and improves marginally at higher Reynolds number. Similar improvements are observed for the static pressures on the diffuser hub and shroud. The effect of Reynolds number on the performance and static pressures is considerable. However the effect is reduced with GFs.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.250-257
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• 2002

A centrifugal compressor for HFC-l34a has been newly designed and developed. Flow analysis using commertial programs was used to evaluate performance and internal flow of the impeller, inlet guide vane and diffuser etc. and design software was developed. The compressor for HFC-l34a was also investigated experimentally to check compression performance. The calculated data coincide the test results of compressor. The data obtained in the present study are useful for design of HFC-l34a centrifugal compressors.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.48-53
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• 2013

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the influence of the blade back sweep angle on the performance and flow characteristics in a centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser. Five impellers with different back sweep angles were tested in the flow simulations. It was found that a low back sweep angle could improve the total-to-total pressure ratio and the work coefficient over whole operating ranges. However, the flow field in an impeller with a low back sweep angle produced a more non-uniform velocity distribution at the impeller exit because the wake region was significantly increased. As a consequence, the impeller with a low back sweep angle caused a low diffuser performance.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.422-427
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• 2000

The design of low-solidity vaned diffusers and the effect on the performance of a turbocharger compressor is discussed. The effect of vane number and turning angle was investigated while maintaining a basic design with a leading edge angle of $70^{\circ}$, leading and trailing edge radius ratios of 1.1 and 1.3. All results are compared with those obtained with the standard vaneless diffuser configuration and it was shown that all designs increased and shifted the pressure ratio to reduced flowrates. Despite the low-solidity configuration none of the vane designs provided a broad operating range, and the vane leading edge angle was not main factor that system went into the surge condition. The diffuser of higher trailing edge angle improved the flow range for the compressor to operate at lower flow region.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.132-139
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• 2003

The effects of casing shapes on the performance and the interaction between an impeller and a casing in a small-sized centrifugal compressor are investigated. Especially, numerical analyses are conducted for the centrifugal compressor with both a circular casing and a volute one. The optimum design for each element (i.e., impeller, diffuser and casing) is important to develop an efficient and compact compressor using alternative refrigerant as working fluids. Typical rotating speed of the compressor is in the range of 40,000∼45,000 rpm. The impeller has backswept blades due to tip clearance and a vane diffuser has wedge type. In order to predict the flow pattern inside an entire impeller, vaneless diffuser and casing, calculations with multiple frames of reference method between the rotating and stationery parts of the domain are carried out. For computations of compressible turbulent flow fields, the continuity and time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are employed. To evaluate the performance of two types of casings, the static pressure recovery and loss coefficients are obtained for various flow rates. Also, static pressure distributions around casings are studied for different casing shapes, which are very important to predict the distribution of radial load. The static pressure around the casing and pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the compressor are measured for the circular casing.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.136-148
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• 1997

The present study has been carried out to develop a computational procedure for the analysis of the off-design performance in centrifugal compressors with vaneless diffusers by integrating empirical loss models and analytical equations. Losses in centrifugal compressors stem from a number of sources and their exact calculation is not yet possible. This study investigates several modeling schemes and shows that a fairly good prediction can be achieved by a proper selection of the most important flow parameters resulting form a meanline one-dimensional analysis. The performance maps for compressors are calculated and compared with measured performance maps. The off-design performance characteristics in terms of the pressure ratio vs. mass flow produced have generally correct forms. However, no universal means have been found to predict accurately the onset of surge. The prediction method developed through this study can serve as a tool to ensure good matching between parts and it can assist the understanding of the operational characteristics of general purpose centrifugal compressors.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.139-148
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• 2010

A centrifugal compressor for HFC-134a has been newly designed and developed. Flow analysis using commercial programs was used to evaluate performance and internal flow of the impeller, inlet guide vane and diffuser etc. The purpose of this study is to establish the design theory necessary to the development of HFC-134a centrifugal compressors and to supply basic data related to design by reviewing design values and experimental values through the performance test. The compressor for HFC-134a was also investigated experimentally to check compression performance. The calculated data coincide the test results of compressor. The data obtained in the present study are useful for design of HFC-134a centrifugal compressors.