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Roots Blower Compressor:
A roots blower compressor, in its simplest form, consists of two rotors with lobes rotating in an air
tight casing which has inlet and outlet ports. Its action resembles with that of a gear pump. There are
many designs of wheels, but they generally have two or three lobes (and sometimes even more). In all
cases, their action remains the same as shown in Fig. The lobes are so designed that they provide an air
tight joint at the point of their contact.

The mechanical energy is provided to one of the rotors from some external source, while the other is gear
driven from the first. As the rotors rotate, the air, at atmospheric pressure, is trapped in the pockets
formed between the lobes and casing. The rotary motion of the lobes delivers the entrapped air into the
receiver. Thus more and more flow of air into the receiver increases its pressure. Finally, the air at a
higher pressure is delivered from the receiver. It will be interesting to know that when the rotating lobe
uncovers the exit port, some air (under high pressure) flows back into the pocket from the receiver. It is
known as backflow process. The air, which flows from the receiver to the pocket, gets mixed up with the
entrapped air. The backflow of air continues, till the pressure in the pocket and receiver is equalised. Thus
the pressure of air entrapped in the pocket is increased at constant volume entirely by the back flow of air.
The backflow process is shown in Fig. Now the air is delivered to the receiver by the rotation of the lobes.
Finally, the air at a higher pressure is delivered from the receiver.

Vane Blower Compressor

A vane blower, in its simplest form, consists of a disc rotating eccentrically in an air tight casing with
inlet and outlet ports. The disc has a number of slots (generally 4 to 8) containing vanes: When the rotor
rotates the disc, the vanes are pressed against the casing, due to centrifugal force, and form air tight
pockets. The mechanical energy is provided to the disc from some external source. As the disc rotates, the
air is trapped in the pockets formed between the vanes and casing.

First of all, the rotary motion of the vanes compresses the air. When the rotating vane uncovers the exit
port, some air (under high pressure) flows back into the pocket in the same way as discussed in the ease
of roots blower compressor. Thus the pressure of air, entrapped in the pocket, is increased first by
decreasing the volume and then by the backflow of air as shown in Fig. Now the air is delivered to the
receiver by the rotation of the vanes. Finally, the air at a high pressure is delivered from the receiver.

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Centrifugal Compressor:
A centrifugal compressor is a radial flow rotodynamic fluid machine that uses mostly air as the
working fluid and utilizes the mechanical energy imparted to the machine from outside to increase the
total internal energy of the fluid mainly in the form of increased static pressure head.
During the second world war most of the gas turbine units used centrifugal compressors. Attention was
focused on the simple turbojet units where low power-plant weight was of great importance. Since the
war, however, the axial compressors have been developed to the point where it has an appreciably
higher isentropic efficiency. Though centrifugal compressors are not that popular today, there is
renewed interest in the centrifugal stage, used in conjunction with one or more axial stages, for small
turbofan and turboprop aircraft engines.
A centrifugal compressor essentially consists of three components.
A stationary casing
A rotating impeller as shown in Fig. which imparts a high velocity to the air. The impeller may
be single or double sided as show in Fig. but the fundamental theory is same for both.
A diffuser consisting of a number of fixed diverging passages in which the air is decelerated with
a consequent rise in static pressure.

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Principle of operation: Air is sucked into the impeller eye and whirled outwards at high speed by the
impeller disk. At any point in the flow of air through the impeller the centripetal acceleration is obtained
by a pressure head so that the static pressure of the air increases from the eye to the tip of the impeller.
The remainder of the static pressure rise is obtained in the diffuser, where the very high velocity of air
leaving the impeller tip is reduced to almost the velocity with which the air enters the impeller eye.
Usually, about half of the total pressure rise occurs in the impeller and the other half in the diffuser.
Owing to the action of the vanes in carrying the air around with the impeller, there is a slightly higher
static pressure on the forward side of the vane than on the trailing face. The air will thus tend to flow
around the edge of the vanes in the clearing space between the impeller and the casing. These results in a
loss of efficiency and the clearance must be kept as small as possible. Sometimes, a shroud attached to the
blades as shown in Figure. May eliminate such a loss, but it is avoided because of increased disc friction
loss and of manufacturing difficulties.
The straight and radial blades are usually employed to avoid any undesirable bending stress to be set up in
the blades. The choice of radial blades also determines that the total pressure rise is divided equally
between impeller and diffuser.
Before further discussions following points are worth mentioning for a centrifugal compressor.
The pressure rise per stage is high and the volume flow rate tends to be low. The pressure rise per
stage is generally limited to 4:1 for smooth operations.
Blade geometry is relatively simple and small foreign material does not affect much on operational
characteristics.
Centrifugal impellers have lower efficiency compared to axial impellers and when used in aircraft
engine it increases frontal area and thus drag. Multistaging is also difficult to achieve in case of
centrifugal machines.
Advantages Of Centrifugal Compressor
Wide Operating ranges
Very high reliability
3. Low maintenance costs
4. Low initial cost
5. Medium Capacity storage
6. High efficiency
Disadvantages of Centrifugal Compressor
1. Very unstable when the flow is reduced.
2. Sensitive to changes in gas compositions
3. Limited compression ratios
4. Limited turn downs
5. Periodic replacement is necessary for proper functioning

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Axial Flow Compressors:

An axial flow compressor, in its simplest form, consists of a number of rotating blade rows fixed to a

rotating drum. The drum rotates inside an air tight casing to which are fixed stator blade rows, as shown

in Fig. The blades are made of aerofoil section to reduce the loss caused by turbulence and boundary

separation.

The mechanical energy is provided to the rotating shaft, which rotates the drum. The air enters from the

left side of the compressor. As the drum rotates the airflows through the alternately arranged stator and

rotor. As the air flows from one set of stator and rotor to another, it gets compressed. Thus successive

compression of the air, in all the sets of stator and rotor, the air is delivered at a high pressure at the outlet

point.

Applications:
1. They are widely used in high pressure units such as industrial and marine gas turbine plants,
2. They are most suitable for aircraft work (Jet propulsion) since they require less frontal area.

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