Centrifugal Compressor

A centrifugal compressor is one of its class machines in producing a pressure rise and is known as turbo-compressors. In centrifugal compressors, energy is transferred by dynamic means from a rotating member (or impeller) to the continuously flowing working fluid.

The main feature of the centrifugal compressor is that the angular momentum of the fluid flowing through the impeller is increased partly by virtue of the impeller’s outlet diameter being significantly larger than its inlet diameter.

Essential parts of a centrifugal compressor:

1. The inlet casing with the converging nozzle, whose function is to accelerate the fluid to impeller inlet. The outlet of the inlet casing is known as the eye.
2. The impeller in which the energy transfer takes place, resulting in a rise of fluid kinetic energy and static pressure.
3. The diffuse, whose function is to transform the high kinetic energy of the fluid at the impeller outlet into static pressure.
4. The outlet casing, which comprises a fluid collector known as the volute or scroll.