Turbomachinery Facilities
Turbomachinery Facilities
Turbocharger Test Facility T-2
The turbocharger test stand is designed to investigate the compressors of small turbochargers. The turbine is driven by compressed air heated in a combustion chamber to an adjustable temperature.
The facility is also equipped with an independent oil supply system at variable pressure. Rotational speed is controlled by an optical system, mounted on the turbine. Maximum RPM depends on the test model. Mass flow at the compressor inlet is measured by means of an appropriate Venturi tube. A miniaturized probe carriage allows automatic flow traverses at the
diffuser exit. A microcomputer-controlled acquisition system equipped with scani-valves, pressure transducers and amplifiers makes it possible to measure more than 100 temperatures and static pressures on the shroud, diffuser walls and scroll. These measurements are available for on-line or off-line data reduction.
This facility is used for overall performance measurements and for more fundamental studies on scroll / vaneless diffuser interaction and active control of surge.
Low Speed Turbine Facility T-1
The VKI low speed turbine T-1 is an open-loop continuously operating facility. Air is supplied by a blower with a maximum capacity of 7 m3/s and 16 kPa pressure rise. The test rig is specially designed to study secondary flows in low aspect ratio bladings.
The set-up allows testing of isolated stators, single-stage turbines and 1½-stage turbines.
The inner shroud upstream of the first vane can be rotated by means of an independent drive in order to produce a skewed inlet endwall boundary layer. In the 1½-stage configuration both vanes are rotatable to allow change of their position with respect to each other. The maximum outer diameter is 780 mm. The power is absorbed by an electric generator. The instrumentation includes double-headed four-hole pressure probes, slanted hot wires and a light sheet technique for flow visualization. Measurements are recorded and processed on the central data acquisition computer.
High Speed Compressor Facility R-4
The VKI R-4 test rig is a high speed compressor test bench with a closed loop system that can be pressurized from vacuum to 3 bars. This gives the possibility to modify independently the Reynolds number and then to test different operating conditions for an aero-engine (takeoff, cruise,...). The maximum shaft speed is 25 000 RPM. It has recently undergone a deep renovation phase mainly focused on a more efficient cooling system to stabilize the temperature even on high power regimes (500kW).
High Speed Compressor Facility R-2
The VKI high-speed compressor facility R-2 is an open-loop system for the investigation of axial and radial compressors. The axial compressor rotor can have a maximum diameter of 500 mm and the casing is large enough to house a multistage configuration. The facility is driven up to 10000 RPM by 185 kW DC motor, alternatively used to drive the blower providing the flow to the cascade tunnel C-1.
The facility is instrumented with a torque meter, servo-controlled directional probes, thermocouples, transducers, hotwire anemometers and laser-based instrumentation.
