Flow Investigation of a Centrifugal Compressor for Automotive Turbochargers

To improve the performance of the centrifugal compressor for automotive turbocharger, it is essential to understand the complicated flow phenomena caused by its complex blade geometry. Authors carried out the detailed flow measurement of the centrifugal compressor impeller uisng Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV). The test impeller is a 9.1 times enlarged model of real turbocharger. In result authors found out the low velocity region is grown up at the suction surface of the inducer according to the reduction of flow rate. The experimental data are compared with the three dimensional (3D) viscous flow analysis and acceptable agreement was observed.