• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.38-45
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• 2008

This study presents a numerical procedure to optimize the compressor design to increase the surge margin of compressor with response surface method (RSM). The Box-Behnken design method is used to reduce the number of calculation for fitting the second-order response surface. In order to consider the increase of surge margin during numerical optimization without any calculation at the surge point, the slope of compressor characteristic curve at the design point is suggested as an objective function in the present optimization problem. Mean line performance analysis method is used to get the design and off-design characteristic curves of centrifugal compressor. The impeller exit angle, impeller exit height and impeller radius are chosen as design variables. The optimum shapes show the increase of surge margin for the surge margin optimization and increase of efficiency for the efficiency optimization in comparison with an initial shape.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.110-124
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• 2014

Surge phenomena in the zone of reduced speeds in a system of a nine-stage axial flow compressor coupled with ducts were studied analytically by use of a surge transient simulation code. Main results are as follows. (1) Expansion of apparently stable, non-surge working area of the pressure vs. flow field beyond the initial stage-stall line was predicted by the code in the lower speed region. The area proved analytically to be caused by significantly mismatched stage-working conditions, particularly with the front stages deep in the rotating stall branch of the characteristics, as was already known in situ and in steady-state calculations also. (2) Surge frequencies were found to increase for decreasing compressor speeds as far as the particular compressor system was concerned. (3) The tendency was found to be explained by a newly introduced volume-modified reduced surge frequency. It suggests that the surge frequency is related intimately with the process of emptying and filling of air into the delivery volume. (4) The upstream range of movement of the fluid mass having once passed through the compressor in surge was found to reduce toward the lower speeds, which could have caused additionally the increase in surge frequency. (5) The concept of the volume-modified reduced surge frequency was able to explain, though qualitatively at present, the behaviors of the area-pressure ratio parameter for the stall stagnation boundary proposed earlier by the author.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.338-353
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• 2016

Information on the surge behaviors and stall stagnation boundaries for a nine-stage axial flow compressor are summarized on the basis of analytical data in comparison with those for a single-stage one, with attention to the pressure ratio effect. The general trends of the surge loop behaviors of the pressure-mass flow are similar for both compressors including the fact that the subharmonic surges tend to appear very near the stall stagnation boundaries. With respect to the nine-stage compressor, however, the mild loops in the subharmonic surges tend to be very small in size relative to the deep loops, and at the same time, insufficient surge recovery phenomenon, which is a kind of subharmonic surge, appears also far from the stagnation boundary for relatively short delivery flow-paths. The latter is found to be a rear-stage surge caused by unstalling and re-stalling of the rear stages with the front-stages kept in stall in the stalled condition of the whole compressor, which situation is caused by stage-wise mismatching in the bottom pressure levels of the in-stall multi-stage compressor. The fundamental information on the stall stagnation boundaries is given by a group of normalized geometrical parameters including relative delivery flow-path length, relative suction flow-path length, and sectional area-pressure ratio, and by another group of normalized frequency parameters including relative surge frequencies, modified reduced resonance frequencies, and modified reduced surge frequencies. Respective groups of the normalized parameters show very similar tendency of behaviors for the nine-stage compressor and the single-stage compressor. The modified reduced resonance frequency could be the more reasonable parameter suggesting the flow-induced oscillation nature of the surge phenomena. It could give the stall stagnation boundary in a more unified manner than the Greitzer's B parameter.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2016

Behaviors of surges appearing near the stall stagnation boundaries in various fashions in systems of a single-stage compressor and flow-path systems were studied analytically and were tried to put to order. Deep surges, which enclose the stall point in the pressure-mass flow plane, tend to have either near-resonant surge frequencies or subharmonic ones. The subharmonic surge is a multiple-loop one containing, for example, in a (1/2) subharmonic one, a deep surge loop and a mild surge loop, the latter of which does not enclose the stall point, staying only within the stalled zone. Both loops have nearly equal time periods, respectively, resulting in a (1/2) subharmonic surge frequency as a whole. The subharmonic surges are found to appear in a narrow zone neighboring the stall stagnation boundary. In other words, they tend to appear in the final stage of the stall stagnation process. It should be emphasized further that the stall stagnation initiates fundamentally at the situation where a volume-modified reduced resonant-surge frequency becomes coincident with that for the stagnation boundary conditions, where the reduced frequency is defined by the acoustical resonance frequency in the flow-path system, the delivery flow-path length and the compressor tip speed, modified by the sectional area ratio and the effect of the stalling pressure ratio. The real surge frequency turns from the resonant frequency to either near-resonant one or subharmonic one, and finally to stagnation condition, for the large-amplitude conditions, caused by the non-linear self-excitation mechanism of the surge.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2008

This study presents an aerodynamic design and an experimental performance test of a turbo air compressor consisted of mixed-flow impeller and curved diffuser for the PEM fuel cell vehicle application. Many studies compare the efficiency, cost or noise level of high-pressure and low-pressure operation of PEM fuel cell systems. Pressure ratio 2.2:1 is considered as design target The goal of compressor design is to enlarge the flow margin of compressor from surge to choke mass flow rate to cover the operational envelope of FCV. Large-scale rig test is performed to evaluate the compressor performance and to compare the effects of compressor exit pipe volume to stall or surge characteristics. The results show that the mixed-flow compressor designed has large flow margin, and the flow margin of compressor configuration with small exit volume is larger than that with large exit volume.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.539-546
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• 2013

Surge phenomenon can be occurred in a compressor when compressor performance of turbofan engine for an aircraft is changed considerably in a short time on the cases like take-off phase and changing of RPM from idle to maximum, because performance of aircraft engine is changed suddenly. This study is aimed to avoid surge in a compressor. Dynamic simulation in a compressor is modeled by simulink in specific condition. Fuel flow is control input, rpm and air mass flow are expressed in terms of transfer function. Surge margin is obtained by using compressor performance map from NPSS. VIGV(Variable Inlet Guide Vane) is controlled by PD controller with difference between surge margin and reference. Finally this paper verifies IGV can prevent surge phenomenon in a compressor.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 2015

A surge phenomenon cause noise and pulsations in a turbo compressor, which is an unstable operating regime. Because surge protection ensures a safe compressor operation, it is important to understand the physics of the surge phenomenon. In this study, the surge characteristics of a 250-hp class turbo-compressor were evaluated experimentally. The experimental parameters were the rotational speed, opening angles of the inlet guide vane and exit valve, and inlet pipe diameter and flow rates of the inlet gases. The results showed that the compressor surge was very sensitive to the gas flow rates, exit pressure, rotational speed, and bypass flow rates.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.260-270
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• 2010

Reducing the losses of the tip clearance flow is one of the keys in an unshrouded centrifugal compressor design and development because tip clearances are large in relation to the span of the blades and also centrifugal compressors produce a sufficiently large pressure rise in single stage. This problem is more acute for a low flow high-pressure ratio impeller design. The large tip clearance would cause flow separations, and as a result it would drop both the efficiency and surge margin. Thus a design of a high efficiency and wide operation range low flow coefficient centrifugal compressor is a great challenge. This paper describes a recent development of high efficiency and wide surge margin low flow coefficient centrifugal compressor. A viscous turbomachinery optimal design method developed by the authors for axial flow machine was further extended and used in the centrifugal compressor design. The compressor has three main parts: impeller, a low solidity diffuser and volute. The tip clearance is under a special consideration in this design to allow impeller insensitiveness to the clearance. A patented three-dimensional low solidity diffuser design method is used and applied to this design. The compressor test results demonstrated to be successful to extend the low solidity diffusers to high-pressure ratio compressor. The compressor stage performance showed the total to static efficiency of the compressor being about 85% and stability range over 35%. The test results are in good agreement with the design.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.9 s.240
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• pp.971-978
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• 2005

Effects of inlet distorted flow on performance, stall and surge are experimentally investigated for a high-speed centrifugal compressor. Tested results for the distorted inlet flow cases are compared with the result of the undistorted one. The performance of compressor is slightly deteriorated due to the inlet distortion. The inlet distortion does not affect the number of stall cell and the propagation velocity. It also does not change stall inception flow rate. However, as the distortion increases, stall starts at the higher flow rate for low speed and at the lower flow rate for high speed. For 50,000 rpm stall occurrs as the flow rate decreases, however disappears fur the smaller flow rate. This is due to the interaction of surge and stall. After the stall and surge interact, the number of stall cell decreases.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.7 no.3 s.24
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• pp.23-31
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• 2004

An experimental study on the performance and instability development characteristics of a centrifugal compressor equipped with an adjustable inlet guide vane has been performed with varying guide vane angles. The test was conducted at the design speed of 20,800 rpm for 6 guide vane angles : $-30^{\circ},\;-20^{\circ},\;10^{\circ},\;0^{\circ},\;10^{\circ},\;20^{\circ},\;30^{\circ}$. Unsteady pressures were measured using high-frequency pressure transducers at the inducer to investigate the instability phenomena such as rotating stall and surge inside the compressor. From the unsteady measurements, it is found that the transient process from rotating stall to surge was mainly affected by inlet guide vane angles. The results of the present study can be applied to the instability control of the centrifugal compressors using a adjustable inlet guide vane.