Pressure Recovery in Low Solidity Vaned Diffusers for Centrifugal Compressors

In the present investigation four low solidity vaned diffusers were experimentally tested downstream of the same impeller in an attempt to study the effect of solidity and vane number on the performance of the stage. In addition to these low solidity vaned diffusers, one vaneless and a conventional vaned diffuser were also tested for comparative study of the pressure recovery phenomenon in each of the three types of diffusers. It was found that the vane number and the solidity of the diffuser had direct bearing on the performance parameters of the compressor stage. The results also showed that the pressure recovery characteristics of the low solidity vaned diffusers was simillar to the conventional vaned diffuser.