Influence of the Main Geometrical Parameters on the Design and Performance of Mixed Inflow Turbines

Abstract

The blade shape is of great interest to hybrid turbine designers, due to its significant and direct impact on turbine performance. The inlet and outlet diameters of the vane affect the size of the rotor, which is limited because of the small space available in internal combustion engines. The effect of the ratio of the average inlet diameter and the average exducer inlet diameter on the performance of a mixed inlet turbine will be the focus of this study, which consists of two cases included herein for the purpose of illustrating the means of improving rotor performances and controlling the flow mass rate. In the first case, we achieved this by changing the average diameter of the exducer inlet, while, in the second one, we achieved this by changing the average inlet diameter. Additionally, the angles of the inlet and outlet blades were recalculated to preserve the same blade profile and to eliminate the effect of curvilinearity. It was noted that the shape of the blade was very sensitive to changes in the ratio of the investigated diameters, and—in both cases—interesting results were obtained. First, an increase in output work and in total static isentropic efficiency by 2.16% and 2.15%, respectively, was generated, with a saving of 3.52% of the used mass flow and a lighter rotor compared to one that used to take up the same space by using fixed average inlet diameter blades. In the second case, there was an increase in the output work by 3.31%, and in the total static isentropic efficiency by 3.34%, but the rotor became heavier and required an increase in the mass flow used. Since inter-blade flows are very complex, three-dimensional and viscous—featuring various types of secondary and eddy flows—the CFX.15-CFD code was used in all models to solve the averaged Navier–Stokes equations.