• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.86-93
• /
• 2014

This paper describes performance enhancement of a regenerative blower used for a 20 kW fuel cell system. Two design variables, bending angle of an impeller and blade thickness of an impeller tip, which are used to define an impeller shape, are introduced to enhance the blower performance. Internal flow of the regenerative blower has been analyzed with three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations to obtain the blower performance. General analysis code, CFX, is introduced in the present work. SST turbulence model is employed to estimate the eddy viscosity. Throughout the numerical analysis, it is found that the thickness of impeller tip is effective to increase the blower efficiency in the present blower. Pressure is successfully increased up to 2.8% compared to the reference blower at the design flow condition. And efficiency is also enhanced up to 2.98 % compared to the reference one. It is noted that low velocity region disturbs to make strong recirculation flow inside the blade passages, thus increases local pressure loss. Detailed flow field inside the regenerative blower is also analyzed and compared.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.221-229
• /
• 2015

For efficient design process of regenerative blower, the present study provides new generalized pressure and leakage flow loss models, which can be used in the performance analysis method of regenerative blower. The present performance analysis on designed blower is made by incorporating momentum exchange theory between impellers and side channel with mean line analysis method, and its pressure loss and leakage flow models are generalized from the related fluid mechanics correlations which can be expressed in terms of blower design variables. The present performance analysis method is applied to four existing models for verifying its prediction accuracy, and the prediction and the test results agreed well within a few percentage of relative error. Furthermore, the present performance analysis method is also applied in developing a new blower used for fuel cell application, and the newly designed blower is manufactured and tested through chamber-type test facility. The performance prediction by the present method agreed well with the test result and also with the CFD simulation results. From the comparison results, the present performance analysis method is shown to be suitable for the actual design practice of regenerative blower.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2013

An aero-acoustic performance analysis method of regenerative blower is developed as one of the FANDAS codes. The aerodynamic performance of regenerative blower is predicted by using momentum exchange theory coupled with pressure loss and leakage flow models. Based on the performance prediction results, the noise level and spectrum of regenerative blower are predicted by discrete frequency and broadband noise models. The combination of the performance and the noise prediction methods gives aero-acoustic performance map and noise spectrum analysis results, which are well-agreed with the actual measurement results within a few percent relative error.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.12a
• /
• pp.378-383
• /
• 2005

The performances of side channel type regenerative blowers were evaluated by the blower performance test, 1-D performance prediction and CFD. The performance prediction method was modified using the results of the performance test and CFD and applied to the design of the new regenerative blowers. The major geometric parameters such as channel height, channel area and expansion angle were decided from the performance prediction method for the improved models and the predicted results were compared with CFD and experimental data. Both of the modified models showed improved efficiency at the operating condition. Especially, model3 could be possible to reduce operating rotating speed, that is benefit to noise performance, because of the high head performance at the design point. The CFD results showed that the performance of the regenerative blower was influenced by the secondary circulatory flow in the channel.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.10
• /
• pp.739-744
• /
• 2012

This paper describes the blower performance used for single-stage high pressure regenerative blower. The blower considered is widely applied to the field of a fuel cell system, a medical equipment and a sewage treatment plant. Flow rate and rotating frequency of a impeller of the blower are considered as design parameters for the proper operation of the blower. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are introduced to analyze the performance and internal flow of the blower. Relatively good agreement between experimental measurements and numerical simulation is obtained. Throughout a numerical simulation, it is found that small and stable vortical flow generated inside the blade passage is effective to increase pressure and efficiency of the blower. Large local recirculation flow having low velocity in the blade passage obstructs the generation of stable vortical flow, thus increases the pressure loss of the blower. Detailed flow field inside the blower is also analyzed and discussed.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.24-28
• /
• 2013

Visualization of internal flow of a regenerative blower has been made by injecting a tracer directly into the flow. For the convenience of visualization, working fluid has been replaced by water and marbling color oil has been used as a tracer. Oil droplet has been injected near the inlet of the blower and the streak has been recorded using a high speed camera with the illumination of high power light sources. At first, droplets have irregular motion in the near inlet area and enter into a groove of the impeller. Then the droplets circulate inside the groove while translated by the rotational motion of the impeller. When the droplets get out of the impeller groove, their speed is lower than that of impeller. And the droplets repeatedly enter into the groove and circulate inside the grooves. Then the droplets either flow to the outlet or reenter into the inlet area through stripper. Through this experimental study, internally circulating motion of the flow inside a regenerative blower has been characterized.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.71-75
• /
• 2015

The flow and noise characteristics of the regenerative blower are evaluated experimentally. To decrease the noise of regenerative blower at a high frequency, we arrange the impeller vanes unevenly by special formula. The uneven pitch formular consists of the combination of trigonometric function. The magnitude of degree between each vanes and the control parameters of trigonometric functions are main design parameters for the uneven pitch. The flow characteristics of even and uneven impellers are tested by the fan tester and compared each results. The efficiency of a blower is calculated by the axial power using a dynamo system. The noise property of designed impeller is measured in an anechoic room. In this study, we certify that the uneven pitch impeller is effective in the noise reduction at a high frequency.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.57-63
• /
• 2011

Regenerative blower is suitable for hydrogen recirculation in fuel cell vehicle due to its capability of high pressure rise in single stage. Numerical models were applied to investigate inner gap leakage flow characteristics. A leakage flow in the inner gap is dominantly affected by pressure gradient. Therefore a blower with concentric channel type was suggested as one of modified models for reducing the inner gap pressure gradient. Also numerical results such as pressure rise, efficiency, leakage flow rate and torque were compared between modified and reference models. The performance of concentric channel type was improved as a result of reduced leakage flow.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.48-53
• /
• 2014

A low-noise regenerative blower is developed for fuel cell application by combining the FANDAS-Regen code and design optimization algorithm under several performance constraints for flow capacity, static pressure, efficiency and power consumption. The optimized blower design model is manufactured with some impeller modification based on low noise design concept and tested by using aerodynamic performance chamber facility and narrow-band noise measurement apparatus. The measured results of the optimized blower satisfy the performance requirements and are also compared favorably with the FANDAS-Regen prediction results within a few percent relative error. Furthermore, the present study shows the remarkable noise reduction by 26 dBA can be achieved through design optimization and low noise design concept.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.10a
• /
• pp.45-48
• /
• 2007

In the present work, flow analysis has been performed for side channel type double stage ring blower by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation. Shear stress transport model is used as turbulent closure. The commercial CFD code CFX 11.0 is used for the calculations. Each of two stage is calculated separately and the second stage inlet flow is same as the first stage outlet flow so that consecutive calculation is possible. Velocity and pressure fields have been analyzed at the midplane between blades. The numerical results are validated with experimental data for head coefficients at different flow coefficients.