Patent ID: 9581170
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: F04D,F05D,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of designing and making diffuser vanes in a centrifugal compressor comprising a diffuser and an impeller concentrically rotatable relative to the diffuser about an axis, the method comprising: providing an initial two-dimensional diffuser vane layout including initial diffuser vane peripheries radially spaced about the axis; rotating the initial diffuser vane peripheries using a computer processor to produce rotated diffuser vane peripheries having offset trailing ends relative to trailing ends of the initial diffuser vane peripheries, wherein rotating the initial diffuser vane peripheries comprises rotating the initial diffuser vane peripheries about leading ends opposite to a direction of rotation of the impeller relative to the diffuser to produce the rotated diffuser vane peripheries; circumferentially shifting the rotated diffuser vane peripheries about the axis using the computer processor to produce shifted diffuser vane peripheries, wherein leading ends of the shifted diffuser vane peripheries are offset from the leading ends of the initial diffuser vane peripheries; generating diffuser vane surfaces connecting the shifted diffuser vane peripheries to the corresponding initial diffuser vane peripheries using the computer processor to form diffuser vanes in a twisted configuration extending from leading edges to trailing edges; forming the diffuser including the diffuser vanes in the twisted configuration; and assembling the diffuser and the impeller concentrically rotatable relative to the diffuser about the axis.