The effect of tip leakage vortex for operating range enhancement of centrifugal compressor

Recently, the application of turbochargers is increasing because they are effective in improving fuel consumption of engines. One of the most important turbocharger characteristics is compressor operating range, since it has been used in various driving patterns with the advent of variable geometry turbochargers. Owing to the complicated phenomena, such as rotating stall occurring at low flow rate condition, flow analysis is very difficult and details of flow structure have not been fully understood for a long time since the early 1970s. In this study, two compressors with different operating range width were investigated with experimental and computational flow analysis. In the compressor with narrow operating range, the amplitude of blade passing pressure fluctuation decreases rapidly and rotating stall occurs near surging. On the other hand, in the compressor with wide operating range, the blockage by the tip leakage vortex breakdown play a role in stabilizing the flow field and keeping up a high performance even at low flow rates.