figure 12 shows a shrowed impeller.

This design is certainly the most expensive

to manufacture and is the weakest of all designs because the blades must carry t
he weight of thr shroud as well as their own.
Maximum efficiency of a shrouded impeller is usually very high because there is
minimal recirculation from the impeler discharge back to the inducer. The low st
rength,high cost and tendency for the shroud to collect dirt has just about elim
inated the use of the shrouded impeller in automotive use.
In 1952 the turbocharger commits diese powered race car which ran in the indiana
polis 500 had to retire from the race due to dirt build up on a shrouded impelle
r in the late 1950's when the shrouded impeller were used on the constructuion e
quipment, the service manual included a preventive maintanance procedure showing
how to flush soapy water through the compressor to remove dirt build up on the
shroud.
Three types of diffusres are normally used with centrifugal compressor, and they
may be used singally or in combination with eachother . the simplest is the scr
oll type diffuser. Figure 13 It consist of a volute or snail shape around the ou
tside of the compressor impeller . In this design the cross section area of the
scroll increases in proportion to the amount of air coming from the impeller. w
hen designed correctly, it slows the gas down and converts velocity energy into
pressure energy.
Figure 14 shows parallel wall diffuser which has an increase in area from the in
side diameter of the diffuser to the outside diameter proportonal to this two di
ameters, figure 15. in other words if r2 is twice as grater as r1 then a2 is twi
ce as grater as a1. Assuming the gas were flowing in a radial direction, the vel
ocity at r2 would be the half as r1. the gas actully flows in a spiral rather th
an purely radial direction but regardless of this, the gas velocity at the outer
diameter of diffuser is considerably less than at the inner diameter.
Fig 16 is a compressor with a vane type diffuser. The vanes are designed so the
leading edge will be inline with the direction of the gas flow from the impeller
. From this point vane curvature will force the gas flow and be slowed down to