Abstract
Heightened interests have been laid at the preliminary design and optimization of the centrifugal compressor for the fuel cell vehicle. The centrifugal compressor for fuel cell vehicle is driven by a high-speed motor; however, the limit of the motor speed makes the flow passage of the impeller long and narrow, which leads to a serious tip leakage loss. Serious tip leakage loss deteriorates the compressor performance. In this paper, 3-D numerical simulations were carried out with the aim of investigating the tip leakage loss in a prototype centrifugal compressor for a 100 kW fuel cell stack. The results revealed that the mixing loss caused by the interaction between the tip leakage vortex and the downstream tip leakage flow contributed to the major part of the tip leakage loss. The path of the tip leakage vortex almost followed the streamwise direction, while the downstream tip leakage flow exhibited strong circumferential momentum, which referred to the fact that they were nearly orthogonal. Therefore, a flow control approach, which was realized by enhancing the blade loading around the leading edge of blade tips in this paper, was proposed to decrease the interaction angle between the tip leakage vortex and the downstream tip leakage flow and then mitigate mixing loss by changing the flow direction of the tip leakage vortex. The results showed a smaller interaction angle was achieved in the optimized impeller compared with the baseline one. Meanwhile, the efficiency was also improved by 1.30% at design condition and the maximum efficiency improvement could be up to 10% at large mass flow condition of 92 000 r/min. Being manufactured and tested, the optimized compressor was proved to achieve an isentropic efficiency of 75.84% at design condition.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- a :
-
speed of sound/m·s−1
- CFD:
-
computational fluid dynamics
- c p :
-
isobaric specific heat capacity/J·kg−1·K−1
- FCVs:
-
fuel cell vehicles
- HP:
-
high pressure
- h :
-
specific enthalpy/J·kg−1
- ICE:
-
internal combustion engine
- LP:
-
low pressure
- Ma tip :
-
rotor inlet tip Mach number
- N s :
-
specific speed
- P :
-
power/W
- PEM:
-
proton exchange membrane
- PS:
-
pressure side or pressure surface
- p :
-
pressure/Pa
- R :
-
gas constant of air/J·kg−1·K−1
- RANS:
-
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes
- S :
-
entropy/J·K−1
- SS:
-
suction side or suction surface
- SST:
-
shear stress transport
- s :
-
specific entropy/J·kg−1·K−1
- T :
-
temperature/K
- TLV:
-
tip leakage vortex
- U :
-
blade tip speed/m·s−1
- v 1 :
-
velocity of tip leakage flow normal to the chordwise direction
- v s :
-
flow velocity in the streamline direction
- V̇ :
-
volume flow rate
- η :
-
efficiency
- λ 2 :
-
second eigenvalue of the symmetry square of velocity gradient tensor
- π :
-
pressure ratio
- ρ :
-
density/kg·m−3
- ω :
-
angular speed/rad·s−1
- 0:
-
stagnation state
- 1:
-
impeller inlet
- 2:
-
Impeller outlet
- 3:
-
diffuser outlet
- c:
-
injected flow
- m:
-
main flow
- in:
-
compressor inlet
- out:
-
compressor outlet
- s:
-
isentropic state
References
Yoshida T., Kojima K., Toyota MIRAI fuel cell vehicle and progress toward a future hydrogen society. The Electrochemical Society Interface, 2015, 24(2): 45–49.
Lü X., Qu Y., Wang Y., et al., A comprehensive review on hybrid power system for PEMFC-HEV: issues and strategies. Energy Conversion and Management, 2018, 171(2018): 1273–1291.
Wang Y., Moura S.J., Advani S.G., et al., Power management system for a fuel cell/battery hybrid vehicle incorporating fuel cell and battery degradation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2019, 44(16): 8479–8492.
Wang G., Yu Y., Liu H., et al., Progress on design and development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell systems for vehicle applications: A review. Fuel Processing Technology, 2018, 179(2018): 203–228.
Kazim A., Effect of higher operating pressure on the net change in voltage of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell under various operating conditions. Journal of Power Sources, 2005, 143(1–2): 9–16.
Blunier B., Miraoui A., Proton exchange membrane fuel cell air management in automotive applications. Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology, 2010, 7(4): 041007.
Ahluwalia R., Wang X., Kwon J., et al., Performance and cost of automotive fuel cell systems with ultra-low platinum loadings. Journal of Power Sources, 2011, 196(10): 4619–4630.
Tirnovan R., Giurgea S., Efficiency improvement of a PEMFC power source by optimization of the air management. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37(9): 7745–7756.
Ha K.K., Jeong T.B., Kang S.H., et al., Experimental investigation on aero-acoustic characteristics of a centrifugal compressor for the fuel-cell vehicle. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 2013, 27(11): 3287–3297.
Wan Y., Xu S., Ni H., Air compressors for fuel cell vehicles: An systematic review. SAE International Journal of Alternative Powertrains, 2015, 4(1): 115–122.
Sugawara T., Kanazawa T., Imai N., et al., Development of motorized turbo compressor for clarity fuel cell. SAE Technical Paper, 2017-01-1187, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2017-01-1187.
Wan Y., Guan J., Xu S., Improved empirical parameters design method for centrifugal compressor in PEM fuel cell vehicle application. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2017, 42(8): 5590–5605.
Zhang Y., Chen T., Zhuge W., et al., An integrated turbocharger design approach to improve engine performance. Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences, 2010, 53(1): 69–74.
Turunen-Saaresti T., Jaatinen A., Influence of the different design parameters to the centrifugal compressor tip clearance loss. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2013, 135(1): 0110171–0110176.
Zheng X., Zhang Y., He H., et al., Design of a centrifugal compressor with low specific speed for automotive fuel cell. Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2008: Power for Land, Sea and Air, Berlin, Germany, 2008, 43161(2008): 1531–1536.
Yang H., Cho K.S., Park C.Y., et al., The novel centrifugal air compressor development for the fuel cell electric vehicles. SAE Technical Paper, 2014-01-2868, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2014-01-2868.
Denton J.D., The 1993 IGTI scholar lecture: Loss mechanisms in turbomachines. Journal of Turbomachinery, 1993, 115(4): 621–656.
Gallimore S.J., Bolger J.J., Cumpsty N.A., et al., The use of sweep and dihedral in multistage axial flow compressor blading—Part I: University research and methods development. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2002, 124(4): 521–532.
Gallimore S.J., Bolger J.J., Cumpsty N.A., et al., The use of sweep and dihedral in multistage axial flow compressor blading—part II: low and high-speed designs and test verification. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2002, 124(4): 533–541.
Tiralap A., Tan C.S., Donahoo E., et al., Effects of rotor tip blade loading variation on compressor stage performance. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2017, 139(5): 051006–1–051006–11.
Zhang H., Wu Y., Li Y., et al., Control of compressor tip leakage flow using plasma actuation. Aerospace Science and Technology, 2019, 86(2019): 244–255.
Eum H.J., Kang S.H., Numerical study on tip clearance effect on performance of a centrifugal compressor. Proceedings of ASME FEDSM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2002, 36169(2002): 909–916.
Liu Z., Ping Y., Zangeneh M., On the nature of tip clearance flow in subsonic centrifugal impellers. Science China Technological Sciences, 2013, 56(9): 2170–2177.
Guo G., Zhang Y., Xu J., et al., Numerical simulation of a transonic centrifugal compressor blades tip clearance flow of vehicle turbocharger. Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2008: Power for Land, Sea and Air, Berlin, Germany, 2008, 43161(2008): 1619–1625.
Kang S., Hirsch C., Experimental study on the three dimensional flow within a compressor cascade with tip clearance: Part I—velocity and pressure fields. Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 1992: Power for Land, Sea and Air, Cologne, Germany, 1992, 78934(1992): V001T01A076.
Kaneko M., Tsujita H., Numerical investigation of influence of tip leakage flow on secondary flow in transonic centrifugal compressor at design condition. Journal of Thermal Science, 2015, 24(2): 117–122.
Rodgers C., Specific speed and efficiency of centrifugal impellers. Proceedings of performance prediction of centrifugal pumps and compressors, New Orleans, U.S., 1979, 191–200.
Menter F.R., Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications. AIAA Journal, 1994, 32(8): 1598–1605.
Bourgeois J.A., Martinuzzi R.J., Savory E., et al., Assessment of turbulence model predictions for an aero-engine centrifugal compressor. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2011, 133(1): 011025–1–011025–15.
Gibson L., Galloway L., Kim S., et al., Assessment of turbulence model predictions for a centrifugal compressor simulation. Journal of the Global Power and Propulsion Society, 2017, 1(1): 142–156.
Shibata T., Fukushima H., Segawa K., Improvement of steam turbine stage efficiency by controlling rotor shroud leakage flows: Part I—design concept and typical performance of a swirl breaker. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 2019, 141(4): 041002–1–041002–9.
Hah C., The inner workings of axial casing grooves in a one and a half stage axial compressor with a large rotor tip gap: changes in stall margin and efficiency. Journal of Turbomachinery, 2019, 141(1): 011001–1–011001–10.
Jeong J., Hussain F., On the identification of a vortex. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1995, 1: 69–94.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB0106502) and Open Fund of Science and Technology on Thermal Energy and Power Laboratory (No. TPL2017AB008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, H., Zhuge, W., Zhang, Y. et al. Performance Improvement of a Centrifugal Compressor for the Fuel Cell Vehicle by Tip Leakage Vortex Control. J. Therm. Sci. 30, 2099–2111 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1430-7
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1430-7