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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PASSIVE CONTROL ON UNSTABLE CHARACTERISTICS IN AXIAL FLOW FAN

Experimental investigation of the passive control on improving the unstable characteristics in axial flow fans is performed. It is confirmed that the air-separator is an excellent equipment for rotating stall suppression. The air-separator can effectively remove low energy fluid near the fan casing. Further, it can improve the low flow rate range performance and increase stall margin of the axial flow fan.

Heat Transfer and Performance Characteristics of Axial Cooling Fans with Downstream Guide Vanes

This study examines experimentally the effect of stators on the performance and heat transfer characteristics of small axial cooling fans. A single fan impeller, followed by nine stator blades in the case of a complete stage, was used for all the experimental configurations. Performance measurements were carried out in a constant speed stage performance test rig while the transient liquid crystal technique was used for the heat transfer measurements. Full surface heat transfer coefficient distributions were obtained by recording the temperature history of liquid crystals on a target plate. The experimental data indicated that the results are highly affected by the flow conditions at the fan outlet. Stators can be beneficial in terms of pressure drop and efficiency, and thus more economical operation, as well as, in the local heat transfer distribution at the wake of the stator blades if the fan is installed very close to the cooling object. However, as the separation distance increases, enhanced heat transfer rate in the order of 25% is observed in the case of the fan impeller.

Effects of rotor structure on performance of small size axial flow fans

Small size axial flow fans are used as a cooling component for computers,electronic equipment and other electronic components.With the increasing power of electrical equipment,the demand for lower noise and higher ventilation of cooling fan is also increasing.Traditional methods of improving ventilation by raising the fan's rotation speed causes a decrease in efficiency and an increase in noise.In this paper,different structures of fans were simulated,and as a result,the counter-rotating fan can achieve higher pressure,efficiency and facilitate ventilation in a smaller space.Furthermore,some other conclusions are as follows:(1) Higher pressure rise can be obtained by a counter-rotating fan than by the two-stage rotor fan in the same axial length.Meanwhile,the counter-rotating fan has a broader work scope.(2) The main noise type of the counter-rotating fan is rotating noise;the small peak pulse caused by vortex noise mainly due to the eddy current produced by small eddies.(3) When the distance of counter-rotating fans is smaller than 2 times the chord,the greater distance the greater total pressure of the circum-averages and along the axial direction,the total pressure begin to decline until the distance is three times the chord,so there is an optimal distance between rotors.The simulation results are of important significance to the quantitative analysis and optimization design of the counter-rotating fan.

Effect of Tip Flange on Tip Leakage Flow of Small Axial Flow Fans

Aerodynamic performance of an axial flow fan is closely related to its tip clearance leakage flow. In this paper, the hot-wire anemometer is used to measure the three dimensional mean velocity near the blade tips. Moreover, the filtered N-S equations with finite volume method and RNG k-s turbulence model are adopted to carry out the steady simulation calculation of several fans that differ only in tip flange shape and number. The large eddy simulation and the FW-H noise models are adopted to carry out the unsteady numerical calculation and aerodynamic noise prediction. The results of simulation calculation agree roughly with that of tests, which proves the numerical calculation method is feasible.The effects of tip flange shapes and numbers on the blade tip vortex structure and the characteristics are analyzed. The results show that tip flange of the fan has a certain influence on the characteristics of the fan. The maximum efficiencies for the fans with tip flanges are shifted towards partial flow with respect to the design point of the dattun fan. Furthermore, the noise characteristics for the fans with tip flanges have become more deteriorated than that for the datum fan. Tip flange contributes to forming tip vortex shedding and the effect of the half-cylinder tip flange on tip vortex shedding is obvious. There is a distinct rela- tionship between the characteristics of the fan and tip vortex shedding.The research results provide the profitable reference for the internal flow mechanism of the performance optimization of small axial flow fans.

COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERI-MENTAL STUDY ON TIP LEAKAGE VORTEX OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL SKEWED BLADES

In the steady operation condition, the experiments and the numerical simulations are used to investigate the tip leakage flow fields in three low pressure axial flow fans with three kinds of circumferential skewed rotors, including the radial rotor, the forward-skewed rotor and the back- ward-skewed rotor. The three-dimensional viscous flow fields of the fans are computed. In the experiments, the two-dimensional plane particle image velocimetry （PIV） system is used to measure the flow fields in the tip region of three different pitchwise positions of each fan. The results show that the computational results agree well with the experimental data in the flow field of the tip region of each fan. The tip leakage vortex core segments based on method of the eigenmode analysis can display clearly some characteristics of the tip leakage vortex, such as the origination position of tip leak- age vortex, the development of vortex strength, and so on. Compared with the radial rotor, the other two skewed rotors can increase the stability of the tip leakage vortex and the increment in the forward-skewed rotor is more than that in the backward-skewed one. Among the tip leakage vortices of the three rotors, the velocity of the vortex in the forward-skewed rotor is th6 highest in the circumferential direction and the lowest in the axial direction.

PLAIN CASCADE RESEARCH ON A REVERSIBLE COMBINED BLADE

A new type fully reversible combined blade is presented, which can fully reverse airflow during the inverse ventilation by simply reversion. It is suitable for reversible axial flow fans used in tunnel and mine ventilation. The optimal parameters such as overlap ratio and pitch ratio are determined through cascade experiment. Experiment results also show a big promotion of maximum lift coefficient C1,max and stall attack angle a1,max compared to the existing bi-directional symmetry airfoils.

Hump-Shaped Broadband Noise on a Fan at Off-Design Conditions

A spurious effect of blowing noise is sometimes detected on fans working at high flow rate, showing a large hump around 4000 Hz on the acoustic spectra. A Tollmien-Shlichtling （TS） effect is suspected, and several compressible LES are made on aerodynamic profiles to detect and investigate this phenomenon. Vortex shedding is observed at the trailing edge, triggering some density fluctuations when a thin boundary layer exists on the profile upper side. Acoustic waves with length equivalent to the chord are observed. A profile modification is proposed with a camber brought closer to the leading edge. This shape tested on a prototyped fan confirms the weakening of the TS effect.

Design of Off-statistics Axial-flow Fans by Means of Vortex Law Optimization

Off-statistics input data sets are common in axial-flow fans design and may easily result in some violation of the requirements of a good aerodynamic blade design.In order to circumvent this problem,in the present paper,a solution to the radial equilibrium equation is found which minimizes the outlet kinetic energy and fulfills the aerodynamic constraints,thus ensuring that the resulting blade has acceptable aerodynamic performance.The presented method is based on the optimization of a three-parameters vortex law and of the meridional channel size.The aerodynamic quantities to be employed as constraints are individuated and their suitable ranges of variation are proposed.The method is validated by means of a design with critical input data values and CFD analysis.Then,by means of systematic computations with different input data sets,some correlations and charts are obtained which are analogous to classic correlations based on statistical investigations on existing machines.Such new correlations help size a fan of given characteristics as well as study the feasibility of a given design.

Effects of Perforation Number of Blade on Aerodynamic Performance of Dual-rotor Small Axial Flow Fans

Compared with single rotor small axial flow fans, dual-rotor small axial flow fans is better regarding the static characteristics. But the aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans is worse than that of single rotor small axial flow fans. In order to improve aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans, the pre-stage blades with different perforation numbers are designed in this research. The RANS equations and the standard k-e turbulence model as well as the FW-H noise model are used to simulate the flow field within the fan. Then, the aerodynamic performance of the fans with different perforation number is compared and analyzed. The results show that： （1） Compared to the prototype fan, the noise of fans with perforation blades is reduced. Additionally, the noise of the fans decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. （2） The vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades of perforated fans is reduced. It is found that the vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. （3） Compared to the prototype fan, the total pressure rising and efficiency of the fans with perforation blades drop slightly.

低速风洞轴流风扇研制进展

CARDC(China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center)has designed and developed various kinds of axial fans for specific wind tunnels in the previous decade.This paper not only gives summary about it,but also talks its future development.First,the contents are presented about high aerodynamic performance low-noise fan,including the methods of designing fan and ways of controlling noise generation and propagation,and how to reconcile the difficulties between noise control and fan efficiency raise.Then a simplified method of adjusting fan-blade angle during commissioning test is proposed and validated in practice.Contrary to usually used method,this simplified method can be implemented without using any test instruments of the fan,thus significantly reducing the commissioning test time of the fan.This is followed by the design of high pressure low Reynolds number axial fan.By using the method discussed in the paper,the restriction of Ma at blade tip not higher than 0.5 is relaxed.Accordingly,the pressure ratio obtained through one stage fan was raised above to 1.08,realizing the design target of Ma as 0.7 of the air in the test section.In addition,the topics about fan array,low hub-tip ratio fan and high pressure fan have been briefly covered for the future work.

Tonal Noise Prediction of an Automotive Engine Cooling Fan： Comparison between Analytical Models and Acoustic Analogy Results

Valeo, involved in engine cooling fan system design for many years, is interested in noise prediction tools for axial fans. Thus, this paper describes a two-part study of tonal noise computation. The first part deals with the prediction of tonal noise using analytical models. As for the second part, it describes a hybrid approach for predicting tonal noise where the sources are extracted from an Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Naviers-Stocks （URANS） simulation and then propagated into the far, free field using the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings＇ acoustic analogy. The computational domain is meshed with 46 million polyhedral elements and the simulation takes into account the exact geometry of the rotor blades, the stator blades and the shroud. The results from the first part show that analytical models can be used for comparisons between different fan geometries, but are unable to provide accurate noise predictions compared to experimental results. The simulation shows non-periodic blade loading over a whole fan revolution, and different blade loading between the blades. This introduces some bias in the assessment of the acoustic performance of the fan. Overall, the results from the hybrid method are in accordance with the experimental results.