Experimental study on performance of contra-rotating axial flow fan

Contra-rotating axial flow fan is a kind of the vital equipment in coal mines. Their work conditions directly affect the safety of staff and production. In the paper, the performance of the contra-rotating axial flow fan is experi- mentally investigated. The study is focused on the fan performance, the shaft power and the match between the motor and fan efficiency at different blade angles. The results show that the blade angle 43°/26° has the best aerodynamic perfor- mance. The first engine has a greater impact on the fan than the second one. The blade angle with the best aerodynamic performance does not necessarily correspond to the one with the best match between the motor and fan efficiency. The blade angle 43°/24° is the best choice for the operation of the fan in the present study.

Unsteady Flow Condition between Front and Rear Rotor of Contra-Rotating Small Sized Axial Fan

Contra-rotating small-sized axial fans are used as cooling fans for electric equipment. In the case of the contra-rotating rotors, the blade row distance between front and rear rotors is a key parameter for the performance and stable operation. The wake and potential interference occur between the front and rear rotors and leakage flow from the front rotor tip influences on the flow condition of the rear rotor near the shroud when the blade row distance is small. Therefore, it is important to clarify the flow condition between front and rear rotors. The fan static pressure curves were obtained by the experimental apparatus and the numerical analysis was also conducted to investigate the internal flow between front and rear rotors. The leakage flow from the front rotor tip reaches the leading edge of the rear rotor when the blade row distance is small as L = 10 mm and the pressure fluctuations at the leading edge of the rear rotor tip becomes larger than those at other radial positions. In the present paper, the vorticity contour between front and rear rotors is shown and pressure fluctuations related to the leakage flow from the front rotor is investigated using the numerical analysis result. Then, suitable blade row distance for the contra-rotating small sized axial fan is discussed based on the internal flow condition.

Internal Flow Condition between Front and Rear Rotor of Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Axial Fan at Low Flow Rate

Contra-rotating small-sized fans are used as cooling fans for electric equipment. The internal flow condition between the front and rear rotors of the contra-rotating small-sized fan is not known well especially at the low flow rate. Furthermore, the blade row distance between the front and rear rotors is an important parameter for the contra-rotating small-sized fan and its influence on the internal flow condition is not clarified at the low flow rate. Therefore, the internal flow condition of the contra-rotating small-sized fan at the low flow rate is investigated by the numerical analysis in this research. The numerical analysis results are validated by comparing the fan static pressure curves of the numerical results to the experimental results. The internal flow condition at the low flow rate is clarified using the numerical models of the different blade row distance L = 10 mm and 30 mm. In the present paper, pressure fluctuations phase locked each front and rear rotor’s rotation are shown and the influences of the wake and the potential interference are discussed by the unsteady numerical analysis results at the low flow rate.

Effect of Pre-Swirling Flow on Performance and Flow Fields in Semi-Opened Axial Fan

In this study, we tried to improve the performance by giving a pre-swirling flow to the radial inflow that occurred in the semi-opened axial fan. In addition, the flow fields of rotor outlet were clarified experimentally, and the effect of pre-swirling flow was considered. The experiment was carried out using a performance test wind tunnel with a square cross section of 880 mm. Three types of casings were prepared, in which the blade tip protruded 0%, 20%, and 40% of the meridional chord length. They were called R25, R15, and R05, respectively, in the casing bellmouth model code. Guide blades for generating a pre-swirling flow were installed on the vertical wall surface of the casing. In addition, a vertical wall was installed 60% upstream of the meridional chord length as an obstacle to prevent axial inflow. The velocity fields of the rotor outlet were measured using a hot-wire anemometer. From the results, the pre-swirling flow did not significantly affect the fan performance. When there was no obstacles wall upstream, there was a partial increase in efficiency, but the difference was not so large. When there was an obstacle wall upstream, the efficiency increased overall in the case of R15, but in the case of R05, the efficiency increased only in the low flow rate region, and conversely decreased in the high flow rate region. By observing the blade outlet flow fields when the performance was improved, it was confirmed that the influence of the tip leakage vortex was weakened.

Study on Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Axial Flow Hydro Turbine

It is thought that small hydropower generation is alternative energy, and the energy potential of small hydropower is large. The efficiency of small hydro turbines is lower than that of large one, and these small hydro turbine’s common problems are out of operation by foreign materials. Then, there are demands for small hydro turbines to keep high per- formance and wide flow passage. Therefore, we adopted contra-rotating rotors which can be expected to achieve high performance and low-solidity rotors with wide flow passage in order to accomplish high performance and stable opera- tion. Final goal on this study is development of an electric appliance type small hydro turbine which has high portability and makes an effective use of the unused small hydro power energy source. In the present paper, the performance and the internal flow conditions in detail of contra-rotating small-sized axial flow hydro turbine are shown as a first step of the research with the numerical flow analysis. Then, a capability adopting contra-rotating rotors to an electric appliance type small hydro turbine was discussed. Furthermore, the high performance design for it was considered by the numeri- cal analysis results.

Performance and Internal Flow of Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Cooling Fan

High pressure and large flow rate small-sized cooling fans are used for servers in data centers and there is a strong demand to increase its performance because of increase of quantity of heat from servers. Contra-rotating rotors have been adopted for some of high pressure and large flow rate cooling fans to meet the demand. The performance curve of the contra-rotating small-sized cooling fan with 40 mm square casing was investigated by an experimental apparatus and its internal flow condition was clarified by the numerical analysis. The fan static pressure of the front rotor was extremely low and it increased significantly at the rear rotor. The uniform flow was achieved at the inlet of the rear rotor because of the special shape of the casing between the front and rear rotors. On the other hand, the tip leakage flow was large enough to influence on the main flow of the test cooling fan by the design specification of high pressure with compact rotor diameter.

MEASUREMENT AND VISUALIZATION OF FLOW FIELD IN AXIAL FLOW FAN

An experimental investigation associated with the basic fluid mechanics in an axial flow fan is described in this paper. The flow field in the tip region has been studied by laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) and flow visualization technique. Some experimental data and images are interpreted to understand the complex interactions between the annulus wall boundary layer and the leakage flow. It shows that the vortex inside the blade passage is produced by the separation of annulus wall boundary layer rather than the rolling up of leakage flow.

Numerical Simulation of Axial Inflow Characteristics and Aerodynamic Noise in a Large-Scale Adjustable-Blade Fan

Numerical simulation are conducted to explore the characteristics of the axial inflow and related aerodynamic noise for a large-scale adjustable fan with the installation angle changing from−12°to 12°.In such a range the maximum static(gauge)pressure at the inlet changes from−2280 Pa to 382 Pa,and the minimum static pressure decreases from−3389 Pa to−8000 Pa.As for the axial intermediate flow surface,one low pressure zone is located at the junction of the suction surface and the hub,another is located at the suction surface close to the casing position.At the outlet boundary,the low pressure is negative and decreases from−1716 Pa to−4589 Pa.The sound pressure level of the inlet and outlet noise tends to increase monotonously by 11.6 dB and 7.3 dB,respectively.The acoustic energy of discrete noise is always higher than that of broadband noise regardless of whether the inlet or outlet flow surfaces are considered.The acoustic energy ratio of discrete noise at the inlet tends to increase from 0.78 to 0.93,while at the outlet it first decreases from 0.79 to 0.73 and then increases to 0.84.

Study on Performance Evaluation of Small Axial Fan

In order to establish the design methodology of a small axial fan, the axial fan with impeller diameter of 36 mm was designed, manufactured and tested. Especially, in order to investigate the influence of difference in blade cord length and blade thickness on performance characteristics, the performance characteristics obtained by the designed axial fans with difference blade shapes were examined. Also, by using CFD, the same flow field as the experiment was visualized. It was found that the lift of the blade was increased and the performance was improved in high flow rate region by thinning of the blade thickness and by extending the blade chord length.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF TIP CLEARANCE FLOW FOR AN AXIAL FLOW FAN ROTOR

The flow field in the tip region of an axial ventilation fan is investigated with a particle image velocimeter （PIV） system at the design condition. Flow fields with three different tip clearances are surveyed on three different circumferential planes, respectively. The phase-locked average method is used to investigate the generation and the development of a tip leakage vortex. The result from PIV system is compared with that from a particle dynamics anemometer（PDA） system. Both data are in good agreement and the structure of the tip leakage vortex for the rotor is illustrated. The characteristic of a leakage vortex is described in both velocity vectors and vortical contours. The unsteadiness of the leakage vortex and the position of the vortex are surveyed in detail, which interprets the discrepancy between the numerical simulation and PDA experimental results to a certain extent. The center loci of tip leakage vortex at different times and the mean center loci of the leakage vortex are displayed particularly. Finally, the trajectories of the tip leakage vortex by the experimental measurement are compared with predictions from the existing models for high speed and high-pressure compressors and turbines when appropriately interpreted. A good agreement is obtained.

Volume Flow Rate Optimization of an Axial Fan by Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm

The present study is to improve the volume flow rate of an axial fan through optimizing the blade shape under the demand for a specified static pressure. Fourteen design variables were selected to control the blade camber lines and the stacking line and the values of these variables were determined by using the experimental design method of the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) to generate forty designs. The optimization was carried out using the genetic algorithm (GA) coupled with the artificial neural network (ANN) to increase the volume flow rate of the axial fan under the constraint of a specific motor power and a required static pressure. Differences in the aerodynamic performance and the flow characteristics between the original model and the optimal model were analyzed in detail. The results showed that the volume flow rate of the optimal model increased by 33%. The chord length, the installation angle and the cascade turning angle changed considerably. The forward leaned blade was beneficial to improve the volume flow rate of the axial fan. The axial velocity distribution and the static pressure distribution on the blade surface were improved after optimization.

Effect of Tip-Blade Cutting on the Performance of Large Scale Axial Fan

The effect of tip-blade cutting on the performance of a large scale axial fan was investigated using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)methods.Experiments verified the numerical simulations.The original fan was compared with the one with tip-cutting in terms of dimensionless characteristic and aerodynamic performance in tip region under the conditions of the maximum efficiency point and near-stall point.The results showed that double leakage flow occurred in tip clearance at maximum efficiency point and spillage of leakage flow from leading edge occurred in tip-blade region at near-stall point for the both two fans;and that tip-cutting with 6% of blade height could reduce the intensity of tip-leakage vortex and increase flow capacity in tip blade region,and hold the stall margin almost the same as the original fan.The maximum efficiency of the fan with tip-cutting was improved by1%,and the ability of total pressure rising was obviously greater than the original fan.

Design of Half-Ducted Axial Flow Fan Considering Radial Inflow and Outflow

Half-ducted fan and ducted fan have been designed and numerically analyzed for investigating the radial flow effect on the overall performance and the three dimensional flow field in design. Based on quasi-three dimensional flow theory, the meridional flow was calculated by adopting the radial balance equations, while the calculation of the blade to blade flow was obtained by 2D cascade data with the correction by a potential flow theory. Two types of axial flow fan were designed. One is the full ducted case as if it was in the straight pipe and another is the half-ducted case with the radial inflow and outflow. The previous experimental results of authors were used to decide the inclinations of both the inflow and outflow. And the circular arc blade with equal thickness was adopted. The numerical results indicate that both of the designed fans can reach the specified efficiency and also the efficiency surpasses more than 11%. Furthermore, the static pressure characteristic of half-ducted fan is much better than that of ducted fan. In comparison of the three dimensional internal flow of these two fans, the improvement of the flow angle at inlet and outlet, the distributions of velocity in the flow field and the pressure distributions on the blade surfaces can be achieved more successfully in accordance with the design intension on consideration of flow angle in design. The conclusion that half-ducted design with considering radial inflow and outflow is feasible and valid in comparison with ducted design for axial flow fans has been obtained at the end of the paper.

A Study on the Half-Ducted Axial Flow Fan Designed by a Diagonal Flow Fan Design Method

A study on the half-ducted axial flow fan designed by a diagonal flow fan design method was conducted. The rotor which has NACA65 blades was designed, calculated numerically, manufactured and tested experimentally. As a result of the design and CFD, the meridional streamline and three distributions of the meridional, tangential and radial velocity at inlet and outlet go well as designed values of the half ducted fan. On the other hand, the values of the meridional velocity and the tangential velocity are little smaller than the design values at the hub side of the radial distribution. The improvement of the design is prospected for this point, that is, the approach between the design value and the actual flow is prospected if the tangential velocity is assigned small at hub and is assigned large at the tip so as to accord the actual flow in the vortex design of the rotor blade. Then the designed half-ducted rotor with four NACA65 blades was fabricated by a three-dimensional printer and tested in the wind tunnel in order to validate the half-ducted design method. For the comparison between the design values and the experimental values at the design flow rate coefficient of φ = 0.264, the experimental values of the pressure rise coefficient ψ and the efficiency η are rather small than the design values, while the experimental value of the torque coefficient τ is almost the same as the design value. However, the experimental value of approximately 0.45 of the maximum efficiency is comparably large value considering for the limitation of the situation of half-ducted. For the comparison between the experimental values and the CFD values at φ = 0.264, the CFD values are almost the same values as the experimental values for all the values of ψ, τ and η. In addition, the tendencies of the CFD values when the flow rate coefficient changes are almost similar as the experimental tendencies, though the flow rate coefficient for the CFD values when ψ or η takes the peak value shifts toward larger flow rate. For the case at rotor outlet at φ = 0.264, two values of the meridional velocity and the tangential velocity are larger than the design values at the tip side of the radial distribution.

Numerical Investigation on Vortex Structure and Aerodynamic Noise Performance of Small Axial Flow Fan

The details of unsteady flow field in small axial fans are described and the relationship between the internal flow char- acteristics and aerodynamic noise of small axial flow fans are explored in the manuscript. Firstly, the broadband noise model is introduced to calculate the distributions of broadband noise sources in fan’s internal flow field, and further fan’s internal flow characteristics affecting broadband noise sources are analyzed by the main distributions of broad- band noise sources. Secondly, the unsteady characteristics of vortex structure in fan’s internal flow field are analyzed by large eddy simulation, and FH-W acoustic model is introduced to calculate aerodynamic noise affected by the unsteady characteristics of vortex structure. Finally, Monitoring points are set up near and far field of small axial fans, at which sound pressure level and spectral characteristics are analyzed. The results show that broadband noise sources are mainly distributed at the tip clearance close to blade trailing edge and one third of chord length of blade trailing edge of small axial fans. The maximum sound power of broadband noise sources at the tip clearance is greater than that at blade trail- ing edge. Sound power level of broadband noise near one third of blade chord length of blade trailing edge is first in- creasing and then decreasing when the distance between radial planes and the center of fan hub increases. Fan’s internal flow characteristics affecting broadband noise sources are the tip leakage vortex and the trailing edge vortex shedding. The tip leakage vortices at the leading edge of blade tip first integrate and then break down, while vortex cores of the trailing edge vortex shedding gradually move from blade hub to one-third of blade chord length and then move to far field within a one-seventh of the rotation cycle. Within a flow passage of fan rotation period, sound pressure level of the monitoring points is relevant to the unsteady feature of vortex structure and the main bands of aerodynamic noise of monitor points are irrelevant to the unsteady feature of vortex structure, relating to the distance between the monitor points and fan. With the above distance increasing, the main bands of aerodynamic noise are widened and moved from the low bands to high bands. All conclusions in the paper will provide significant references for reducing the noise of small axial flow fans.

Numerical Study on Internal Flow of Small Axial Flow Fan with Splitter Blades

The splitter blades are widely used in axial compressors and play an active role in the improvement of the overall performance of compressors. However, little research on the application of splitter blades to small axial flow fans is conducted. This paper designs a splitter blade small axial flow fan (model B) with a small axial flow fan as the prototype fan (model A) by adding short blades at the second half part of the passageway among long blades of model A. The steady simulation for the two models was conducted with the help of RNG k-ε turbulence model provided by software Fluent, and static characteristics and internal flow characteristics of the two models were compared and analyzed. Results show that splitter blades can improve the unsteady flow in the small flow rate region and also have a positive role to increase static pressure rise and efficiency in the higher flow rate region. The variation of static pressure gradient on the meridian plane in model B is well-distributed. The static pressure on the blade surface of model B distributes more uniformly. Splitter blades can suppress the secondary flow from pressure side to suction side in the leading edge because the pressure difference between suction side and pressure side in model B is generally lower than that of model A. And it also can restrain the vortex shedding and flow separation, and further it may be able to get the aerodynamic noise lower because static pressure gradient on the blade surface is well-distributed and the vortex shedding is not developed. Therefore, the performance of the fan with splitter blades is better than that of the prototype fan. The findings of this paper can be a basis for the design of high performance small axial flow fans.

Effect of Hub-Ratio on Performance of Asymmetric Dual-Rotor Small Axial Fan

Currently, domestic and abroad scholars put more attention on contra-rotating dual-rotor axial fan. But there is less scholars study on asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan, which is one of the contra-rotating dual-rotor axial fans. Like axial fan, many factors have influence on the performance of the asymmetric dual-rotor small axial flow fan, such as the wheel hub ratio, blade shape, blade number, stagger angle and the tip clearance. Because wheel hub ratio has great impact on the performance of the fan, we choose the size of wheel hub ratio as a variable factor to study the model change. There is a different wheel hub ratio between front stage impeller and rear stage of asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan, so it is very beneficial to select the greater wind area that the fan area of external diameter minuses the area occupied by the blades and the hub as front stage impeller. In this paper, the hub-ratio of front stage impeller is 0.72, and that of rear stage is 0.72, 0.67 and 0.62 respectively along with the front stage impeller. Three kinds of models with different hub ratio of rear stage are simulated using the CFD software and the static characteristics are obtained. Based on the experimental test results, the internal flow field of the asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan is analyzed in detail, the impact trends of different hub-ratio on the performance of asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan are obtained and the argument of structure optimization for dual-rotor small axial fan is provided.

Optimum design of camber line shape in a transonic axial fan cascade with splitter

Genetic algorithms and artificial neural networks method were adopted to optimize the camber line shape of splitter cascade in a transonic axial fan. For a certain type of transonic axial fan, the isentropie efficiency was improved by 0. 6% with the modification of splitter cascade rotor. Numerical simulation studies show that the curvature of the optimum splitter cascade with larger suction side is increased, the static pressure gradient is reduced, the process of flow expansion on suction surface is controlled and the separation near hub is eliminated by changing the shock wave structure. The efficiency near hub is improved by 1.3%.

Off-Design Performance Analysis of Axial Flow Fan in Helicopter

A theoretical calculation method of off-design performance is developed for an axial flow fan of oil cooling system in helicopter,including calculation of aerodynamic parameters and performance parameters.When calculating inlet shock loss,the shock loss coefficient is obtained by comparing results of theoretical calculation,experimental and numerical calculation.The theoretical results and numerical results show that all air velocity components increase from hub to shroud in main flow area at rated condition.Tip leakage vortex moves downstream as flow rate increases.When flow rate decreases,Re decreases,and boundary layer thickness from hub to shroud area all increases gradually.Tip leakage vortex moves upstream,and secondary loss increases.Low speed area in the passage is widened along with high speed area moving to hub area,influenced by boundary layer separation.Consequently wake area and jet area at fan outlet are both larger than rated condition.Therefore optimization design for off-design performance of the fan is required on aerodynamic parameters influencing fan loss.A reliable method is supplied for estimating altitude performance of lubricating system in helicopter.

Effects of circumferential configuration concerning splitter blade on the aerodynamic performance in a transonic axial fan

For a certain type of transonic axial fan, the flow field of a fan rotor with splitter blade was computed by numerical simulation, and the shape of the rotor was modified. The effects of different circumferential distributions concerning the splitter cascades upon the aerodynamic performance were investigated. The studies show that the optimum splitter cascade is not very close to the suction side of main blade. The load between the main blade and the splitter blade can be soundly distributed in terms of the adjustment of circumferential position of the splitter blade. The best aerodynamic performance can be successfully obtained according to the optimum shape of the expanding fluid channel reasonably formed by the splitter blade and the main blade.