A compressor rotor for turbomachinery, such as a compressor, is provided. Disclosed embodiments can benefit from seal elements that may be arranged to inhibit passage onto respective hirth couplings of process fluid being processed by the compressor. A seal element may be affixed to adjacent rotor components (e.g., adjacent impeller bodies) by way of a slip or interference fit connection to one of the adjacent components and may be affixed to the other adjacent rotor component by way of a elastically flexible frustoconical inner surface of the seal element that permits the seal element to be placed in a spring-loaded condition, which generates a biasing force to circumferentially clamp onto a frustoconical outer surface of the other adjacent rotor component. This arrangement is conducive to user-friendly assembly/disassembly of the seal elements with respect to the adjacent rotor components.

A centrifugal compressor assembly and method of operation provides a motor that drives a first stage compressor. The motor comprises a rotor. The motor uses radial aerostatic bearings to stabilize rotation and axial displacement of the rotor. The motor also uses a thrust aerostatic bearing to balance an axial force of the rotor. The radial aerostatic bearings and the thrust aerostatic bearing use a low-viscous vapor-liquid two-phase fluid as a lubricating medium. The radial aerostatic bearings supports the rotor. The thrust aerostatic bearing uses porous aerostatic bearings that use a low-viscous vapor-liquid two-phase fluid, so as to reduce radial and axial oscillation of the rotor. This enables clearance between a blade tip of an impeller and a volute. This causes a seal clearance to be reduced by a half; thereby increasing efficiency of the centrifugal compressor by at least 10 percent.

Compressor rotor structure for turbomachinery, such as a compressor, is provided. Disclosed embodiments may involve a flow loop that at least in part flows through the interior of the tie bolt or by way of a venting arrangement that at least in part extends through one of the rotor shafts of the rotor structure. Disclosed embodiments may further benefit from seal elements that may be arranged to inhibit passage onto respective hirth couplings of the process fluid being processed by the compressor. In operation, the flow loop may be appropriately pressurized to keep any residual seal leakage that may develop in one or more of the seal elements from travelling onto the hirth couplings

Compressor rotor structure and methodology for harmonizing compressor aerodynamics and rotordynamics are provided. Disclosed embodiments benefit from a compressor design effective for improving rotordynamics (e.g., stiffer rotor structure) without reducing a usable aerodynamics range of the compressor. This design may involve variation of the rotor structure along the rotor axis to locate respective surfaces defined by respective inlets of the one or more impellers at a varying distance relative to the rotor axis based on respective ratios selected for the configuration of the impeller bodies. This arrangement may be effective for improving rotordynamics while satisfactorily meeting the respective varying aerodynamics requirements at the various compression stages by the impeller bodies.

A compressor, which includes a housing and a rotor, in which the rotor includes a compressor wheel on at least one side, a compressor chamber being formed between the compressor wheel and the housing, the rotor being rotatably supported, an annular sealing channel being formed between the rotor and the housing, the sealing channel being routed from the compressor chamber to an area having a lower pressure, a connecting channel being routed from an area having a higher pressure to a first section of the sealing channel.

Methods and apparatus are provided for an axi-centrifugal compressor in a gas turbine engine for a business aviation or rotorcraft propulsion unit. The compressor includes an axial compressor section operable to affect a first pressure ratio along the flow path between a compressor inlet and a first section exit, and a centrifugal compressor section operable to affect a second pressure ratio along the flow path between a second section inlet and the compressor exit. The pressure rise across the axial and centrifugal compressor section is configured to have a tuning factor is in a range between 2.8 and 4.5 and a loading factor in a range between 0.6 and 0.8.

A centrifugal compressor for compressing a fluid in a gas phase or a supercritical phase includes: a rotational shaft; an axial flow path extending along an axial direction of the centrifugal compressor; a radial flow path communicating with the axial flow path and extending along a radial direction of the centrifugal compressor on a downstream side of the axial flow path; an impeller at least partially disposed in the radial flow path and configured to rotate together with the rotational shaft to increase pressure of the fluid flowing in the radial flow path; and a pre-compression unit disposed in the axial flow path at a position distant from a leading edge of the impeller on an upstream side of the leading edge and configured to increase the pressure of the fluid in advance before the fluid is introduced to the leading edge.

A compressor has a rotor. The rotor includes a plurality of impellers that include a disk having a solid structure having a buried center, and are adjacent to each other in an axial direction, and a plurality of bolts for fixing the plurality of impellers together. The disk has a disk surface facing the axial direction and a bolt hole penetrating the disk at a position deviated outward from an axis in a radial direction. The disk surface includes a contact surface of which at least a part is located outside the bolt hole in the radial direction, and a non-contact surface which is a region inside the contact surface in the radial direction.

A compressor having a housing and a rotor, the rotor having a compressor impeller at least on one side; a compressor chamber being configured between the compressor impeller and the housing; the rotor being rotationally mounted; an annular sealing channel being configured between the rotor and the housing; the sealing channel being routed from the compressor chamber to a lower-pressure zone; at least two throttling sections being provided in the sealing channel; in each of the two throttling sections, in the direction of flow viewed from the compressor chamber to the lower-pressure zone, a first section having a reduction in the cross section of the sealing channel being first provided, and a second section having an enlargement of the cross section of the sealing channel being subsequently provided.

An integrated gas compressor is disclosed herein. The integrated gas compressor includes an integrated motor with a stator, centrifugal impellers, and a shaft assembly with a rotor and conical transition. The integrated motor can produce an electromotive force that is imparted by the stator to rotate the rotor and components coupled to the rotor, such as the conical transition and the centrifugal impellers. At least one of the rotor and conical transition have a cavity.