Efficiency Improvement of a Centrifugal Compressor Stage with the Parametric Optimization of the Impeller Blades

Abstract This work relates to the energy industry, in particular, complements the existing knowledge about a problem of increasing the overall efficiency of a centrifugal compressor stage by improving the geometric parameters of an impeller. The design features of the centrifugal compressors are analysed and the issues of their general modelling are considered in the article. The aim of the work is to increase the efficiency of the centrifugal compressor stage by improving the method of thermogasdynamic calculation with an extended determination of the number of its thermogasdynamic gas parameters and subsequent optimization of the design parameters of the impeller blades. This goal is achieved by solving the following problems: a) development of a model of the centrifugal compressor stage based on a method of thermogasdynamic calculation; b) study of the influence of the geometric parameters of the impeller and a diffuser on the components of gas velocities; c) improvement of the design methodology by optimizing the number of impeller blades, their thickness and angle of inclination to increase the efficiency of the stage. The most significant scientific results of the work are the construction method and the model of the centrifugal compressor stage, which allow taking into account real thermogasdynamic gas processes and calculating the geometric parameters of the impeller blades that are optimal in terms of efficiency.