Session: 30-12/09-04 Joint Session: sCO2 Heat Pumps

Paper Number: 152754

Performance Test of a 9MW-Class 3-Stage Axial CO2 Compressor 

A performance testing of a 3-stage axial CO2 compressor up to 9MW-class power has been successfully completed. The design speed, inlet pressure, inlet temperature and the mass flowrate of the compressor are 19,800rpm, 2.77MPa, 98degC, and 125.9kg/s respectively. The compressor performance was experimentally evaluated for a full compressor map from low speeds to design speed, and from the fully choked flow condition to the stall/surge condition at the 10MW-class closed-loop CO2 compressor test facility in the University of Notre Dame.

To run the testing safely, blade tip clearance and blade vibration has been measured all the time during the compressor operation. The running tip clearance of the rotor blades were measured from the calibrated capacitance probes. The average running tip clearance were 0.38mm (1.2% of span), 0.5mm (1.9% of span), and 0.5mm (2.4% of span) for stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 respectively. The blade vibration was measured from the tip timing probes. A synchronous blade vibration from the rotor 1 at mode 1 increased around 80-83% speed due to the crossing with 6E which led to the performance measurement at 84% speed, not at the 80% sped. The compressor performance was evaluated from the calibrated rakes at the compressor inlet and exits. The peak efficiency from 60% to 90% speed were about 85-86%.

The measured performance successfully demonstrated the performance benefit and usefulness of the axial type compressor for grid-scale energy system such as pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system.

Presenting Author: Jeongseek Kang University of Notre Dame

Presenting Author Biography: 1998-2022 Ph.D, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
2022-2015 Senior Researcher, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, South Korea
2015-current : Research Scientist, Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA

Authors:

Jeongseek Kang University of Notre Dame
Alex Vorobiev University of Notre Dame
James Sutton University of Notre Dame
William Stewart University of Notre Dame
Harold Miller University of Notre Dame
Joshua Cameron University of Notre Dame
Scott Morris University of Notre Dame
Mark Turner University of Cincinnati
Kyle Sedlacko Echogen Power Systems, DE
Timothy Held Echogen Power Systems, DE