Role of Compressors in Aircraft
Today, most modern passenger and military aircraft are equipped with gas turbine engines, or jet engines as they are often called. While there are many different types of gas turbine engines, every turbine engine is composed of similar parts, the primary component being the compressor.
A compressor is utilized to increase the pressure of the incoming air before it enters the combustor. The compressor serves as a critical part of engines as their functionality has a major influence on total engine performance. Generally, there are two main types of compressors: axial and centrifugal.
Axial Compressors
Axial compressors earned their name because the airflow through the compressor travels parallel to the axis of rotation. They are smaller in size and diameter, but they are much longer because of their many stages. Each stage consists of a large quantity of moving blades and an equal number of fixed blades.
Centrifugal Compressors
Centrifugal compressors, on the other hand, allow airflow to move through them perpendicular to the axis of rotation. In contrast with axial compressors, centrifugal compressors are short but large in diameter. It is worth noting that centrifugal compressors were used in the first jet engines, and they still find use on some turbojet and turboshaft engines and as pumps on rocket engines. Meanwhile, modern large turbojet and turbofan engines take advantage of axial compressors.
Why Are Axial Compressors Popular?
The reason axial compressors are preferred nowadays is because users can produce a multistage compressor. In a multistage axial compressor, the pressure is simply multiplied from row to row, but this is not easily achieved with a centrifugal variation. This is because the flow must be ducted back to the axis at each stage. Moreover, as the flow is turned perpendicular to the axis, an aircraft engine with a centrifugal compressor is usually characterized as having a wider, large cross-sectional area than its axial counterpart, creating undesirable drag in the process.
All that being said, most high performance aircraft utilize high compression turbine engines that feature multistage axial compressors. However, when only a moderate amount of compression is necessitated, a centrifugal compressor is a simpler solution. Nonetheless, choosing one over the other comes down to the needs of your aircraft and engine compatibility.
Conclusion
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