Numerical Investigation of the Centrifugal Compressor Stability Improvement by Half Vaned Low Solidity Diffusers

Centrifugal compressors for the fuel cell vehicles often operate near the surge line compared with the turbocharger compressors. Low solidity and half vaned diffusers are recognized as good ways to improve the stability of the centrifugal compressor. The presented work investigated four diffuser configurations (i.e., the vaneless diffuser (VLD), full-height low solidity vaned diffuser (LSVD), hub-side half vaned diffuser (HVD) and shroud-side half vaned diffuser (SVD)) through steady-state and unsteady numerical simulations. The results show that the best performance is achieved by the LSVD, HVD and SVD at the design, surge and choke conditions. The flow rate at the surge operating point of the HVD has decreased by 15.53% compared with the LSVD, and 9.21% compared with the VLD. At near surge operating point, a longitudinal suction side passage vortex is formed on the hub of the LSVD and rotates as circumferential stall cells. A hairpin vortex is formed along the leading edge and is dragged by the main flow along the suction side as a local vortex shedding. The mechanism of the stability improvement by half vaned diffusers is that the tip leakage vortex migrates from the clearance side to the vane mounting side and replenishes the low-momentum zone on the mounting side. The best position where the half vaned diffuser should be mounted is based on the impeller outlet flow conditions, namely, the location of the wake region, where the meridional velocity and relative stagnation pressure is low.