Innovative Compressor/Fan Technologies for Reduction of Fossil Fuel Consumption

由于其高功率密度，透平机械压缩机和风扇将继续在飞机推进和气候控制等能源密集型应用中发挥重要作用。拟议的空气动力学研究扩展了压缩机和风扇技术的三个界限，以减少这两个领域的化石燃料消耗，以应对全球变暖。第一个边界是级压比。现代航空发动机压气机有很多级来保证发动机的压比。申请人申请专利的一种新的反向旋转非轴向压缩机概念可以使每级的最高可实现压力增加一倍。其影响将是一种全新的、更简单、更短的航空发动机结构，压缩级很少，燃油消耗可能降低20%。初步研究表明，对旋转子进口相对速度高，叶片短，激波和叶尖间隙流动损失大。拟议的研究将通过CFD模拟来开发和评估空气动力学解决方案，以解决这些问题，使这一概念发挥作用。第二个边界是风扇在高度不均匀的进气流动下运行，这是一种名为边界层摄取(BLI)的新飞机架构，可以降低11%的燃油消耗。在BLI飞机中，发动机吸入并加速飞机边界层流体，以部分抵消飞机的尾迹以减少阻力。吸入这种不均匀流动会在风扇叶片上造成显著的气动力波动，影响其结构完整性/寿命，并降低风扇性能和运行包络。申请人发明了一种可申请专利的空气动力学装置，位于风扇上游，以解决这些问题。在有希望的初步评估之后，新的研究旨在通过数值模拟的3D形状优化显著提高设备的有效性，并进行实验验证。第三个界限是小质量流量，这意味着透平机械压缩机的叶片小和转速高，这使得它们相对于家用热泵(HP)使用的容积式压缩机来说没有竞争力，尽管它们的效率要高得多。申请者提出了一种具有特殊叶轮的新颖且可申请专利的离心式压缩机概念，它结合了极低的成本和高效率。与新叶轮相关的流动结构在扩散器中造成高损失，限制了效率优势。拟议的研究将设计和数值评估新的扩散器设计，以优化这一概念并测试原型。如果成功，这一新概念将能够扩大惠普的利用率，以减少住宅供暖中化石燃料的使用。拟议的研究可以通过开发突破性的航空技术和高技能的HQP，为加拿大的航空航天行业提供巨大的竞争优势，并帮助加拿大履行其温室气体减排承诺。

Due to their high power density, turbomachinery compressors and fans will continue to play a major role in energy intensive applications such as aircraft propulsion and climate control. The proposed research in aerodynamics extends three boundaries of compressor and fan technology for reducing fossil fuel consumption in these two areas to address global warming.   The first boundary is stage pressure ratio. A modern aero-engine compressor has a lot of stages for adequate engine pressure ratio. A new counter-rotating non-axial compressor concept patented by the applicant can double the highest achievable pressure rise per stage. The impact would be a radically new, simpler and shorter aero-engine architecture with very few compression stages and potentially 20% lower fuel consumption. Initial studies showed that the high relative inlet flow velocity and short blades of the counter-rotating rotor cause high losses from shocks and tip clearance flow. The proposed research will develop and assess aerodynamic solutions through CFD simulations to address these issues for the concept to work.   The second boundary is fan operation under highly non-uniform inlet flow for a new aircraft architecture called boundary layer ingestion (BLI) that can reduce fuel consumption by 11%. In BLI aircraft, the engines ingest and accelerate the aircraft boundary layer fluid to partially cancel the aircraft's wake for drag reduction. The ingestion of such non-uniform flow causes significant aerodynamic force fluctuation on the fan blades, compromising their structural integrity/longevity, and reduces fan performance and operating envelope. The applicant invented a patentable aerodynamic device upstream of the fan to resolve these issues. After a promising initial assessment, new studies aim to significantly increase the device's effectiveness through 3D shape optimization with numerical simulations and to experimentally validate it.   The third boundary is small mass flow rate that translates into small blades and high rotating speed for turbomachinery compressors, making them uncompetitive relative to volumetric compressors for use in residential heat pumps (HP) despite their much higher efficiency. A novel and patentable centrifugal compressor concept with a special impeller has been proposed by the applicant that combines very low-cost with high efficiency. Flow structures associated with the new impeller causes high losses in the diffuser, limiting the efficiency advantage. The proposed research will devise and numerically assess new diffuser designs to optimize this concept and test a prototype. If successful, the new concept will enable an expansion of HP utilization to cut fossil fuel usage in residential heating.   The proposed research can provide a large competitive edge for Canada's aerospace industry by developing breakthrough aviation technology and highly skilled HQP, as well as help Canada meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments.