Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
136 words
In a centrifugal compressor, a diffuser receiving air from the periphery of a circular impeller, said diffuser comprising: means for forming around the periphery of said impeller a plurality of identical spaced diffuser passageways intersecting adjacent their inlet ends and extending generally tangentially from the periphery of said impeller; said passageways having a straight sided polygon cross-sectional shApe symmetrical about diagonal line that extends through the median axis of and defines the height of said passageways, said diagonal line being parallel to the axis of rotation of said impeller; each of said passageways having at least two walls on either side of said diagonal line intersection at corners defining the width of said passageways, the walls of adjacent passageways intersecting so that adjacent corners intersect to form the apex of V-shaped entrance wedges between adjacent passageways.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
136 words
In a centrifugal compressor, a diffuser receiving air from the periphery of a circular impeller, said diffuser comprising: means for forming around the periphery of said impeller a plurality of identical spaced diffuser passageways intersecting adjacent their inlet ends and extending generally tangentially from the periphery of said impeller; said passageways having a straight sided polygon cross-sectional shApe symmetrical about diagonal line that extends through the median axis of and defines the height of said passageways, said diagonal line being parallel to the axis of rotation of said impeller; each of said passageways having at least two walls on either side of said diagonal line intersection at corners defining the width of said passageways, the walls of adjacent passageways intersecting so that adjacent corners intersect to form the apex of V-shaped entrance wedges between adjacent passageways.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said passageways are square in cross-sectional shape and have one diagonal thereof parallel to the axis of rotation of said impeller.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
25 words
Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said diffuser passageway means comprises a plurality of intersecting tubular elements extending from an annular plate surrounding said impeller.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
138 words
Apparatus as in claim 1 in combination with an impeller wherein: said impeller comprises a plurality of radial blades extending in an axial direction from a disc toward a fixed annular shroud, the velocity distribution of the fluid flow from said impeller being biased toward said disc; said diffuser passageways each have a four-sided polygon cross-sectional shape symmetrical about said diagonal defining the height of said passageways, said diagonal being parallel to the axis of rotation of said impeller; the walls of said passageway extending from said diagonal to apexes defining the width of said passageways, the apexes being positioned from the midpoint of the passageway height toward the disc of said impeller; whereby the generally V-shaped entrances to said passageways have their most downstream point positioned to accommodate the biased distribution of fluid flow from said impeller.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
64 words
Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said diffuser passageway means comprises: a pair of sandwiched discs, each having an interior hole for surrounding the periphery of said impeller and grooves in opposing faces of the discs extending from the interior hole to the exterior of said disc, the grooves in each disc shaped to define said diffuser passageways when said discs are sandwiched together.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
83 words
Apparatus as in claim 5 wherein: The inlet end of said passageways is generally square in cross-sectional shape and has one of its diagonals defining the height of said passageway, said diagonal being parallel to the axis of rotation of said impeller; the downstream portion of said passageways is of equal height with the inlet ends and has a pair of parallel sides normal to said diagonal and having diverging edges; whereby divergent passageways are formed in the downstream end of said diffuser.