Predicting Equivalent Performance of Blowers and Compressors for Gases from Air Test Data : Some Problems Encountered in the Translation of Compressor Performance

Abstract

The attainments of the performance of turboblowers or compressors for any gas are generally checked by air tests conducted in the manufacturer's shops. Unfortunately, the method of translating the performance from air test condition to the gas operating condition has not been established completely. With a view to establishment of the translating method, the authors proposed some appropriate methods predicting equivalent performance making reference to some literatures which were published. There are two principal methods of the air test in the manufacturer's shop. (1) Selection of the equivalent test speed for air tests at which the air test condition and the gas operating condition are identical respecting to the density ratio or the Mach number. (2) Modification of the air test data conducted at the same speed as the operating condition. However, the correlations between shop and field testing have not been obtained theoretically. But within certain ranges, satisfactory correlations could be obtained. Such ranges should be confirmed experimentally. Some convenient charts were proposed in this paper. In order to establish the available methods of the translating compressor performance from one gas to another, it is necessary to confirm the methods by the experimental results with shop and field testing.