Abstract
An examination of the condition of the flow leaving the impeller exit kinetic energy often accounts for 30-50% of the shaft work input to the compressor stage, and for energy efficiency it is important to recover as much of this as possible. This is the function of the diffuser which follows the impeller. The purpose of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of how compressor performances changes as vaned diffuser geometry is varied. Three kinds of vaned diffusers were studied and its results were compared. First vaned diffuser type is based on NACA airfoil and second is channel diffuser and third is conformal transformation of NACA65(4A10)06 airfoil. Mean-line prediction method was applied to investigate the performance and stability for three kinds of diffusers. And CFD analyses have been done for comparison and detailed interior flow pattern study. NACA65(4A10)06 airfoil showed the widest operating range and higher pressure characteristics than the others.