Proceedings of IMECE:
International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition
DESIGN, ANALYSIS AND FABRICATION OF A MESO-SCALE CENTRIFUGAL
COMPRESSOR
A. Laveau, J. S. Kapat, L. C. Chow, E. Enikov
Department of Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace Engineering
University of Central Florida
ABSTRACT
A gas or vapor compressor is one of the key components of
many engineering systems, such as certain designs of vapor
compression refrigeration systems, cryo-coolers, air handlers.
For meso-scale systems with linear dimensions of a few
centimeters, conventional designs do not work efficiently
because of rather large relative tolerances, and hence these
meso-scale systems require micro-fabricated components for
efficient operation. This paper presents a meso-scale
centrifugal compressor fabricated by photo-lithographic
techniques.
A preliminary design based on 1-D flow analysis using air as
the working fluid shows that a 50 mm diameter centrifugal
compressor with a blade height of 200 µm gives a static
pressure ratio of 1.12. In this design, the impeller has 10 full
blades and 10 splitter blades. Each blade has the NACA profile
9510 with the maximum camber at 50% of the chord. These
impeller blades have exit angles 35o with exit flow angles of
60o. A vaned diffuser having 20 equally spaced vanes with the
same NACA profile is used to improve compressor efficiency.
A 3-D compressible, viscous flow analysis has been done using
a commercial finite volume software. The results of this
analysis allowed the verification of the flow characteristics
inside the meso-scale centrifugal compressor.
The compressor has been fabricated using micro-fabrication
techniques. The rotor and the stator are made by etching a
silicon wafer by using DRIE (Deep Reactive Ion Etching)
technique. A Pyrex wafer is then bonded to the stator for visual
access inside the compressor.
November 5-10, 2000 Orlando, Florida
K. B. Sundaram
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Central Florida
INTRODUCTION
Advances in micro-fabrication capabilities over the last
decades have facilitated a new era in miniaturization of
engineering systems. Photolithography, thin-film deposition
and anisotropic etching, the same techniques that have allowed
the electronics industry to pack more and more memory and
computing power into smaller and smaller chips, can be used
to make compressors, pumps, valves, sensors, heat exchangers
and chemical reactors at millimeter or smaller scales [1-2].
Miniaturization of thermal and chemical systems offers several
advantages over their large-scale counterparts. (1) Transport
processes, both thermal and chemical, rely on surface area of
heat exchangers or reactors. Hence, the higher surface-to-
volume ratios of a miniature system help to make more
compact systems with higher volumetric transport coefficients.
(2) For meso-scale systems, micro-fabrication provides better
tolerances, leading to better performance. (3) Smaller size
typically leads to better safety. (4) Use of micro-fabrication
technology is expected to provide better cost efficiency. (5)
Miniaturization makes newer engineering systems possible. (6)
Smaller modular size leads to more options in usage.
It is primarily the first two advantages that motivated the
development of a meso-scale refrigerator. The two intended
applications of this system are (1) an integrated heat removal
system for electronics or photonic entities, and (2) an actively
cooled jacket for personnel.
The preliminary design requirements for the overall system
have been set at [3-4] (1) evaporator temperature of 12 °C, (2)
condenser exit temperature of 60 °C, (3) heat removal rate of
350 W with refrigerant R134a, (4) saturated vapor at
1 Copyright © 2000 by ASME
compressor inlet and saturated liquid at condenser exit. Cp air specific heat (J/kg.K)
Conceptual design of the complete refrigerator has led to a D diameter (m)
cylindrical shape made of multiple layers. Furthermore, it has
h enthalpy (J)
been decided that the compressor would be fabricated by
readily available micro- fabrication techniques. As a result, l mean free path (m)
three-dimensional features such as curved inducer blades have M Mach number
not been considered in this preliminary design. Because of mf mass flow rate (kg/s)
design consideration for the air-side heat rejection heat
N rotational speed (rpm)
exchanger as well as available photo-lithographic equipment,
the outside diameter of the cylindrical shaped refrigerator was p pressure (Pa)
set at 63.5 mm (2.5 inches). Pf frictional power loss (W)
The viability of the meso-scale refrigerator has already been Pw output power (W)
studied [4]. It is now necessary to consider each component of R gas constant (J/kg.K)
the refrigerator, particularly the compressor, in more detail. It
has been shown that the refrigerant cycle using R134a as the rs static pressure ratio
working fluid needs a high increase in static pressure at a very T temperature (°C)
low mass flow rate. U peripheral velocity (m/s)
There are several different compressor designs that are w relative velocity in rotational frame (m/s)
commonly used in conventional macro-scale systems, such as
∆W specific work (J)
(1) centrifugal, (2) reciprocating, (3) screw-type and (4)
sliding vane compressors. It has been presented earlier [4] that Z number of impeller blades
because of structural restrictions imposed by available micro- α flow angle (°)
fabrication techniques, screw-type and sliding vane designs are β blade angle (°)
not considered at this time. Preliminary design calculations
indicate that a meso-scale, micro-fabricated reciprocating γ specific heat ratio
design may not be desirable for the current application for one η stagnation to stagnation overall efficiency
or more of the following several reasons depending on actual µ air dynamic viscosity (Pa.s)
design configuration [5]. (1) Flow leakage past the piston and
ρ air density (kg/m3)
sliding friction between piston and chamber can be significant.
(2) Several micro-units are needed to provide the needed flow σ slip factor
rate. (3) More complicated micro-fabrication is needed, thus τ torque (N.m)
possibly leading to lower reliability. Thus, centrifugal design
ω rotational speed (rad/s)
appears to be the first choice for a meso-scale compressor and
is the focus of this paper, which presents the preliminary ψ loading coefficient
design of a meso-scale centrifugal compressor that may be Subscripts
used in a meso-scale vapor compression refrigerator.
0 stagnation
Preliminary design for R134a compression will be presented
1 eye of the compressor
first. The objective of this process is to design a centrifugal
compressor that can be used as a part of the meso-scale 2 impeller exit of the compressor
refrigerator system. However, complete design, testing and 3 diffuser exit of the compressor
performance prediction for R134a is quite involved since ac actual
R134a cannot be treated as an ideal gas and test set-up is more
iss isentropic (Figure 2)
complicated. Hence, in order to quickly determine the
feasibility of a micro-fabricated, meso-scale compressor, the r radial direction
rest of the paper will concentrate on air compression, where th theoretical value
the design for R134a compression will be used with minimal x axial direction
modification.
θ tangential direction
NOMENCLATURE
a speed of sound (m/s)
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS FOR R134a
b blade height (m) The preliminary design of the meso-scale centrifugal
c absolute velocity (m/s) compressor is done using a 1-dimensional flow and

2 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

thermodynamic analysis, which allows computation of risk of shock in the impeller, even though they reduce the
different compressor characteristics such as the static pressure compressor pressure ratio. Finally, the theoretical flow angle at
ratio [6-8]. impeller exit, α2, is set at 60o as several researchers [11] have
First, it is necessary to verify if conventional large scale shown that the optimum flow angle for backswept vanes is in
centrifugal compressor design techniques can be applied to a the range 60°< α2 < 70°. In general, the overall efficiency is
meso-scale design. This is done by analyzing the value of the obtained through detailed flow calculation or experiments.
mean free path between molecules of the fluid [9]. However, for the thermodynamic calculation, a value is
needed, and hence an ad-hoc value of 0.78 was chosen for the
The mean free path is defined as stagnation to stagnation overall efficiency for the whole
µ compressor. All the assumptions made are summarized in the
l≈ (1)
0.67 ⋅ρ ⋅a following table.
The refrigerant properties at the inlet of the compressor are
fixed by the cycle and are defined by a static pressure, p1 = D1 D2 D3 Z η α2
(mm) (mm) (mm)
4.41 bar and a static temperature, T1 = 12 °C. All (°)

thermodynamic and transport properties of R134a are 3 20 50 20 0.78 60

determined using a software called REFPROP [10], as R134a
cannot be considered as an ideal gas. These conditions give a
viscosity µ = 11.23⋅10-6 Pa.s, a density ρ = 21.48 kg/m3 and a
speed of sound a = 146.2 m/s. The mean free path at the inlet
of the compressor is then l = 5.33 nm, which is the highest
mean free path value that is encountered in the compressor.
The smallest blade height that was considered is 10 µm, which
is about 1900 times bigger than the mean free path between
R134a molecules.
Therefore, conventional large scale centrifugal compressor
design techniques can be applied to the meso-scale centrifugal
compressor design presented here.
The mass flow rate is determined from the refrigerant cycle
and is mf = 0.00333kg/s.
The choice of diameter D3 (Fig. 1) has been guided by the
overall diameter of the meso-scale refrigerator. Diameter D2
has been chosen so that the ratio D2/D3 is similar to that for a
conventional vaned centrifugal compressor. Diameter D1 is
chosen so that the diameter is neither too big to reduce
impeller performance nor too small to cause a large inlet
velocity and hence large dynamic head.
It is assumed that there is no swirl at the inlet of the
compressor, indicating that the flow is axial with an absolute
velocity of cx1 as it enters the eye of the compressor. As the
flow turns and enters the impeller, the flow will have a
significant radial component, but no tangential component in
inertial reference frame. However, the flow will have a
tangential component in the rotational frame, and hence the
blade inlet angle is set equal to the relative flow angle at that
point.
The number of blades Z has been determined so that high
blockage and high blade loading risks are avoided. The same
number of blades with the same profile is used for both the
impeller and the diffuser. Backswept blades, which have a
positive blade angle compared to the radial direction (β2 > 0°),
are chosen here because they give a reduction of the impeller
exit Mach number, M2, at any given tip speed and limit the
Table 1. Input data with R134a as the working fluid
The analysis that is outlined below also required values for
blade height, b, and rotational speed, N as inputs. Several
values between 10 µm and 200 µm were tried for b. The value
of N is limited by the specifications of the meso-scale motor,
which is being designed concurrently. In this analysis, only
100,000 rpm and slower values were used for N.
Impeller full blade Impeller splitter blade
Diffuser blade
Diffuser exit
Impeller exit (Diameter D3)
(Diameter D2)
Inlet of the compressor Direction of rotation
(Diameter D1) of the impeller
Figure 1. Top view of the meso-scale centrifugal compressor
An iterative calculation was performed to determine the
important characteristics of a compressor, such as the blade
angle at the exit of the impeller (β2), the loading coefficient
(ψ ), the static pressure ratio (rs), the output power and the
frictional power loss (Pw and Pf). Computations were first
performed for R134a and then for air as the working fluid.
An ad-hoc assumption was initially made for the impeller exit
density to start the calculation process.
ρ + ρ3
ρ2 = 1 (2)
2
ρ1 is determined from inlet conditions. Since the value of ρ3 is
not known in the beginning, it is taken to be equal to ρ1 for the
first iteration. In subsequent iterations, the value of ρ3 is
updated as described after Eq. (21).

3 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

The radial absolute velocity at the impeller exit is given by Enthalpy, h1, is then determined with REFPROP using the
mf inlet pressure and temperature as input data, and the total
cr2 = (3) enthalpy at the impeller exit is computed.
π ⋅ρ2 ⋅D2 ⋅b
h02 = ∆W + h01 (13)
The theoretical tangential absolute velocity at the impeller exit
is then given by with h01 = h1 + 0.5 ⋅cx 1 2
(14)
cθ2,th = cr 2 ⋅tan( α 2 ) (4)
4 ⋅m f
and the blade angle β2 is then calculated from the velocity and cx1 = (15)
π ⋅ρ1 ⋅D1
2
triangle.
U 2 − cθ2 ,th  The stagnation enthalpy h0 is conserved in the diffuser, as
β2 = atan 
 c

 (5) there is no work applied to the fluid. The stagnation enthalpy
 r2  at the exit of the impeller h02 is therefore equal to the
D2 N stagnation enthalpy at the exit of the diffuser h03. The ad-hoc
with U2 = ⋅? and ω = 2p ⋅ (6) assumption about the total-to-total compressor efficiency helps
2 60
then to compute the isentropic stagnation enthalpy at the exit
In reality, slip takes place in the impeller and changes the of the diffuser h03 ,iss .
value of the tangential absolute velocity at the impeller exit
from the its theoretical value. Different semi-theoretical h03iss = η ⋅(h03 − h01 )+ h01 (16)
relations are available in literature for slip factor that is
defined as the ratio of the actual to theoretical values of the with h01 defined as in equation (14).
tangential absolute velocity, that is, From definitions of stagnation state and isentropic process,
cθ2 = cθ2 ,th ⋅s (7) entropy in state 03 iss (Fig. 2) is then calculated as
In this analysis, the correlation of Wiesner [12] has been used s03iss = s01 = s1 (17)
where where s1 is computed with REFPROP.
cos( β2 ) Since the entropy and the enthalpy are known for state 03, the
σ= 1 - (8)
Z
0 .7
pressure p03, density ρ03 and entropy s 03 are calculated using
REFPROP.
Here the slip factor is first calculated from Eq. (8), and then is
the tangential absolute velocity from Eq. (7). P02
h P03
Finally, assuming that the axial absolute velocity at the exit of P3
the impeller cx2 is negligible compared to the other velocity 02 03
components, the absolute velocity at the exit of the impeller is 1/2⋅c32
calculated as 02iss
03is
3
P2
cr 2 + cθ2
2 2
c2 = (9) 1/2⋅c22
02rel P1
The actual flow angle is then calculated as 1/2⋅w22
 cθ2  01rel 2
α 2 ,ac = a tan
c

 (10) 1/2⋅U22
 r2  2
1/2⋅U12
1/2⋅w1
It is now possible to calculate the specific work ∆W and the 01
1/2⋅c12
I = constant
loading coefficient ψ of the compressor. This coefficient is an 1
important characteristic because it allows comparing the
s
absolute flow tangential velocity at the exit of the impeller cθ2
to the blade peripheral velocity U2. Figure 2. Mollier diagram of centrifugal compressor stage
∆W = cθ2 ⋅U 2 (11) In this design, the same profile is used for the impeller blades
∆W cθ2 and the diffuser vanes, and hence the turning angle of the
ψ = 2
= (12)
U2 U2 vanes is same as that for the blades. The vane inlet angle is
taken to be same as the actual flow angle at the impeller exit,
α 2 ,ac , calculated from Eq. (10), and hence the vane exit angle,

4 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

β3 , is calculated as the sum of α 2 ,ac and the vane turning Table 2. Output data with R134a as the working fluid
angle. Finally, since there is no slip at the diffuser exit, the
flow angle is same as the vane exit angle.
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS FOR AIR COMPRESSION
The radial velocity at the diffuser exit is calculated from mass
The preliminary design presented in the last section is for
balance,
R134a. However, the rest of the paper concentrates on a design
mf for compression of air, which can be treated as an ideal gas, for
cr3 = (18) quickly performing a full design with CFD analysis,
π ⋅ρ3 ⋅D3 ⋅b
fabrication and testing.
where ρ3 is not known a priori and hence is assumed to be As for the analysis using R134a, it is necessary to verify if
equal to ρ03 in the first iteration. The total velocity at the conventional large scale centrifugal compressor design
diffuser exit is then calculated as techniques can be applied to meso-scale design using air as the
working fluid. For this design, a static temperature T= 27 °C
cr 3
c3 = (19) and a static pressure of 1 atm are used as the inlet properties.
cos(β3 ) These conditions give a viscosity µ = 18⋅10-6 Pa.s, a density ρ
The state 3 is then defined by = 1.8 kg/m3 and a speed of sound a = 347 m/s. The mean free
path at the inlet of the compressor is then l = 66 nm, which is
s3 = s03 , and (20) the highest mean free path value that is encountered in the
compressor. The smallest blade height that was considered is
h3 = h03 − 0.5 ⋅c32 = h02 − 0.5 ⋅c32 (21) 100 µm, which is about 1500 times bigger than the mean free
The density, ρ3 , is then calculated by REFPROP, and Eq. (2) to path between air molecules.
Therefore, conventional large scale centrifugal compressor
Eq. (21) are repeated until a converged value is obtained for
design techniques can also be applied to this meso-scale design
ρ3 . Once convergence is reached, the pressure p3 is obtained using air as the working fluid.
from REFPROP, and the static pressure ratio is calculated, Most of the parameters used for the design for R134a are used
p in this new design as well, except two parameters, the blade
rs = 3 (22)
p1 height b and the mass flow rate mf.
Since the tip-to-shroud gap cannot be reduced to less than 1 to
The output power needed to spin the compressor is then
2 microns with current fabrication and integration facilities
computed.
available, the blade height b is increased to 200 microns in this
Pw = m f ⋅(h02 − h01 ) (23) attempt so that a more optimal blade-height-to-tip-gap ratio is
obtained. The mass flow rate mf is increased also so as to keep
Finally, a rough estimate about the frictional power is found by the velocity triangle the same between the two designs. The
assuming a Couette flow inside of the impeller. The frictional new mass flow rate is set to 0.00664 kg/s.
torque is then defined as For this 1-dimensional flow and thermodynamic analysis with
2 2 air as a working fluid, ideal gas law with constant specific heat
 D2   D1 
  −   is used.
τ = 2 ⋅π ⋅µ ⋅ω ⋅   
2 2
(24) The pressure at the exit of the compressor is then calculated
4 ⋅b
using the following thermodynamic relationships.
and the frictional power loss is then given by γ
T03 γ− 1
Pf = τ ⋅ω (25) p03 = p01 ⋅
T   (26)
 01 
Optimal values, that is large pressure ratio, loading coefficient with p01 = p1 + 0.5 ⋅ρ1 ⋅cx 12 (27)
between 0.5 and 0.8, and blade exit angle between 20o and 45o,
were obtained for b = 50 microns and N = 100,000 rpm. The h01 h
output data obtained for that case are given in the following and T01 = , T03 = 03 (28)
Cp Cp
table.
The computation of the total and static air densities at the exit
of the compressor is now possible and is given by
β2(°) Ψ rs Pw(W) Pf(W)
p03
ρ03 = (29)
35.07 0.633 1.31 23 0.5 R ⋅T03

5 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

 cr 3
M3 = (30)
γ⋅R ⋅T03
γ− 1
 2
 were performed to confirm and completely determine the
 ( γ− 1 ) ⋅M 
ρ3 = ρ03 ⋅1 + 3
 (31)
 2  dimensional analysis that, due to the mean free path value,
 
The whole computation is iterated until a converged value of
the static air density is reached. The following table gives the
final output data.
β2(°) Ψ rs Pw(W) Pf(W)
35.003 0.633 1.12 4.6 0.16
Table 3. Output data with air as the working fluid
Thus, this 1-D flow and thermodynamic analysis helped to
define a 50 mm diameter centrifugal compressor with a blade
height of 200 µm using air as the working fluid and with a
static pressure ratio of 1.12.
IMPELLER AND DIFFUSER BLADE DESIGN
The 1-dimensional approach was necessary to define a
preliminary design of the compressor but is not enough to get a
full design as it does not use any information about the
impeller and diffuser blade profiles.
Micro-fabrication constraints have to be taken into account for
blade design. The meso-scale compressor is to be built using
silicon wafers and available etching techniques. Hence, only a
2-Dimensional blade profile can be used to define impeller and
diffuser blades. The preliminary design has suggested the use
of back-swept blades with blade exit angle of 35°.
These constraints led to the choice of a NACA four digits
profile [12], the NACA 9510 with the maximum camber at
50% of the chord and a maximum thickness of 10% of the
chord. As the impeller exit diameter D2 is 20 mm and inlet
diameter D1 is 3 mm, the radial chord length is 8.5 mm.
A preliminary CFD analysis showed excessive flow blockage at
the blade throat area near the impeller inlet with 20 full blades.
In order to reduce the inlet blockage, only half of the 20 blades
were chosen as full blades. The impeller has then 10 full
blades and 10 splitter blades. Each splitter blade starts at half
of the impeller exit diameter.
For a first approach, the same blade profile has been chosen
for the diffuser, which is composed of 20 full blades with chord
length of 15 mm. The final preliminary design with the
impeller and diffuser blade distribution can be seen on Figure
1.
3-DIMENSIONAL FLOW ANALYSIS
Three dimensional, compressible, viscous, laminar, steady
state simulations of the meso-scale centrifugal compressor
characteristics of the compressor. It was shown in the 1-
continuum mechanics can be applied to this meso-scale design.
A commercial structured flow solver CFD-ACE [14] has been
used for the analysis. Although the flow can be transitional or
turbulent, in this first attempt to predict the flow field
qualitatively, laminar flow is assumed.
The problem domain was simplified by the use of cyclic
boundary conditions. It is then possible to study the flow path
between two full blades of the impeller. As it is not possible to
compute the air flow both in the impeller and the diffuser at
the same time with the existing implementation of the
software, the impeller flow is first studied with a vaneless
diffuser so that the impeller exit conditions can be determined.
The boundary conditions at the inlet of the impeller simulation
are those used for the 1-Dimensional flow and heat transfer
analysis and are:
- cx1 = 79.8 m/s (with a uniform inlet velocity profile)
- p1 = 1 atm
- T1 = 27 °C.
These inlet conditions give an inlet Reynolds number Re =
18126, based on D1.
The outlet boundary condition at the exit of the vaneless
diffuser is a static pressure condition and is set equal to the
static pressure p3 that was computed with the 1-Dimensional
approach. It should be noted that without any loss in the
diffuser there is no change in the total pressure between
impeller and diffuser exits. Hence, the above outlet condition
implies no loss in the diffuser, and is used to start the process
of iteration between impeller and diffuser simulations.
The geometry has been imported into CFD-ACE from
computer design software used to generate the fabrication
masks (described in the next section). The 3-D mesh is
composed of 120 cells in the I direction, 10 cells in the J
direction and 30 cells in the K direction, which gives a total of
36000 cells. A top view of the impeller grid with the different
mesh directions can be seen in Fig. 3.
6 Copyright © 2000 by ASME
 Inlet of the compressor

Cyclic boundary condition Velocity (m/s)

Direction of rotation

I direction

K direction
Figure 4. Top view of velocity profile in the impeller
(in rotational frame)
The gage static pressure diagram with p = 1 atm as a reference
Impeller exit
pressure confirms the inlet section problem by the presence of
Figure 3. Top view of the impeller grid a high pressure before the impeller inlet. The pressure
decreases immediately after that section and then increases
A SIMPLEC algorithm (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure- again until the exit of the impeller.
Linked Equation Consistent) was used to solve the three-
dimensional Navier-Stokes equations, continuity equation and
energy equation for the three velocity components and the
pressure and the temperature fields. A convergence criterion of Static Pressure (Pa)
at least 3 orders of magnitude reduction in the sum of each
residual of dependent variable was considered acceptable.
Results are given in Fig. 4 and 5 in the form of a top view of
the relative velocity profile w and static pressure distribution p
along the impeller at a height of 100 µm, which defines the
midspan of impeller blades.
High velocities that occur just after the inlet of the compressor
are due to flow blockage at the inlet. It also appears that the air
is flowing better on the concave part of the splitter blade than
on the convex part. Another noticeable feature is a weak flow
zone, and possibly a recirculation zone, close the interior of the
full blade. The mean value of the relative flow velocity at the
exit of the impeller is w2 = 63.8 m/s which is higher value than Figure 5. Top view of static pressure distribution in the
what was computed with the 1-dimensional analysis (w2 = 57.2 impeller
m/s). This increase modifies the velocity triangle at the exit of The computations for the actual vaned diffuser are performed
the impeller and changes the absolute velocity value to c2 = 63 with inlet velocity set equal to c2, as calculated from the
m/s from the 1-dimensional value of c2 = 79 m/s. The impeller flow field. The inlet temperature is also deduced from
computation of c2 and w2 confirms a flow angle at the exit of the impeller calculation.
the impeller of α2 = 60°.
Results are presented in Fig. 6 and 7 in the form of the
absolute velocity profile and the pressure distribution at a
height of 100 µm.

7 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

 (A) Recess etching
A recess of 2.2 µm is etched into the silicon using DRIE and a
Velocity (m/s) positive photoresist as a mask layer. This step will help in
creating the gap between the tip of impeller blades and the
shroud (stationary part of the compressor).

Figure 6. Top view of absolute velocity profile in the diffuser

Figure 6 indicates that there is significant kinetic energy left in
the flow even as it exits the diffuser. Hence, diffuser, as
designed in this preliminary effort, is not efficient, and
requires redesigning. The static pressure distribution also
confirms this conclusion, further suggesting that the vane
profiles need to be rotated with respect to the flow in the
subsequent design improvements (which are not reported in
this paper) in order to accommodate the flow exiting the Figure 8. Fabrication sequence
impeller. (B) Blades etching
The stationary and rotor blades are formed during a second
DRIE etch step by using a photoresist, as a 12 µm thick mask
Static Pressure (Pa)
layer. Because of the mask design, a 15 µm gap was created
between the impeller and the diffuser.
The observation of rotor with a microscope shows a variation
in the blade height along the impeller. A height of 160 µm is
observed close to the inlet while a height of 180 µm was
measured at the periphery of the diffuser.
Figure 9 shows the impeller and diffuser blades after step B.
(C) Backside etching
Prior to the backside etch, a 5800 Å of PECVD silicon oxide
was deposited on the front side to serve as an etch stop layer.
The silicon oxide was grown at 300 °C. The backside etch
helps in completely separating the impeller from the static part
of the compressor and allows to build exhaust holes for the
experimental set-up. Step (C) is achieved using DRIE with
photoresist as masking material. A picture of the impeller,
Figure 7. Top view of static pressure distribution in the impeller once removed, can be seen in Fig. 10. The diffuser with the
exhaust holes is shown in Fig. 11.
FABRICATION
The compressor has been fabricated using DRIE [15-16]
technique on a 8 cm diameter (4 inches) silicon wafer and
anodic bonding of a Pyrex wafer at the University of
Minnesota.
The fabrication of the compressor consisted of three etching
steps, a bonding step and a final glass drilling step. Each of
these steps is illustrated in Fig. 8 and described below.

8 Copyright © 2000 by ASME


0 5 mm
Figure 9. Compressor blades between steps B and C
CONCLUSION
Preliminary design of a meso-scale centrifugal compressor has
been performed and shows that a 50 mm diameter centrifugal
compressor with a blade height of 200 µm and using air as the
working fluid gives a static pressure ratio of 1.12.
Three-dimensional flow analysis qualitatively confirms the
expected flow behavior but also underlines that some
improvements have to be made on the inlet section, the
impeller blade profiles, and the diffuser inlet angle. This
10 mm
analysis also has to be improved so that all absolute and
relative velocity profiles can be completely determined for
R134a as the working fluid as well.
The fabrication process shows the feasibility of producing the
meso-scale compressor using DRIE and anodic bonding
techniques on a 8 cm diameter (4 inches) silicon wafer.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors like to acknowledge the support provided by
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control and Dr. Les
Kramer who has been the program manager for this work.
The authors are also thankful to CFD-ACE, especially Mr.
Perry Daley, and to Mr. Steven Dick, the computer support
engineer of the department for their precious help.

Figure 10. Picture of the impeller
(D) Anodic bonding
A separate Pyrex wafer is bonded on top of the silicon
compressor using anodic bonding at 450 °C and 1000 V bias
voltage. This wafer will serve as the shroud of the compressor.
Figure 11. Picture of the diffuser and the exhaust holes
(E) Glass drilling
An inlet hole of 3 mm diameter is drilled into the glass wafer
using an ultrasonic drill.
REFERENCES
[1] Wegeng, R. S., and Drost, M. K., 1994, "Developing New
Miniature Energy Systems", ASME, 119, pp. 82-84.
[2] Ameel T. A., Warrington, R. S., Wegeng, R. S., and Drost,
M. K., 1996, "Miniaturization Technologies Applied to Energy
Systems", J. Energy Conversion and Management, 38, pp.
969-982.
[3] Ashraf, N. S., Carter, H. C., Casey, K. C., Chow, L. C.,
Corban, S., Drost, M. K., Gumm, A. J., Hao, Z., Hasan, A. Q.,
Kapat, J. S., Kramer, L., Newton, M., Sundaram, K. B.,
Vaidya, J., Wong, C. C., Yerkes, K., 1999, “Design and
Analysis of a Meso-Scale Refrigerator", J. Heat Transfer, 364,
pp. 109 – 116.
[4] Carter, H. C., Chow, L. C., Kapat, J. S., Laveau, A.,
Sundaram, K. B., Vaidya, J., 1999, “Component Fabrication
and Testing for a Meso-Scale Refrigerator”, AIAA 1999 Space
Technology Conference and Exposition, AIAA 99-4514.
[5] Hao, Z., Kapat, J. S., Chow, L. C., and Sundaram, K. B.,
2000, “Design and Analysis of a Miniature Reciprocating
Compressor Driven by a Comb Actuator,” submitted for
presentation at the 2000 International Mechanical Engineering
Congress & Exposition to be held in November 5-10, 2000,
Orlando, Florida.
[6] Dixon S. L., 1998, "Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
of Turbomachinery", Fourth edition, Butterworth Heinemann.

9 Copyright © 2000 by ASME

[7] Wilson D. G. and Korakianitis, T., 1998, "The Design of
High-efficiency Turbomachinery and Gas Turbines," Second
edition, Prentice Hall.
[8] Japikse D., 1996, "Centrifugal Compressor Design and
Performance," Concepts ETI, Inc.
[9] White, F. M., 1991, "Viscous Fluid Flow", Mac Graw Hill,
Inc.
[10] REFPROP, 1998, NIST (National Institute of Standards
and Technology), Gaithersburg, Maryland.
[11] Rodgers, C. and Shapiro, L., 1972, "Design
Considerations for High Pressure Ratio Centrifugal
Compressors", ASME, 72-GT-91.
[12] Wiesner, F. J., 1967, "A Review of Slip Factors for
Centrifugal Compressors", ASME, J. Eng. Power.
[13] Abbott, I. H., Von Doenhoff, A. E., 1949, "Theory of
Wing Sections", Dover Publication, Inc.
[14] CFD-ACE, 1998, Manuals for CFD-ACE software, CFD
Research Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama.
[15] Madou M., 1997, "Fundamentals of Micro-fabrication",
CRC Press.
[16] Kovacs G., 1998, "Micro-Machined Transducers Source
Book," Mac Graw Hill, Inc.

10 Copyright © 2000 by ASME