Study on the influence of variable inlet guide vane slot on the aerodynamic performance in air storage centrifugal compressor

Abstract

The influence of variable inlet guide vanes with slots (SVIGVs) on the aerodynamic performance of an air-storage centrifugal compressor was studied using numerical simulations. The inlet position of the slot was set to 4 % of the chord length of the variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs), and the outlet position was set to 14 %. The results show that the high-loss area near the VIGVs suction surface increases owing to the secondary flow generated by the slot jet, and the change in the inlet flow angle of the impeller results in a decrease in the compressor efficiency under the 30° pre-swirling angle condition. In contrast, the slot can effectively reduce the loss caused by the VIGVs at 40° and 50° pre-swirling angles and optimise the impeller inlet flow angle, thereby improving the efficiency and pressure ratio of the centrifugal compressor. At a pre-swirling angle of 50°, the efficiency and pressure ratio of the compressor increased by 8.3 % and 0.2, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of the SVIGVs on the impeller aerodynamic loads of a centrifugal compressor was revealed through an unsteady numerical simulation. The results showed that the SVIGVs effectively improved the aerodynamic load distribution on the impeller, reduced the aerodynamic load by three, four, and five times the frequency of rotation, and reduced the frequency amplitude by up to 2/3.