Investigation on steady aerodynamic performance of a S-CO2 compressor with different diffusers in solar power system

Abstract

Research on solar power system has become a hot spot recently. The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle has been widely used in the solar power system with excellent advantages of high efficiency and small device size. Centrifugal compressor plays an important role in the S-CO2 power cycle. The design of a centrifugal compressor is completed according to the requirements of thermal design in this paper. The differences of three kinds of diffusers on the steady aerodynamic performance are further investigated based on the designed model. Finally, the influence of diffuser blade number on the performance is discussed. The results show that the centrifugal compressor with wedge-shaped diffuser holds the best performance under the design and off-design conditions. The diffuser blade number has significant influence on the aerodynamic performance. The current design and performance analysis of centrifugal compressor could provide important reference value for further application of centrifugal compressor in solar power system.