Performance Characteristics of Shrouded and Unshrouded Impellers of a Centrifugal Compressor

Abstract

The overall performance of shrouded and unshrouded identical impellers of a centrifugal compressor were tested and compared. A closed loop test stand with Freon gas as the working fluid was employed for the experiments. The inlet and outlet velocity distributions of both impellers were measured using a three-hole cobra probe and a hot-film probe to determine the velocity distribution and unsteady flows due to wakes and inlet stall.