1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a diffuser formed by combining a plurality of diffuser blocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compressors that compress a fluid are essential components used in a power station, a jet engine, and the like, and have a function to increase pressure of the fluid. In particular, among compressors having various shapes, a centrifugal compressor is a machine that applies centrifugal force to a fluid by a rotatable impeller that performs compression by using the centrifugal force. The centrifugal compressor is commonly used in various apparatuses including a power source for producing a rotator power.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a related art centrifugal compressor 10, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a part of a diffuser 12 of the related art centrifugal compressor 10 shown in FIG. 1.
A fluid flowing into a shroud 13 of the related art centrifugal compressor 10 is flowed in an inlet of an impeller 11. The fluid meets the impeller 11 that is rotating, and thus static pressure and dynamic pressure of the fluid increase. In this process, the fluid having increased pressure moves to the outside of the impeller 11 along the shroud 13. Here, the dynamic pressure of the fluid is changed to the static pressure, and thus a greater compression effect may be exhibited. For this, a diffuser is used. FIG. 2 shows the diffuser 12 of the related art. The diffuser 12 is disposed outside of the impeller 11 and has a ring shape in which a hollow portion is formed in the center thereof. A plurality of vanes 12b is formed on a surface of a diffuser plate 12a. The diffuser 12 provides an outlet having a relatively wide cross-sectional area compared to an inlet of the diffuser 12. The diffuser 12 may change the dynamic pressure of the fluid to the static pressure according to a ratio of the cross-sectional area of the outlet of the diffuser 12 to that of the inlet of the diffuser 12. In other words, as the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the outlet to the cross-sectional area of the inlet of the diffuser 12 increases, an efficiency of changing from the aforesaid dynamic pressure to static pressure increases.
The fluid having the increased dynamic pressure and static pressure by the impeller 11 is flowed into the diffuser 12 along the shroud 13 that surrounds at least a part of the impeller 11, and when the fluid passes through the diffuser 12, an additional compression effect is generated while the dynamic pressure of the fluid is changed to static pressure. However, a significant level of noise is generated during this process, and the noise may decrease work efficiency and degrade marketability. In particular, most of the noise generated during operation of the related art centrifugal compressor 10 is generated due to flow separation occurring when the fluid passes through the diffuser 12. By reducing the noise generated during this process, the level of noise generated from the entire related art centrifugal compressor 10 may be lowered. Accordingly, there has been an increasing demand for a technology for reducing noise generated from the diffuser 12.
Also, the diffuser 12 that is used in the related art centrifugal compressor 10 has a structure in which the diffuser plate 12a and the vanes 12b formed on the surface of the diffuser plate 12a are integrally formed, as shown in FIG. 2, which requires a long processing time and a high manufacturing cost.
Accordingly, it will be beneficial to develop a diffuser having a new structure to resolve the noise problem and problems in manufacturing the diffuser from among problems of the related art centrifugal compressor.