Recirculating Casing Treatment Research Articles

Redesign of casing treatment for a transonic centrifugal compressor based on a hybrid global optimization method

As a typical black-box problem, recirculating casing treatment (RCT) optimization of compressor stages is computationally intensive and time consuming, even though surrogate models are usually employed. In order to improve efficiency and robustness of the optimization, an expected-improvement (EI) based hybrid global optimization (EHGO) algorithm is developed by coupling an EI-based surrogate model with a hybrid optimization algorithm. Highly nonlinear and multiple modality mathematical tests show that the EHGO algorithm is able to create a high-fidelity surrogate model near targeted regions with less evaluated samples, and to obtain the global optimal solution simultaneously. The RCT of a compressor stage is optimized based on this algorithm. The number of CFD simulations required for obtaining an optimum solution is greatly reduced, as compared to similar studies using conventional methods. The optimization results show that the aerodynamic performance is improved over the whole speed line and the flow range is also extended. The dominant factors for the performance improvements and the enhanced stall margin are addressed by analyzing the local flow characteristics before and after optimization. It is found that those factors include: removing a larger amount of low-momentum fluid, achieving a more uniform flow of impeller passage in circumferential direction, and reducing the radial distortion of impeller inlet flow. The proposed algorithm has the potential to considerably speed up the optimization process and make the optimization much more accessible. It can be generalized to deal with other computationally intensive black-box problems, for example, turbomachinery optimization.

Turbocharger Centrifugal Compressor Casing Treatment for Improved BPF Noise Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The conventional ported shroud recirculation casing treatment elevates narrowband noise at blade pass frequency. A new ported shroud recirculating casing treatment was implemented in Ford’s 3.5L turbo gas engine as Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) counter measure to reduce whoosh (broadband flow noise) noise without elevating narrowband noise at blade pass frequency. The new ported shroud design incorporates holes between the main and secondary recirculating passage and a slight cross-sectional area reduction just upstream of the impeller. These design features reduce whoosh noise without elevating the first order and the sixth order tonal noise at blade pass frequency. The new ported shroud design decreases narrowband tonal noise sound pressure level by 3-6 dB in the low to mid flow region compared to the baseline design. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools were used to develop this casing treatment design.</div></div>

Case study: An experimental noise reduction study of an extended flow range automotive turbocharger centrifugal compressor

A new turbocharger compressor was designed to reduce noise at the compressor inlet, while allowing peak engine torque and power to be increased by 28% and 29%, respectively, relative to the previous generation (baseline) production engine with identical displacement. Experimental compressor performance and acoustic results were presented for three incremental changes, in order to isolate the impact of individual design features. The new larger impeller with reworked aerodynamics increased the SPL of mid flow range whoosh noise, relative to the baseline compressor. Adding a ported shroud to the new impeller reduced the maximum whoosh noise level below that of the baseline design, but significantly elevated narrowband noise at the blade-pass frequency. The final new compressor design featured the larger impeller with reworked aerodynamics, a ported shroud recirculating casing treatment, holes between the main and secondary recirculation passage, and a slight cross-sectional area reduction just upstream of the impeller. This final configuration decreased overall SPL by 3â–“6 dB(A) in the low to mid flow region, where it was elevated for the baseline compressor. The maximum flow rate of the new compressor increased significantly, and the flow rate at the deep surge boundary increased slightly. Relative to the baseline design, the efficiency of the new compressor was up to 8 percentage points lower at the low flow boundary and up to 18 percentage points higher at elevated flow rates.

Experimental Validation of a Wide-Range Centrifugal Compressor Stage for Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles

Successful implementation of sCO2 power cycles requires high compressor efficiency at both the design-point and over a wide operating range in order to maximize cycle power output and maintain stable operation over a wide range of transient and part-load operating conditions. This requirement is particularly true for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet density is a strong function of inlet temperature that is subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. In order to meet these requirements, a novel centrifugal compressor stage design was developed that incorporates multiple novel range extension features, including a passive recirculating casing treatment and semi-open impeller design. This design, presented and analyzed for CO2 operation in a previous paper, was fabricated via direct metal laser sintering and tested in an open-loop test rig in order to validate simulation results and the effectiveness of the casing treatment configuration. Predicted performance curves in air and CO2 conditions are compared, resulting in a reduced diffuser width requirement for the air test in order to match design velocities and demonstrate the casing treatment. Test results show that the casing treatment performance generally matched computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions, demonstrating an operating range of 69% and efficiency above air predictions across the entire map. The casing treatment configuration demonstrated improvements over the solid wall configuration in stage performance and flow characteristics at low flows, resulting in an effective 14% increase in operating range with a 0.5-point efficiency penalty. The test results are also compared to a traditional fully shrouded impeller with the same flow coefficient and similar head coefficient, showing a 42% range improvement over traditional designs.

Prediction of noise from an automotive turbocharger centrifugal compressor using three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics

The noise generated by centrifugal compressors for automotive turbochargers consists of narrow and broadband components. Narrowband noise occurs near integer multiples of the shaft rotational frequency, and the prevailing order is typically equal to the number of main impeller blades (impeller blade-pass frequency). However, for a centrifugal compressor without a ported shroud recirculating casing treatment, such as the current contemporary configuration, broadband noise is dominant, typically in the 4–12 kHz range. This study applies a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model to this compressor installed on a steady-flow turbocharger stand. As the compressor flow rate is reduced at constant rotational speed, broadband noise is elevated as a result of deterioration of the flow-field near the inducer (inlet) of the impeller, due primarily to flow separation from the suction surface of impeller blades. Detached eddy simulations provide reasonable agreement with the corresponding experimental measurements in terms of capturing performance, as well as acoustics, thereby shedding insight into this noise source mechanism associated with such flow separation.

Design of a Wide-Range Centrifugal Compressor Stage for Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles require high compressor efficiency at both the design point and over a wide operating range. Increasing the compressor efficiency and range helps maximize the power output of the cycle and allows operation over a broader range of transient and part-load operating conditions. For sCO2 cycles operating with compressor inlets near the critical point, large variations in fluid properties are possible with small changes in temperature or pressure. This leads to particular challenges for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet temperature and associated fluid density are subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. Design and off-design operating requirements for a wide-range compressor impeller are presented where the impeller is implemented on an integrally geared compressor–expander concept for a high temperature sCO2 recompression cycle. In order to satisfy the range and efficiency requirements of the cycle, a novel compressor stage design incorporating a semi-open impeller concept with a passive recirculating casing treatment is presented that mitigates inducer stall and extends the low flow operating range. The stage design also incorporates splitter blades and a vaneless diffuser to maximize efficiency and operating range. These advanced impeller design features are enabled through the use of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) manufacturing. The resulting design increases the range from 45% to 73% relative to a conventional closed impeller design while maintaining high design point efficiency.

Mechanism study of performance enhancement in a subsonic axial flow compressor with recirculating casing treatment

The improvements in both compressor efficiency and stability have been observed in a subsonic axial flow compressor with recirculating casing treatment. The study aims to understand the underlying flow mechanisms of the beneficial effect on the compressor efficiency of recirculating casing treatment. The recirculating casing treatment was investigated experimentally and numerically. In the experiment, static pressure fluctuations over the rotor tip were measured with fast-response pressure transducers. Whole-passage time-accurate simulations were also implemented to help in understanding the flow details. The unsteadiness of double-leakage flow and its effect on the loss generated at the rotor tip were discussed in detail for the solid casing. The effect of recirculating casing treatment on the double-leakage flow related loss was subsequently investigated. The results indicate that the double leakage flow is a main loss source in the rotor tip region. The double-leakage flow is completely unsteady, which induces a cyclical fluctuation of the amount of loss generated in the rotor tip region for the solid casing. With the recirculating casing treatment installed, the high-energy jet created in recirculating loops changes the unsteady characteristics of double-leakage flow by getting it diffused over the rotor tip gap along the chordwise direction, which results in the loss fluctuation that is dominated by the high-energy jet rather than the unsteadiness of double-leakage flow. The double-leakage flow is also pushed downstream by the jet and the amount is reduced when it passes through the recirculating loops. The effect of recirculating casing treatment on the double-leakage flow is primarily responsible for the improvement in the compressor efficiency.

Experimental study of self-recirculating casing treatment in a subsonic axial flow compressor

Parametric studies of recirculating casing treatment were experimentally performed in a subsonic axial flow compressor. The recirculating casing treatment was parameterized with injector throat height, injection position, and circumferential coverage percentage. Eighteen recirculating casing treatments were tested to study the effects on compressor stability and on the compressor overall performance at three blade speeds. The profiles of recirculating casing treatment were optimized to minimize the losses generated by air recirculation. In the experiment, the stalling mass flow rate, total pressure ratio, and adiabatic efficiency of the compressor were measured to study the steady-state effects on the compressor performance of recirculating casing treatments, and static pressure disturbances on the casing wall were monitored to study the influence on stall dynamics. Results indicate that both the compressor stability and overall performance can be improved through recirculating casing treatment with appropriate geometrical parameters for all the test speeds. The influence on stall margin of one geometric parameter often depends on the choice of others, i.e. the interaction effects exist. In general, the recirculating casing treatment with a moderate injector throat and a large circumferential coverage is the optimal choice to enhance compressor stability. The injector of recirculating casing treatment should be placed upstream of the blade tip leading edge and the injector throat height should be lower than four times the rotor tip gap for the benefits of compressor efficiency. At 71% speed, the blade tip loading is decreased through recirculating casing treatment at the operating condition of near peak efficiency and increased near stall. Moreover, the outlet absolute flow angle is reduced in the tip region and enhanced at lower blade spans for both operating conditions. The stall inceptions are not changed with the implementation of recirculating casing treatment for all the test speeds, but the stall patterns are altered at 33% and 53% speeds, i.e. the stall with two cells is detected in the recirculating casing treatment compared with the solid casing with only one stall cell.

Effects of Blade Deformation on the Performance of a High Flow Coefficient Mixed Flow Impeller

The effects of blade deformation under running conditions on the performance of a highly loaded transonic mixed flow impeller were investigated. Two impellers were manufactured, one using the “running” blade profiles as designed and one using the converted “unrunning” or “cold” geometry. Both impellers were tested experimentally and investigated numerically. The test data taken with smooth casing showed that at maximum speed, the isentropic efficiency and pressure ratio of the running geometry was higher than the unrunning geometry by about 0.4% and 1.4%, respectively. However, the difference in performance diminished in the presence of recirculating casing treatment. Numerical calculations suggested that the differences at high speeds were mainly due to the variation in the impeller tip clearance. The calculations using deformed blade profiles under centrifugal load only, predicted performance differences which were about twice as high as the measured values. However, closer predictions were obtained when the effects of pressure loads on blade deformation were included using closely coupled fluid-structural analyses.

재순환케이싱처리 높이변화가 터보차저 압축기의 성능에 미치는 영향

In this study, we investigate the performance variations of an automotive turbocharger compressor with respect to the height variation of the recirculating casing treatment (RCT). We use three RCT heights, namely 1.2 mm, 1.5 mm, and 1.8 mm. We vary the compressor speed from 90,000 to 150,000 rpm, and the flow rate from 0.015 kg/s to 0.08 kg/s. The calculation results of the total pressure ratio and isentropic efficiency showed good agreement with the performance data provided by the manufacturer within a 0.7 percent error. The results showed that the RCT heights of 1.2 mm, 1.8 mm, and 1.5 mm, in that order, exhibited a more uniform pressure distribution, higher pressure ratio, and wider operational range. As the number of revolutions per minute increased, we obtained typical characteristics of a compressor map having a narrower operational range in the region of higher pressure ratio.

Switchable dual-port casing treatment scheme for an enhanced turbocharger compressor operating range

For both diesel and gasoline internal-combustion engines, stringent emissions regulations and fuel economy requirements have significantly intensified the demand on the turbocharger compressor operating flow range with high efficiency levels. To address these needs, the ongoing research and development effort has been focused on advanced turbocharger technologies for a high efficiency and a wide operating range. In this paper, a research effort is reported to enhance further the classic ported shroud or recirculating casing treatment with the addition of two switchable ports along the impeller shroud, which allows an augmented high-speed choke flow range without sacrificing the surge margin and efficiency. Impeller aerodynamic blade design considerations for exploiting this new dual-port casing treatment concept are discussed. Flow bench test results demonstrate that the underlying concepts of the new dual-port casing treatment implemented with a recently developed advanced centrifugal compressor impeller lead to 12% extra flow capacity at the rated speed over the same compressor with a conventional single-port recirculating casing treatment.