DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE TO MEASURE THE BLADE TIP CLEARANCE OF AN AXIAL COMPRESSOR

Axial compressors, used in gas turbines, jet engines and also small scale power plants, are rotating, airfoil based compressors in which the working fluid flows parallel to the axis of rotation. There has been continuous struggle to maximize the efficiency of these compressors. One of the many ways to achieve the same is to minimize the tip clearance i.e. to reduce the distance between the blade tip and the housing. Experiments need to be conducted to measure the changes in the tip clearance while the  compressor is operating. Conventional devices to measure this tip clearance have proven to be costly if a small scale application is under consideration. Our aim in this project is to develop a device which will measure the blade tip clearance of an axial flow compressor economically. The literature review, development of the device, its working and results will be discussed in this paper.