SpinOffs

Some of my other blogs have touched on how important it is to consider manufacturing methods during the design phase. This one will show exactly how manufacturing methods impact performance. We will look at three different radial compressor designs to demonstrate the effects of different parameterizations needed for different manufacturing methods. These designs cover a fairly broad range of pressure ratio, Mach number, and Reynolds number. The table below shows some properties of the stages and figures shows the three dimensional shapes.

This Blog post gives a brief outline of the throughflow method for turbomachinery flows and presents the calculated performance results of a Single-Stage Axial-Flow Compressor validation.

The primary options for laying out an impeller (i.e. flank milled versus point milled, open versus covered impellers, integral versus welded shrouds) determine the basic manufacturing process (see Manufacturing Methods Used for Turbomachinery for more info).  Beyond the basic layout, there are several other details of the design that can significantly affect manufacturability. They include: 

Thanks to early pioneering efforts by Dr. David Japikse and his team, Concepts NREC has been at the forefront of turbomachinery design optimization for the past 15 years.