• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2014

A multi-objective optimization of a regenerative fan for enhancing the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance was carried out using an integrated fan design system, namely, Total FAN-Regen$^{(R)}$. The Total FAN-Regen$^{(R)}$ was developed for non-specialists to carry out a series of design process, viz., computational preliminary design, three-dimensional aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analyses, and design optimization, for a regenerative fan. An aerodynamic analysis of the regenerative fan was conducted by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the shear stress transport turbulence model. And, an aeroacoustic analysis of the regenerative fan was implemented in a finite/infinite element method by solving the variational formulation of Lighthill's analogy based on the results of the unsteady flow analysis. An optimum shape obtained by Total FAN-Regen$^{(R)}$ shows the enhanced efficiency and decreased sound pressure level as much as 1.5 % and 20.0 dB, respectively, compared to those of the reference design. The performance test was carried out for an optimized regenerative fan to validate the performance of the numerically predicted optimal design.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.31-37
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• 2009

The purpose of this numerical study was to investigate performance characteristics for cooling tower axial fans with sweep. Performance data for the fans with various sweep angles were obtained in terms of the setting angle at a constant flow rate. Viscous flow calculations were carried out to obtain Performance data of the total pressure rise and hydraulic efficiency. A solution of the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equations was used to calculate the sound pressure level at three times fan diameter away from the fan. The calculated performance data well represented performance characteristics of the cooling tower axial fan. The total pressure rise and hydraulic efficiency at the same setting angle decreased with sweep angle. Sound pressure level slightly decreased for the fan with a sweep angle of 10 degree. No significant effect of the sweep geometry was found on the sound pressure level.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.8 no.2 s.29
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• pp.9-15
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• 2005

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study on the overall performance and local flow characteristics of sirocco fan in a range hood. Measurement of overall performance for sirocco fans were conducted based on AMCA standard 210. The effects of flow blockages due to the motor inside the fan on the fan performance were investigated by experimentally and numerically and the results were compared with each other. The numerical and experimental results show the inlet flow blockage reduces the performance (ie. fan static pressure, design flow rate, maximum efficiency and free delivery flow rate) of fan. It is found that the blockage makes the flow field highly non-uniform through the blade and cause the efficiency decrement.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.325-337
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• 2000

A study was done on the numerical and experimental analyses of the aerodynamic characteristics of a counter rotating axial fan. The numerical analysis uses the frequency domain panel method developed for the aerodynamic analysis of interacting rotating systems, which is based on the unsteady lifting surface panel method. Each stage of interaction involves the solution of an isolated rotor, the interaction being done through the Fourier transform of the induced velocity field. Numerical results showed good agreements with other experimental data for single and counter rotating propeller systems. And they were compared with the experimental results of the counter rotating axial fan studied in the present paper. The performance test was carried out based on the Korean Standard (KS B 6311). It was focused on the relative efficiency increase of a counter rotating system for a single rotating one, and effects of the axial distance between the front and rear rotors on overall fan performances were investigated. As a result, it was shown that the counter rotating axial fan has the efficiency 14% higher than the single rotating one at peak efficiency points.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.7-17
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• 2008

Fan performances are obtained with various tip clearance gaps and stagger angles of the rotor. A tested fan is an axial-type fan of which the casing diameter is 806 mm. Two different rotors are applied to this test. One is designed on the basis of the free vortex method along the radial direction and the other is designed using the forced vortex method. The operating conditions are varied to the ultimate off-design point as well as the deign point. Overall efficiency, total pressure and input power are compared with the tip clearance gaps and different stagger angle. The experimental results show that changing of the stagger angle has minor influence to the performance when the same rotor is applied. When the tip clearance gap is less than 5% of the rotor span, the overall efficiency, total pressure loss and input power reduction are varied linearly with the variation of the tip clearance gaps. On the design point, the overall efficiency is decreased to the rate of 2.8-2.9 to the increasing of the tip clearance, but the changing rate of the overall efficiency is alleviated when the fan operates at off-design points. In particular, this rate is more quickly declined on a fan with the rotor designed using the forced vortex method. The result of the total pressure shows that the pressure reduction rate is a 0.08-0.1 according to the tip clearance, and additionally the input power reduction rate is a 0.045-0.065 at design point.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2017

A fan-motor assembly in a vacuum cleaner is analyzed through system-level analysis method. This system consisted of three components, a fan, motor, and the flow resistance of the motor, or of the vacuum cleaner. System-level analysis method is characterized by the combination of torque matching at a constant throttling condition between the fan and the motor and the pressure drop at a constant flow rate due to the flow resistance of the motor, or of the vacuum cleaner. The performance characteristics of the fan-motor assembly and the vacuum cleaner system could be predicted over the whole range of operation, based on the characteristics of each component. The predicted performance of the vacuum cleaner system through system-level analysis agreed well with the experimental results within 4.5% difference of pressure and 6% difference of the efficiency. The effect of flow resistance of a motor is investigated and it is found that the efficiency decrease of fan-motor assembly at the constant flow rate due to the flow resistance of a motor is determined by the flow resistance ratio(FRR), which is defined as a ratio of flow resistance of motor and the flow resistance of a constant throttling condition of a given point. The fan-motor assembly(S2 model) was modified to reduce the FRR from 9.0% to 2.4% and the experimental result shows that the efficiency of S2 model was improved by about 3% at best efficiency point.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.136-146
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• 2009

Small axial fans have become widely used as cooling devices in recent years. Because of their increasing importance, studies have been conducted on ways to improve the performance and reduce the noise of such fans. In this report, a small axial fan with a diameter of 85 mm (a type popularity used in personal computer or workstation) was selected for further examination. The influence on aerodynamic performance and noise of such frame design parameters as blade tip clearance results in a decrease of discrete frequency noise and an increase of broad-spectrum noise. As for the most suitable design refinement in terms of fan efficiency, we found that the treatment of outlet corner roundness and altering spoke skew to the direction counter to that of fan rotation was effective.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2012

The constant air volume flow fan can maintain constant flow rate to the wide range of exit pressure. Therefore, the use of this fan is increasing recently for ventilation of high building. Brushless DC motor is adopted to this fan because that has advantages of compactness and performance. But this type of motor protrude from impeller hub side to fan inlet. The Impeller inlet flow is influenced by size of this obstacle called hub. In this paper, the influence of hub shape on the fan performance characteristics are experimentally and numerically analyzed. CFX 12.0 is used to perform the fan internal flow analysis and numerical results are compared with the experiments. Depending on hub shape, internal loss is generated and the performance and efficiency are reduced. The best performance is occurred around $h/b_1$ = 0.25. The results of this study will be contribute to initial design of constant air volume flow fan development.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.159-165
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• 2008

A sirocco fan is widely used for discharging pollutants of a kitchen space since it is able to generate a relatively high air flow rate considering its small size and makes less noise than a axial fan or a centrifugal fan. However, it has a problem because its efficiency is low, and power consumption is larger. Performance of a sirocco fan is influenced by various factors such as number of the fan blades, diameter of the fan, geometry of the fan, geometry of its housing, revolution frequency, static pressure condition, and etc. This research investigated the effect on the performance of geometry of the housing. For CFD analysis, we used a commercial code, SC/Tetra, and used a sliding mesh method to give the same condition as an actual state. Verification of the CFD results is done by comparison of experimental data and numerical one about the suction flow rate, and it is confirmed that two results are well consistent. After we changed the shape of housing according to Archimedes' screw, we observed that suction efficiency is improved by 10.7% maximum.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.168-173
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• 2012

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the aerodynamic performance according to the application of splitter blades in an impeller of a centrifugal fan used for a refuse collection system. Numerical analysis of a centrifugal fan was carried out by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the shear stress transport turbulence model. A validation of numerical results was conducted by comparison with experimental data for the pressure and efficiency. From analyses of the internal flow field of the reference fan, the losses by the reverse-flows were observed in the region of the blade passage. In order to reduce these losses and enhance fan performance, two splitter blades were applied evenly between the main blades, and centrifugal impellers having the different numbers of the main blades were tested with their application. Throughout the numerical analyses of the centrifugal fan with splitter blades, it was found that the reverse-flow regions in the blade passage can be reduced by controlling the main blade numbers with splitter blades. The application of splitter blades in a centrifugal fan leads to significant improvement in the overall fan performance.