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.

Stability analysis of viscous Z-pinch plasma with a sheared axial flow

Within the magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） frame, we analyse the effect of viscosity on magneto-Rayleigh Taylor （MRT） instability in a Z-pinch configuration by using an exact method and an approximate method separately. It is demonstrated that the plasma viscosity indeed has a stabilization effect on the MRT mode in the whole wavenumber region, and its influence increases with the perturbation wavenumber increasing. After the characteristics and feasibility of the approximate method have been investigated, we apply it to the stability analysis of viscous plasma where a sheared axial flow （SAF） is involved, and we attain an analytical dispersion relation. It is suggested that the viscosity and the SAF are complemental with each other, and a wide wavenumber range of perturbation is possible to be restrained if the SAF and the viscosity are large enough. Finally, we calculate the possible value of viscosity parameter according to the current experimental conditions, and the results show that since the value of viscosity is much less than the threshold value, its mitigation effect is small enough to be neglected. The role of the viscosity in the stabilization becomes considerable only if special techniques are so developed that the Z-pinch plasma viscosity can be increased greatly.

Hydrodynamic Instability Analysis of the Axial Flow Pump in an Ethylene Polymerization Loop Reactor

The hydrodynamic instability of the axial flow pump in a loop reactor has long been a troubling issue to be solved in the polyethylene industry due to the lack of a better mechanismic understanding.Generally,the instability of an axial flow pump can be reflected by the fluctuation of the pump head.In this study,the transient computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation is adopted to study the hydrodynamic instability of the axial flow pump used in an ethylene polymerization loop reactor.The results show that the pump head under single liquid phase nearly remains constant while the pump head under slurry phase fluctuates due to the variation of solid volume fraction distribution in the pump.Besides,under the combined effect of the maximum solid volume fraction difference in the pump and the turbulence intensity of the liquid phase,the fluctuation of the pump head under slurry phase increases when the solid volume fraction in the loop reactor increases from 0.10 to 0.29,and the fluctuation decreases,when the solid volume fraction increases from 0.29 to 0.35.Furthermore,there is a negative correlation between the pump head and the solid volume fraction in the pump;with the increase of solid volume fraction in the loop reactor,and the correlation coefficient increases as well.Moreover,a‘spiral particulate band’phenomenon is formed in the ascending leg caused by three mechanisms,viz.:the segregation of particles in all bends,the dispersion of particles by the secondary flow in the ascending leg,and the rotational movement of particles in the pump.

Nonlinear Vibration and Stability Analysis of Axially Accelerating Beam in Axial Flow

The dynamics of an axially accelerating beam subjected to axial flow is studied.Based on the Floquet theory and the Runge-Kutta algorithm,the stability and nonlinear vibration of the beam are analyzed by considering the effects of several system parameters such as the mean speed,flow velocity,axial added mass coefficient,mass ratio,slenderness ratio,tension and viscosity coefficient.Numerical results show that when the pulsation frequency of the axial speed is close to the sum of first-and second-mode frequencies or twice the lowest two natural frequencies,instability with combination or subharmonic resonance would occur.It is found that the beam can undergo the periodic-1 motion under subharmonic resonance and the quasi-periodic motion under combination resonance.With the change of system parameters,the stability boundary may be widened,narrowed or drifted.In addition,the vibration amplitude of the beam under resonance can also be affected by changing the values of system parameters.

Influence of Blade Outlet Angles on Separation Performance of Guide Vane Type Axial Flow Cyclone Tube

The influences of the internal and external outlet angles on separation performance and flow field are compared and analyzed. Two arc functions are employed for controlling the internal and external angles. The separation process in the cyclone tube is calculated by using two-fluid model based on the Eulerian-Eulerian method.The results show that the structure with the internal outlet angle smaller than the external one is more beneficial to the separation performance. It is found that the small internal angle can help increase the swirl number,while the small external angle can help increase the friction coefficient. Several groups of numerical simulations are conducted for the air intake unit of the gas turbine in practice. When the internal outlet angle is 35° and the external outlet angle is 40°,the blade has sufficient cyclone strength and the separation rate of particles with diameters of 10—100 μm is between70%—98%. The small blade angle is more conducive to the separation of fine particles,leading to violent collision of large particles on the outer wall and reduction of separation efficiency. In addition,reducing the external angle is conducive to the discharge of large particles.

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.

INVESTIGATING MULTISTAGE AXIAL FLOW COMPRESSOR INSTABILITIES

A numerical methodology for investigating compressor instabilities in a multistage environment is presented. The method is based on a stage-by-stage dynamic compression model and considers air compressibility explicitly throughout the compressor. It involves discretizing the compression system into distinct elements and a use of the local elemental characteristic of mean performance. The models are presented in both nonlinear and linearized forms. The linearised form permits well surge condition prediction for multistage axial compressors, while the non-linear form is able to investigate the growth of local flow disturbances, and helps to develop practical control strategy. Validations were carried out using the data from several aircraft engine compressors. A good experiment-model consistency is achieved.

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF AXIAL FLOW COMPRESSOR CASING TREATMENT

Using an inviscid model with inlet total pressure gradient and a J. D. Denton scheme, this paper for the first time numerically solves the 3D flow field of compressor casing treatment, and also explores some boundary singularities and numerical stability. Agreement is attained in qualitative explanations of some, casing treatment test results and its mechanism.

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.

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.

Perioperative Nursing Management of an Animal Model of Axial Flow Blood Pump Implantation

This study aimed to explore the characteristics of perioperative nursing of experimental goats using self-made axial-flow blood pump implantation and provided theoretical nursing knowledge and practice-based evidence for the clinical application of domestically manufactured artificial cardiac pumps. Methods: Seven experimental goats were used in this study, three for pre-testing and four for the formal experiments. According to the surgical requirements for axial-flow blood pump implantation into the cardiac apex, we creatively designed and made a series of highly practical animal surgical instruments including a composite disassemblable bed for experimental animal transferring and monitoring, a multifunctional animal surgery bed, and portable medical supporting equipment. We also applied for two national invention patents and one utility model patent. Active measures were taken to ensure careful preparation before surgery, close collaboration during surgery, and effective management of complications after surgery. Results: Two of the four experimental goats died during surgery because of a massive hemorrhage caused by distal anastomotic failure and air embolism-induced cardiac arrest caused by air leakage from the outlet into the heart due to poor connection of the auxiliary pressure tap (used to measure left ventricular pressure). The mean survival time of the remaining three experimental goats was 22.7 hours. Conclusion: This study was the first to systematically and comprehensively investigate the perioperative nursing management of axial-flow blood pump implantation using animal models. These findings could greatly promote further clinical applied nursing research of self-made artificial cardiac pump implantation in experimental goats.

A New Magnetic Sealless Coupling Axial Flow Blood Pump

For rotating blood pump, the sealing problem is a very important one to solve. In this paper, it was introduced that we designed and made a small axial flow pump, applying the magnetic coupling method. The pump consisted of two pump housings, a brushless DC motor, an impeller with five wanes, a pair of magnetic discs, a spacer, an inlet and an outlet areas , bearings, a support frame, and etc. The pump is made of titanium and is 125 mm length, 147 ml volume, total 380g of weight. Performances of outputting, sealing, heat creating and damage to blood by the pump were investigated in vitro experiment. Results showed for external experiment that: (1)The pressure created by the pump was 90 mmHg, the flow rates were 1.2 L/min, 4 L/min, 5.9 L/min and 7.8 L/min correspondingly to 5000 rpm, 6000 rpm, 7000 rpm and 8000rpm rotation speeds. The hydrodynamic performance of the axial flow blood pump was enough to meet a patient need when the blood pump was used as a left ventricular assistant device. (2)The hemolysis test was studied by the normalized index of hemolysis(NIH). The NIH result of the axial flow pump was 0.08 g/100 L. (3)The outside temperature of the pump didnt change obviously in 120 hours of rotation, and the sealing function was very well.

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.

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.

Research on blade tip clearance cavitation and turbulent kinetic energy characteristics of axial flow pump based on the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes model

To reveal the cavitation forms of tip leakage vortex(TLV)of the axial flow pump and the flow mechanism of the flow field,this research adopts the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes(PANS)model to simulate the cavitation values of an axial flow pump,followed by experimental validation.The experimental result shows that compared with the shear stress transport(SST)k-ωmodel,the PANS model significantly reduces the eddy viscosity of the flow field to make the vortex structure clearer and allow the turbulence scale to be more robustly analyzed.The cavitation area within the axial flow pump mainly comprises of TLV cavitation,clearance cavitation and tip leakage flows combined effect of triangular cloud cavitation formed.The formation and development of cavitation are accompanied by the formation and evolution of vortex,and variations in vortex structure also generate and promote the development of cavitation.In addition,an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the turbulent kinetic energy(TKE)transport equation and cavitation patterns was also conducted,finding that the regions with relatively high TKE are mainly distributed around gas/liquid boundaries with serious cavitation and evident gas-liquid change.This phenomenon is mainly attributed to the combined effect of the pressure action term,stress diffusion term and TKE production term.

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.

Experimental study of flow field in interference area between impeller and guide vane of axial flow pump

Axial flow pump is a kind of typical pumps with rotor-stator interaction, thus the measurement of the flow field between impeller and guide vane would facilitate the study of the internal rotor-stator interaction mechanism. Through a structural modification of a traditional axial flow pump, the requirements of particle image velocimetry（PIV） measurement are met. Under the condition of opt.0.8Q, the axial vortex is identified between impeller hub and guide vane hub, which is developed into the main flow and to affect the movement when the relative positions of impeller and guide vane at different flow rates are the same. Besides, the development and the dissipation of the tip leakage and the passage vortex in impeller passages are mainly responsible for the difference of the flow field close to the outer rim. As the flow rate decreases, the distribution of the meridional velocities at the impeller outlet becomes more non-uniform and the radial velocity component keeps increasing. The PIV measurement results under the condition of opt.1.0Q indicate that the flow separation and the trailing vortex at the trailing edge of a blade are likely to result in a velocity sudden change in this area, which would dramatically destroy the continuity of the flow field. Moreover, the radial direction of the flow between impeller and guide vane on the measurement plane does not always point from hub to rim. For a certain position, the direction is just from rim to hub, as is affected by the location of the intersection line of the shooting section and the impeller blade on the impeller as well as the angle between the intersection line and the rotating shaft.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE AND EXIT FLOW FIELD OF LOW PRESSURE AXIAL FLOW FAN WITH CIRCUMFERENTIAL SKEWED BLADES

In this article, the low pressure axial flow fan with circumferential skewed rotor blade, including the radial blade, the forward-skewed blade and the backward-skewed blade, was studied with experimental methods. The aerodynamic performance of the rotors was measured. At the design condition at outlet of the rotors, detailed flow measurements were performed with a five-hole probe and a Hot-Wire Anemometer （HWA）. The results show that compared to the radial rotor, the forward-skewed rotor demonstrates a wider Stable Operating Range （SOR）, is able to reduce the total pressure loss in the hub region and make main loading of blade accumulating in the mid-span region. There is a wider wake in the upper mid-span region of the forward-skewed rotor. Compared to the radial rotor, in the backward-skewed rotor there is higher total pressure loss near the hub and shroud regions and lower loss in the mid-span region. In addition, the velocity deficit in the wake is lower at mid-span of the backward-skewed rotor than the forward-skewed rotor.

Performance Test and Flow Measurement of Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump

An application of contra-rotating rotors has been proposed against a demand for developing higher specific speed axial flow pump. In the present paper, the advantage and disadvantage of using contra-rotating rotors are described in comparison with conventional type of rotor-stator, based on theoretical and experimental investigations. The advantages are as follows： （1） The pump is inherently designed as smaller sized and at lower rotational speed. （2） A stable head-characteristic curve for flow rate with negative slope appears. （3） As the rear rotor rotational speed is varied as independent control of front rotor, the wider range of high performance operation is obtained by rear rotor speed control in addition to front rotor speed control. The disadvantages are as follows： （1） The structure of double shaft system becomes complex. （2） The pump performance is inferior at over flow rate as the rear rotor loading is weakened. （3） The blade rows interaction from rear rotor to front rotor more strongly appears. Then the rear rotor design is a key to achieve higher pump performance. Some methods to overcome these disadvantages will be discussed in more details toward wider usage of contra-rotating axial flow pump in various industrial fields.