Axial supersonic compressor

Claim 1

A supersonic axial flow fluid compressor comprising means defining a fluid inlet opeNing, including a cylindrical sleeve and an internally-mounted cap diverging in the downstream flow direction; a compressor housing; a mobile wheel rotatably mounted in said compressor housing, said mobile wheel having relatively thin pumping blades mounted thereon, said thin pumping blades having a leading and a trailing edge; means for rotatably driving the mobile wheel; distributing means including a plurality of fixed blades mounted in the fluid inlet opening upstream of the mobile wheel, said fixed blades having a leading edge and a trailing edge; a plurality of first fixed blades mounted downstream of the mobile wheel, each of said first fixed blades mounted downstream of said wheel having a leading edge and a trailing edge, the angles of incidence of the fixed blades upstream and downstream of the mobile wheel and the blades of the mobile wheel with the direction of flow of fluid being relatively small within the range of 0*-10*, the cross-sectional thickness of the blades on the mobile wheel increasing in the direction of the trailing edges to cause the cross-sectional flow area between the blades of the mobile wheel to be convergent in the direction of the trailing edges, the cross-sectional thickness of the fixed blades of both sets decreasing toward the trailing edges thereof to cause the cross-sectional flow area between the fixed blades to be divergent toward the trailing edges thereof, the profile of the leading edges of the fixed and mobile blades being rounded off with a small radius of curvature, whereby essentially normal shock waves at right angles to the direction of fluid flow are produced with a minimum of boundary flow separation.