Deficient performances of turbocharger compressors inside turbo-charged engines limit the behaviour of the drive train. This problem has shifted the design space for compressors towards their performance at part-speed and low-flow conditions. The most dominant feature of these flow conditions is inlet recirculation. It causes a large portion of flow to be expelled through the rotor inlet, creating a blockage ring on the casing. While on the one hand, inlet recirculation is the main loss-source at low-speed and low-flow within centrifugal compressors, on the other hand, it also keeps the compressors functioning because it reduces incidence. This thesis aimed towards increasing the understanding of inlet recirculation, with the scope on improving the part-speed, low-flow performance of automotive turbocharger compressors. The phenomenon was investigated regarding its key features, the conditions at which it occurs and its impact on performance. Furthermore, a reduced order model was derived and the influence of the tip gap size as a design parameter was analysed. The research was carried out on an automotive turbocharger compressor which was investigated experimentally and numerically. Inlet recirculation is a phenomenon which takes place in the tip region of the rotor, extending far downstream and far upstream of the leading edge. The flow within the recirculation bubble features a strong positive swirl component, affecting the work input into the machine. The phenomenon is non-periodic in a time-averaged sense. An investigation of the rotor flow-field regarding inlet recirculation, carried out for the first time, revealed that the starting point of inlet recirculation is located far inside the rotor passage. An analysis based on mass, momentum and energy allowed the derivation of a low-order model to account for inlet recirculation in preliminary design. In the compressor map, inlet recirculation was present over 40% of the map width at low speeds. It maintained its presence with increasing rotor speed beyond the point where the inlet flow became transonic. The losses in the inlet recirculation zone were shown to be up to 35% of the total compressor loss at low speed. A loss analysis showed that inlet recirculation was the main loss source at low-flow conditions. The tip clearance study showed that the size and intensity of inlet recirculation was independent of the tip gap size. Efficiency gains due to reduced tip leakage were marginalised by the presence of inlet recirculation but the rotor maintained enhanced pressure rise capabilities for reduced tip gap sizes.

Turbochargers are used on many automotive internal combustion engines to increase power density. The broad operating range of the engine also requires a wide range of the turbocharger compressor. At low mass flows, however, turbo compressor operation becomes unstable and eventually enters surge. Surge is characterized by large oscillations in mass flow and pressure. Due to the associated noise, control problems, and possibility of mechanical component damage, this has to be avoided. Different indicators exist to classify compressor operation as stable or unstable on a gas stand. They are based on pressure oscillations, speed oscillations, or inlet temperature increase. In this thesis, a new stability indicator is proposed based on the Hurst exponent of the pressure signal. The Hurst exponent is a number between zero and one that describes what kind of long-term correlations are present in a time series. Data from three cold gas stand experiments are analyzed using this criterion. Results show that the Hurst exponent of the compressor outlet pressure signal has good characteristics. Stable operation is being indicated by values larger than 0.5. As compressor operation moves towards the surge line, the Hurst exponent decreases towards zero. An additional distinction between the long-term correlations of small and large amplitude fluctuations by means of higher order Hurst exponents can be used as an early warning indicator. Further tests using compressor housing accelerometers show that the Hurst exponent is not a good choice for real-time surge detection on the engine. Reasons are the long required sampling time compared to competing methods, and the fact that other periodically repeating oscillations lead to Hurst exponents close to zero independent of compressor operation. / Turboladdare används ofta på förbränningsmotorer för att öka motorns effekttäthet. Motorns breda driftområde ställer krav på ett brett driftområde för turboladdarens kompressor. Vid låga massflöden blir kompressordriften dock mindre stabil, och surge kan uppträda. Surge innebär stora oscillationer i tryck och massflöde genom kompressorn. På grund av oljud, reglerproblem och risken för mekaniska skador vill man undvika surge. Det finns indikatorer för att bedöma kompressorns stabilitet på ett gas stand. Indikatorerna är baserade på tryckoscillationer, varvtalsoscillationer, eller temperaturökning i gasen i kompressorinloppet. I denna avhandling presenteras en ny indikator baserad på Hurst-exponenten, beräknad på trycksignalen. Hurst-exponenten är ett tal mellan noll och ett som beskriver vilka typer av långtidskorrelationer det finns i signalen. Mätningar från tre gas-stand-experiment har analyserats på detta sätt. Analyserna visar att Hurst-exponenten baserad på kompressorutloppstrycket fungerar bra som som surgeindikator. Stabil drift av kompressorn indikeras av att Hurst-exponenten är större än 0.5. När kompressordriftpunkten närmar sig surgelinjen faller Hurst-exponenten mot noll. En distinktion mellan oscillationer med små och stora amplituder kan används för att få en tidig varning. Analyser av vibrationsmätningar på kompressorhuset vid motorapplikation visar att Hurst-exponenten inte är lämplig som realtidsindikator på en motor. Detta kommer sig dels av att data behöver samlas in under en längre tid än med andra tänkbara indikatorer, dels av att andra periodiska oscillationer i signalen kopplade till motorns naturliga beteende leder till Hurst-exponenter nära noll även vid stabil kompressordrift. / <p>QC 20170510</p> / CCGEx - Compressor off-Design

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The effects of impeller-diffuser interaction are investigated through numerically simulating the modified wedge vane profiles. Steady and time-accurate, 3D- viscous RANSsolver is used to perform flow field computations. The original design is modified to obtain better aerodynamic performance. Five morechanges are made to the leading edge profile of the new design, in order to assess different degrees of unsteadiness. These changes show that their contribution on stageefficiency is rather minor, while they have a huge reduction on blade loadings. Moreover, it is shown that the shorter radial distance of vaneless space does not necessarilymean an increased loading thanks to the eliminating in-phase fluctuations on pressureand suction sides. It is found that the impeller reacts to the upstream static pressure disturbance, whichis caused by the applied geometry change and its resultant flow field in the wedge diffuser, but not to the radial location of a certain profile. In addition, the results indicatethat the wedge diffuser aerodynamic performance is driven by time-averaged flow fieldbehaviour.