Optimization of impeller contour and diversion blade of a moist air turbo expander with spontaneous condensation

Abstract

The turbo-expander is the crucial equipment for obtaining refrigeration capacity and power in the system, and the aerodynamic performance is vital for the system. Spontaneous condensation of moist air in a high-speed turbo expander has a significant effect on the efficiency and output power. Based on the model of non-equilibrium spontaneous condensation, the flow of moist air in a high-speed turbo expander was studied, which is verified by the experiments. The meridional surface shape affects the variation of the flow passage cross-sectional area. The impeller with a uniform variation in cross-sectional area has the highest efficiency. Based on the optimal meridional surface shape, the condensation flow of moist air with different impeller blade diversion curvature was compared. The optimal curvature can increase the efficiency of the moist air turbo-expander by 2.83%, and the optimized impeller has 3.53% higher output power. The largest curvature of the blade leads to an efficiency reduction by 3.06%, but it has little droplet condensation in the impeller, which can help to avoid damage of high-speed blades.