Patent ID: 7452187

Claim:
A compressor comprising an impeller mounted on a shaft, said impeller having a diameter of at least (45.72 centimeters) eighteen inches and defining a first edge of a gas flow path from an inlet section to an outlet section, said inlet section being oriented axially to the shaft and said outlet section being oriented radially to the shaft, a plurality of inducer blades on the impeller in the inlet section said inducer blades stacked along the radial direction to the shaft and oriented to impart work on fluid passing through the flow path by deflecting it in a tangential direction thus changing its angular momentum, a plurality of exit blades on the impeller in the outlet section said exit blades stacked along the axial direction to the shaft and distributed tangentially to the radial direction to impart work on fluid passing through the flow path by accelerating it in the radial direction, blade sections connecting the inducer blades to the exit blades having a continuous blade geometry without geometric and aerodynamic discontinuities and an integral shroud proximate both the inducer blades and the exit blades and defining a second edge of said gas flow path.