Experimentally studying of axial compressor operation with steam

Abstract

Steam offers numerous benefits when used as the working fluid in thermodynamic cycles. In lowtemperature cycles, where thermal energy is switched from one temperature potential to another (thermal transformers), steam is much less commonly used as a working fluid than in high-temperature cycles. The deficiencies of difficulties in using steam in thermal transformers include low pressure at the working temperatures and hence large specific volume. A compressor capable of high productivity having high discharge and relatively large increase in pressure is required. To that end, a multistage axial compressor from an airplane aircraft engine may be employed. To confirm the viability of this approach, the compressor of an AL-21 airplane aircraft engine is tested on a custom test bench. Experimental results are presented for a multistage axial compressor working with steam, when the input pressure is 0.5–5 kPa.