Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Energy Storage

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/est

Experimental investigation on off-design performance and adjustment

strategies of the centrifugal compressor in compressed air energy
storage system
Wenbin Guo a, b, Zhitao Zuo a, b, c, Jianting Sun a, Hucan Hou a, Qi Liang a, Haisheng Chen a, b, c, d, *
a
Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.11 Beisihuanxi Rd, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
b
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
c
National Energy Large Scale Physical Energy Storage Technologies R&D Center of Bijie, High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Bijie 551700, China
d
Nanjing Institute of Future Energy System, IET, CAS, No.266 Chuangyan Rd, Jiangning District, Nanjing 211135, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The compressor used in compressed air energy storage (CAES) system usually operates under off-design condi­
Compressed air energy storage tions due to load fluctuations, environmental factors, and performance characteristics of the system. Two sta­
Centrifugal compressor bilization techniques, named adjustable inlet guide vanes (AIGVs) and adjustable vaned diffusers (AVDs), are
Adjustable inlet guide vanes
experimentally investigated in a centrifugal compressor, and their adjustment strategies are reported in this
Adjustable vaned diffusers
Adjustment strategies
paper. First, the impact of these two adjustment methods on the compressor performance is presented. The
pressure ratio range of the compressor can be expanded by 207.3% through adjusting AIGVs, and 72.6% through
adjusting AVDs, respectively. Second, the optimum operating lines and adjustment strategies of the compressor
are obtained according to its working characteristics. Last, the Kriging interpolation model and Nelder-Mead
algorithm are employed to find the optimal strategies of the combined adjustment of AIGVs and AVDs. The
results show that the combined adjustment of AIGVs and AVDs enables an increase in pressure ratio range by
232.5%, and the maximum efficiency is increased by 1.2% compared with the condition that adjustment is
absent. The present research provides an effective method for compressor operation and control in CAES system.

the system, it is important to study the compressor off-design perfor­

1. Introduction
The compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a large-scale and long-
term energy storage technology. It has important application value in
the area of electricity peak-shaving, energy management, renewable
energy generation and distribution systems [1–3]. The compressor is an
important energy conversion device and its efficiency directly affects the
system efficiency and economy. The common types of compressors
include displacement type (e.g. piston compressor) and dynamic type (e.
g. centrifugal compressor and axial compressor). Among various com­
pressors, the multistage geared centrifugal compressor, which has virtue
of high efficiency, compact structure and convenient inter-stage heat
recovery, becomes one of the most ideal types for CAES system [4].
Differing from the traditional industrial compressor, the compressor in
CAES system usually operates under off-design conditions due to load
fluctuations, environmental factors, and performance characteristics of
the system [5]. Thus, in order to improve the efficiency and stability of
mance in CAES system.
Currently, some scholars have worked on the compressor off-design
performance in CAES system. Most of these researches focus on recip­
rocating compressor. Salvini [6] analyzed the off-design conditions for a
multi-stage reciprocating compressor in small-sized CAES plants and
found infinite step control (ISC) is preferable to increase the compressor
operational flexibility. Heidari [7] established a dynamic nonlinear
model employing energetic macroscopic representation (EMR) for a
reciprocating compressor applied in isothermal CAES system. The model
can highlight the interactions of the electromechanical, heat transfer
and fluid mechanics phenomena simultaneously in compressor. There
are also a few researches on turbo compressor. Guo [8] established a
theoretical model of off-design operation for the multistage compression
process in CAES system and obtained the regulating law of the inlet
guide vane angles. The compressor performance characteristics in Guo’s
research are obtained by general formula, but there may be deviation
from actual operation of the compressor. So, it is essential to obtain the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: chen_hs@iet.cn (H. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2021.102515
Received 2 February 2021; Received in revised form 29 March 2021; Accepted 30 March 2021
Available online 8 April 2021
2352-152X/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Guo et al.
Nomenclature
p pressure, Pa
T temperature, K
x direct measurement parameter
y indirect measurement parameter
Greek symbols
η isentropic efficiency
γ isentropic exponent, 1.397
Subsrcipts
ε total pressure ratio
t total state
E exit
I inlet
Acronyms
CAES compressed air energy storage
AIGVs adjustable inlet guide vanes
AVDs adjustable vaned diffusers
off-design characteristics through the experimental method.
In CAES system, the compressor is working over a wide range of
pressure ratio as the compressed air enters a constant-volume cavern or
gas storage vessel with gradually rising pressure [9]. Normally, it is
difficult to meet such requirement by the compressor itself. It is neces­
sary to take appropriate adjustment techniques to expand the operating
range. There are four adjustment methods generally used in centrifugal
compressor: throttling adjustment, bypass adjustment, variable speed
adjustment and variable geometry adjustment [10]. The throttling
adjustment and bypass adjustment can cause high pressure loss which
results in poor economy. The multistage geared centrifugal compressor
does not allow variable speed adjustment due to its complicated rotor
dynamics. Thus, the variable geometry adjustment is the most suitable
method. Variable geometry can be divided into adjustable inlet guide
vanes (AIGVs) and adjustable vaned diffusers (AVDs).
The AIGVs and AVDs of centrifugal compressor have been exten­
sively investigated. Rodgers’ experimental results [11] showed that the
surge margin of centrifugal compressor at high speed was considerably
extended by the adjustment of the AIGVs, even though the vaned dif­
fusers had apparently stalled. Justen [12] experimentally investigated
the unsteady flow phenomena of AVDs and the results revealed that the
unsteady impeller-diffuser interaction mainly influenced the region near
the vane suction side in the semi-vaned space. Simon [13] studied the
matched adjustment of AIGVs and AVDs in single stage and multi-stage
geared centrifugal compressors. His-study demonstrated that the oper­
ating range of the compressors could be extended and efficiency could
be increased compared with regulation using only AIGVs or AVDs. Zhou
[14] measured the centrifugal compressor performances under different
AIGVs pre-whirl angles and different diffuser stagger angles, and ob­
tained the optimum matched means of the IGV and vaned diffuser.
For AIGVs and AVDs, most of the investigations mainly focus on the
adjustment performance and internal flow. There are a few studies on
adjustment strategies of AIGVs and AVDs. Gallar [15] used genetic al­
gorithms to optimize the variable geometry schedule for an axial
compressor in engine. An optimized variable geometry schedule is
derived, together with a modified range of rotational speeds for each
given operating point. Huang [16] estimated the torque performance of
turbocharged engines by adopting AVDs. He displayed the working line
of the compressor with AVDs and the improvement in the maximum
torque is estimated to be 78.0%. Tetu [17] proposed a surge control
method by means of AVDs. The primary optimum principle is that the
diffuser should be positioned such that its pressure recovery value is
2
Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515
close to its maximum. In CAES system, it is favorable to ensure the
compressor operating at the highest efficiency under each discharge
pressure. Up to now, no research on AIGVs and AVDs adjustment stra­
tegies within the compression process for CAES system has been found.
Thus, the motivation for the present work is to find out the optimal
adjustment strategies for the centrifugal compressor in CAES system.
In this paper, AIGVs and AVDs are selected as two stabilization
techniques to expand the stable working range of a centrifugal
compressor. The compressor performance characteristics under
different vane angle configurations are investigated through experi­
ments. To achieve the continuous and efficient operation of the
compressor, an approach is proposed to find the optimal strategies of the
combined adjustment of AIGVs and AVDs.
2. Experimental description and methodology
Experimental Facility. The experiments were performed on the
centrifugal compressor test rig at Institute of Engineering Thermophy­
sics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The test rig is a closed loop
arrangement. The inlet pressure and temperature can be controlled and
held constant independently of ambient conditions, ensuring repeat­
ability and well-defined conditions. The test rig layout is presented in
Fig. 1. The centrifugal compressor stage ① takes gas in through a
damping chamber ② with integrated flow straightener, making air flow
direction uniform. Then the compressed gas is cooled down by a heat
exchanger ③ with cooling tower ④ and throttled by regulating valves
⑤. Before the gas reaches the damping chamber again, a flowmeter ⑥
measures the gas mass flow. The rotor is driven by a 5.2 MW motor ⑦
with continuous speed control and a maximum shaft speed of 2200 rpm.
A planetary gearbox ⑧ with a gear ratio of 7.27:1 allows a maximum
rotor speed of 16,000 rpm. A fast-opening-mechanism of butterfly valve
⑨ enables safe measurements when it is close to the surge limit and
during surge. The inlet pressure can be adjusted by gas stabilization tank
⑩ and kept in a required constant level during experiments.
Compressor Stage. The compressor stage consists of the AIGVs, an
unshrouded impeller with 13 backswept blades, the AVDs and an
asymmetric volute. The impeller with the vaned diffuser is designed to
produce a pressure ratio of 2.48 at the design mass flow 34 kg/s. The
representative geometric parameters are listed in Table 1. The AIGVs are
designed to contain 12 airfoil blades that form a cylindrical section
passage. The AVDs have 11 airfoil vanes with rotating shaft located at
the middle of the vanes. The blades or vanes can be turned by external
linkage and pneumatic control valves, as shown in Fig. 2. The stagger
angle precision of the AIGVs and AVDs is 0.6◦ and 0.3◦ , respectively.
Measurement Techniques. The compressor performance charac­
teristics are calculated by the measured temperature and pressure up
and downstream of the compressor stage. The total pressure ratio ε and
isentropic efficiency η are defined as follows:
/
ε = pt,E pt,I (1)
[( ]
/ )(γ− 1)/γ
Tt,I pt,E pt,I − 1
η= ( ) (2)
Tt,E − Tt,I
where γ is the isentropic exponent, pt is the total pressure, Tt is the total
temperature, subscripts E and I represent the exit and inlet of the
compressor stage, respectively.
The compressor is not expected to operate at low efficiency because
of the energy storage economy. The pressure ratio range of the
compressor in this paper is defined as the difference between the
maximum and the minimum pressure ratio under the condition where
the efficiency is not less than 0.720.
The inlet conditions of the compressor stage are measured by four
five-elements pneumatic probes installed into the cross-section I (Fig. 1).
As shown in Fig. 3, the probes are in the form of combs with sleeves,
W. Guo et al. Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

Fig. 1. Layout of the test rig.

√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
Table 1 ( )2 ( )2
dy x1 ∂y dx1 xn ∂y dxn
Geometric data of the centrifugal compressor. = + ⋅⋅⋅ + (3)
y y ∂x1 x1 y ∂xn xn
Geometric Parameters AIGVs Impeller AVDs

Inlet angle/(◦ ) 30.1 where x is the direct measurement parameter.

Outlet angle/(◦ ) 60.0 Derived from Eq. (3), the maximum error equations of total pressure
Inlet span/(mm) 190.1 55.4
ratio and isentropic efficiency are expressed as Eq. (4) and (5), the error
Outlet span/(mm) 65.9 55.4
Blade number 12 13 11
are ±0.07% and ±0.75%, respectively.
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√( )2 ( )2
dε √ dpt,I dpt,E
which can better adapt to the direction of air flow. There is a total =√ + (4)
ε pt,I pt,E
pressure probe and a total temperature probe in each sleeve. The dis­
tribution of measuring points on the radius is determined by the ring √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√( ( )2 ( )2
method of equivalent area. The total temperature is measured by ther­ dη √ dT )2 (dΔT )2 dpt,I dpt,E
=√
t,I t
+ + A2 + A2
mocouples and the total pressure is measured by intelligent pressure η Tt,I ΔTt pt,I pt,E
scanner. The measurement plane of the stage exit locates at the cross- ( )/[ (5)
]
section E (Fig. 1). The distance between the measurement plane to the A=
γ− 1 (
1 − pt,E pt,I
/ )(1− γ)/γ
volute is six times the diameter of the cross section. Four five-elements γ
pneumatic probes are installed into the downstream plane. The air dΔTt = dTt,I + dTt,E
mass flow is measured through Annubar flowmeter with the character­
Test Procedure. Compressor experiments were carried out at the
istics of simple installation, high precision and low requirement on
design speed. At each test condition, the compressor performance was
straight pipe length, suitable measurement of large diameter pipe. The
obtained by varying the compressor flow rate from the choke to surge
steady-state measurement accuracy of the pressure, temperature and
condition using regulating valves. The flow rate under the surge con­
mass flow are ± 0.05%, ± 0.4% and ± 0.75%, respectively.
dition was determined by the pressure pulsation value of the dynamic
The error of the indirect measurement parameter y should be
probe at the impeller outlet. During the experiments, the inlet temper­
calculated by transfer formula:
ature was kept constant at 303.15 K by adjusting the heat exchanger ③

3
W. Guo et al. Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

Fig. 2. The centrifugal compressor test rig.

Fig. 3. The probe comb and the probe arrangement.

and the inlet pressure was kept constant at 97,000 Pa by adjusting isentropic efficiency were obtained at different vane angle
butterfly valves ⑨ and stabilization tank ⑩. The rotation angles of configurations.
AIGVs and AVDs are denoted as θ and α, respectively. When its rotation
direction coincides with the rotation direction of the impeller, the
adjustment angle is positive, otherwise it is negative. The angle adjust­
ment ranges of AIGVs and AVDs are − 10◦ ~50◦ and − 8◦ ~8◦ , respec­
tively. Finally, the compressor characteristics of total pressure ratio and

Fig. 4. Performance map with AIGVs: (a) pressure ratio performance (b) efficiency performance.

4
W. Guo et al.
3. Results
3.1. Adjustment of AIGVs
Firstly, the centrifugal compressor performance with AIGVs adjust­
ment were tested. The diffuser vanes were fixed at design degree. Fig. 4
shows the compressor performance maps of total pressure ratio and
isentropic efficiency under different pre-whirl angles. According to the
Euler equation, the circumferential velocity component of the inlet flow
influences the enthalpy rise in the impeller. It can be seen that the AIGVs
adjustment has a significant effect on the centrifugal compressor stage
performance. As the angle of AIGVs increases from − 10◦ to 50◦ , the
pressure ratio characteristic gradually moves to the lower left in the
performance map. The pressure ratio of the compressor varies from
2.180 to 2.351 under pre-whirl of 0◦ and the pressure ratio can vary
from 1.829 to 2.355 when the efficiency is not less than 0.720. The
pressure ratio range is expanded by 207.3%.
It can be seen from Fig. 4(a) that both the surge and blockage posi­
tion shift to the left when increasing the AIGVs stagger angle. When the
flow rate decreases, the positive incidence loss of the impeller increases.
Positive pre-swirl can decrease relative inlet Mach number and improve
the flow condition of the impeller suction surface, thus the surge limit is
prolonged. Meanwhile, the channel area becomes smaller as the angle
increases. The AIGVs are equivalent to an inlet throttle, so the maximum
flow rate is also reduced. It is noticed that the pressure ratio drops faster
and faster as the flow rate decreases. It indicates that pre-whirl angle
change has a relatively large impact on the compressor at low flow rate
zone.
The maximum efficiency under pre-whirl of 0◦ , 10◦ and 20◦ is almost
the same but drops rapidly at larger angles. It suggests that proper
positive angle adjustment can change the working capacity of the
impeller while the compressor maintains high efficiency. As the AIGVs
are set at large angles, undesirable flow separation occurred in AIGVs
would cause efficiency drop in the impeller. Meanwhile, deviation from
the design condition leads to a gradual increase of the loss in the diffuser
and volute. Thus, these two factors cause the drop in compressor effi­
ciency at large angles. When the adjustment angle is − 10◦ , the efficiency
characteristic moves to the lower right and the maximum efficiency
significantly drops, which is different from the 10◦ adjustment. A
possible explanation of performance degradation is attributed to the
internal flow separation inside the impeller due to excessive load.
During the energy storage process, the compressed air is continu­
ously stored in a constant volume vessel. The compressor operates over
Fig. 5. Compressor adjustment strategy by AIGVs: (a) compressor optimum operation line (b) AIGVs adjustment strategy.
5
Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515
an extremely wide range of pressure ratio, about 40% to 110% of the
design pressure ratio, while maintaining the compressor efficiency as
high as possible. Fig. 5(a) shows the comprehensive performance map
with AIGVs adjustment. The constant efficiency line appears elliptical or
semi-elliptical. Given a certain working pressure ratio, there are multi­
ple AIGVs angles to achieve the goal. However, there exists an adjust­
ment angle to get the maximum efficiency. The dot-dash line connecting
the most efficient points at each pressure ratio is the optimum operating
line of the compressor, and the corresponding blade angles are the
AIGVs adjustment strategy as shown in Fig. 5. Overall, the adjustment
angle decreases almost linearly with the increase of the pressure ratio
and becomes steeper in the high pressure ratio range.
3.2. Adjustment of AVDs
Subsequently, the compressor experiments with AVDs adjustment
were carried out. The inlet guide vanes were fixed at 0◦ Figs. 6 and 7
show the performance maps with AVDs adjustment in positive and
negative angles, respectively. The pressure ratio range of the compressor
is 0.295 with AVDs adjustment, which is expanded by 72.6% compared
with the condition without adjustment. When the AVDs is adjusted in
positive direction, both the pressure ratio and efficiency characteristics
move to the lower left in the performance map. Surge limit is postponed
as a result of incidence loss decrease by reestablishing optimal vane
angle at low flow rate. The throat area of the diffuser decreases resulting
in the choke limit moving to the left. As is known, the performance of the
volute has a great relationship with the inlet flow angle. The angle be­
tween the diffuser outlet flow and the tangential direction becomes
smaller under positive adjustment, which may lead to the volute per­
formance deterioration. A possible reason of the stage efficiency
reduction is that the loss in the volute is far greater than the gain in the
diffuser.
Concerning the negative angle adjustment, the rule of performance
change is obviously different from the positive angle adjustment. As the
stagger angle increases, the compressor working range moves slightly to
the high flow rate, which is related to the increased throat area of the
diffuser. It improves the choke side by allowing additional air to pass at
high flow rate. It can be seen that the efficiency characteristics
approximately parallelly shift to the high flow rate. The maximum ef­
ficiency is basically the same under different adjustment angles.
Therefore, the compressor can work efficiently via appropriate negative
angles adjustment at high flow rate.
Fig. 8(a) shows the comprehensive performance map with AVDs
W. Guo et al.
Fig. 6. Performance map with AVDs adjustment in positive angles: (a) pressure ratio performance (b) efficiency performance.
Fig. 7. Performance map with AVDs adjustment in negative angles: (a) pressure ratio performance (b) efficiency performance.
adjustment. The curves of constant efficiency tend to slanted parallel
lines. Thus, when AVDs adjustment is adopted in energy storage process,
it is reasonable to make the compressor operate at a high flow rate at a
certain pressure ratio. The dot-dash line in Fig. 8(a) is the optimum
operating line of the compressor and Fig. 8(b) shows the AIGVs
adjustment strategy correspondingly. The vanes angle adjustment is
divided into three stages. When the pressure ratio is less than 2.23, the
adjustment angle is from 8◦ to − 8◦ as the pressure ratio increases. With
pressure ratio varies from 2.23 to 2.33, the adjustment angle fixed at
− 8◦ is the best choice. Once the pressure ratio is greater than 2.33, the
adjustment angle gradually returns to 0◦ .
3.3. Combined adjustment strategies of AIGVs and AVDs
From the results discussed above, we know that the increased loss in
the diffuser is one of the factors that cause the stage performance
decreasing when the AIGVs are adjusted at the range of large angles. It
implies that additional increases in efficiency can be achieved by means
of AVDs adjustment simultaneously. The experiments with different
angle configurations of the AIGVs and AVDs have been carried out.
Three groups of performance maps are selected to present here, as
shown in Fig. 9. It can be found that there are many angle combinations
to achieve a given pressure ratio. The optimum combination is to make
6
Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515
the compressor get the maximum efficiency. In order to obtain the
optimal combined adjustment strategies of the centrifugal compressor at
different pressure ratios, it is feasible to estimate the performance of
other situations based on the existing experiment data through a
reasonable interpolation method.
All interpolation algorithms, such as inverse distance squared,
splines, radial basis functions, triangulation, estimate the value at a
given location as a weighted sum of data values at surrounding loca­
tions. Almost all algorithms assign weights according to functions that
give a decreasing weight with increasing separation distance. Kriging
assigns weights according to the covariance function, rather than an
arbitrary function, and this will give very similar results to others in
many cases [18,19].
The basic form of the Kriging estimator is
∑
n
y (x0 ) =
̂ λi ⋅Y(xi ) (6)
i=1
where x0 is the estimation point, xi is the surrounding data points.
The goal is to determine weights, λi , that minimize the variance of
the estimator
D[Y(x0 ) − ̂
y (x0 )] (7)
W. Guo et al. Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

Fig. 8. Compressor adjustment strategy by AVDs adjustment: (a) compressor optimum operation line (b) AVDs adjustment strategy.

under the unbiasedness constraint

E[Y(x0 ) − ̂y (x0 )] = 0 (8)
The covariance function is
( )
[ ] ∑
d ⃒ ⃒pl
R xi , xj = exp − ⃒
θl xi − xj ⃒ (9)
l=1

where R is the correlation function, θ, pl are the correlation parameters.

The Kriging estimator is given by

μ + RT R− 1 (y − 1̂
y (x) = ̂
̂ μ) (10)

where ̂ μ is the mean of ̂y , R is the correlation matrix.

The Kriging error variance is calculated by
[ ]
1 − 1T R− 1 R
σ 2 1 − RT R− 1 R + T − 1
s2 (x) = ̂ (11)
1 R 1

where ̂σ is the variance of ̂y .

The efficiency and mass flow rate are the function of AIGVs angle,
Fig. 9. Performance map with different angle combinations of AIGVs AVDs angle and pressure ratio. With efficiency as the optimization goal,
and AVDs. the adjustment angles of AIGVs and AVDs as the optimization variables,
the Nelder-Mead algorithm was adopted to obtain the optimal

7
W. Guo et al. Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

adjustment angle combinations at different pressure ratios. Meanwhile,

the mass flow rate at the highest efficiency is determined. The Nel­
der–Mead method is a commonly applied numerical method used to find
the minimum or maximum of an objective function in a multidimen­
sional space. It is a heuristic search method that can converge to non-
stationary points on problems that can be solved by alternative
methods [20,21]. Fig. 10 illustrates the optimal angle adjustment stra­
tegies of AIGVs and AVDs at the different pressure ratios. With the in­
crease of pressure ratio, the adjustment angles of AIGVs and AVDs show
a decreasing trend. The curve of the AIGVs adjustment is gradually
steeper, while the change of AVDs angle is steep in the middle pressure
ratio and gentle at low or high pressure ratio. Optimum compressor
performance is achieved when the relative inlet velocity is nearly par­
allel to the blades (impeller or vaned diffuser) at the leading edge. The
adjustment strategies are essentially the angles where the incidence loss
inside the compressor is minimum. It is known from Figs. 5 and 8 that
the AIGVs have a greater impact on the compressor than the AVDs. As
the pressure ratio increases, the flow rate also increases. Therefore, the
optimal angle varies from positive angle to negative angle. Fig. 10. Optimal combined adjustment strategies.
In order to analyze the effects of different adjustment schemes, the
relationship between the highest efficiency and pressure ratio under
each working condition is shown in Fig. 11. The abscissa shows the
difference in pressure ratio range and the ordinate shows the change in
efficiency. It can be seen that the combined adjustment of AIGVs and
AVDs is the best scheme. The stable pressure ratio range of the
compressor has been expanded by 232.5% compared with the condition
where the adjustment is absent and the efficiency is significantly
improved over the entire pressure ratio range. The maximum efficiency
is increased by 1.2%.
During the energy storage process, the discharge pressure of the
compressor is monitored by pressure sensor and the corresponding
adjustment angle signals are transmitted to AIGVs and AVDs based on
the optimal adjustment data mentioned above. Thereby, the centrifugal
compressor in CAES system could achieve continuous and efficient
operation.

4. Conclusions

According to the operating characteristics of the compressor in CAES

system, the off-design performance and adjustment strategies of the
centrifugal compressor equipped with AIGVs and AVDs have been
studied comprehensively through experiments. The conclusions are
summarized as follows:
(1) The experiment results show that the pressure ratio range of the
compressor can be expanded by 207.3% through adjusting
AIGVs. The pressure ratio characteristic gradually moves to the
lower left in the performance map as the AIGVs angle increases
from − 10◦ to 50◦ The compressor maximum efficiency nearly
keeps constant when the adjustment angle is between 0◦ and 30◦
The adjustment strategy angle and pressure ratio show an
approximately linear relationship.
(2) The pressure ratio range of the compressor can be expanded by
72.6% through adjusting AVDs. The efficiency characteristic
moves to the lower left in the performance map through positive
adjustment, while approximately parallelly shifts to the right in
the performance map through negative adjustment. The adjust­
ment strategy can be divided into three stages within the change
scope of pressure ratio.
(3) The combined adjustment of AIGVs and AVDs can improve the
compressor performance over the entire operating range
compared with that only AIGVs or AVDs adjustment are
employed. The stable pressure ratio range of the compressor is
expanded by 232.5%, and the maximum efficiency is increased
by 1.2% compared with the case without adjustment.
Fig. 11. Operation performance comparison between different adjust­
ment schemes.
(4) The compressor efficiency is a nonlinear function of the adjust­
ment angles of AIGVs and AVDs for a given pressure ratio. The
optimal adjustment strategies have been obtained by the Kriging
interpolation model and Nelder-Mead algorithm. These results
can be consulted to enable the compressor to operate efficiently
in CAES system.
Declaration of Competing Interest
We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative in­
terest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work
submitted.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support provided by The National
Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (51925604), Interna­
tional Partnership Program, Bureau of International Cooperation of
Chinese Academy of Sciences (182211KYSB20170029), Guizhou Prov­
ince Large Scale Physical Energy Storage Engineering Research Center
program ([2017]951), Guizhou Province Large Scale Physical Energy
Storage Technology Research and Development Platform ([2019]4011).

8
W. Guo et al. Journal of Energy Storage 38 (2021) 102515

References [11] C. Rodgers, Centrifugal compressor inlet guide vanes for increased surge margin,
J. Turbomach. 113 (1991) 696–702.
[12] F. Justen, K. Ziegler, H. Gallus, Experimental investigation of unsteady flow
[1] H. Chen, T.N. Cong, W. Yang, C. Tan, Y. Li, Y. Ding, Progress in electrical energy
phenomena in a centrifugal compressor vaned diffuser of variable geometry,
storage system: a critical review, Prog. Nat. Sci. 19 (2009) 291–312.
J. Turbomach. 121 (1999) 763–771.
[2] T.M.I. Mahlia, T.J. Saktisahdan, A. Jannifar, M.H. Hasan, H.S.C. Matseelar,
[13] H. Simon, T. Wallmann, T. Monk, Improvements in performance characteristics of
A review of available methods and development on energy storage; technology
single-stage and multistage centrifugal compressors by simultaneous adjustments
update, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 33 (2014) 532–545.
of inlet guide vanes and diffuser vanes, J. Turbomach. 109 (1987) 41–47.
[3] X. Luo, J. Wang, M. Dooner, J. Clarke, Overview of current development in
[14] L. Zhou, G. Xi, Y. Cai, Experimental study on the influence of diffuser and inlet
electrical energy storage technologies and the application potential in power
guide vane for the performance of centrifugal compressor, Exp. Tech. 32 (2008)
system operation, Appl. Energy 137 (2015) 511–536.
26–33.
[4] K.H. Lüdtke, Process Centrifugal Compressors: Basics, Function, Operation, Design,
[15] L. Gallar, M. Arias, V. Pachidis, P. Pilidis, Compressor Variable Geometry Schedule
Application, first ed., Springer, New York, 2004.
Optimisation Using Genetic Algorithms, ASME Turbo Expo, Power for Land, Sea, &
[5] H. Chen, J. Liu, H. Guo, Y. Xu, C. Tan, Technical principle of compressed air energy
Air, Orlando, Florida, 2009. GT2009-60049.
storage system, Energy Storage Sci. Tech. 2 (2013) 146–151.
[16] Q. Huang, X. Zheng, Potential of variable diffuser vanes for extending the
[6] C. Salvini, P. Mariotti, A. Giovannelli, Compression and air storage systems for
operating range of compressors and for improving the torque performance of
small size CAES plants: design and off-design analysis, Energy Procedia 107 (2017)
turbocharged engines, P. I. Mech. Eng. D-J Aut. 231 (2017) 555–566.
369–376.
[17] L.G. Tetu, Improving centrifugal compressor performance by optimizing diffuser
[7] M. Heidari, S. Wasterlain, P. Barrade, P. Gallaire, F. Gallaire, A. Rufer, Energetic
surge control (variable diffuser geometry) and flow control (inlet guide vane)
Macroscopic Representation of a linear reciprocating compressor model, Int. J.
device settings, Int. Compress. Eng. Conf., Purdue C136 (2004) 1–9.
Refrig. 52 (2015) 83–92.
[18] H. Zeng, S. Huang, Research on spatial data interpolation based on Kriging
[8] H. Guo, Y. Xu, Y. Zhang, Q. Liang, H. Tang, X. Zhang, Z. Zuo, H. Chen, Off-design
interpolation, Eng. Surv. Mapp. 16 (2007) 5–13.
performance and an optimal operation strategy for the multistage compression
[19] H. Wackernagel, Multivariate geostatistics: an Introduction With Applications, 2nd
process in adiabatic compressed air energy storage systems, Appl. Therm. Eng. 149
ed., Springer, Berlin, 2013.
(2019) 262–274.
[20] K.I.M. McKinnon, Convergence of the Nelder-Mead simplex method to a
[9] X. Zhang, H. Chen, Y. Xu, W. Li, F. He, H. Guo, Y. Huang, Distributed generation
nonstationary point, SIAM J. Optim. 9 (1998) 148–158, 1998.
with energy storage systems: a case study, Appl. Energy 204 (2017) 1251–1263.
[21] T.G. Kolda, R.M. Lewis, V. Torczon, Optimization by direct search: new
[10] D. Japikse, Centrifugal Compressor Design and Performance, Concepts ETI, Wilder,
perspectives on some classical and modern methods, SIAM Rev 45 (2003) 385–482.
1996.