Unsteady Nature of a Tip Leakage Vortex in an Axial Flow Fan

축류팬 익단누설와류의 비정상 특성

Unsteady nature of a tip leakage vortex in an axial flow fan operating at a design and off-design operating conditions has been investigated by measuring the velocity fluctuation in a blade passage with a rotating hotwire probe sensor. Two hot-wire probe sensors rotating with the fan rotor were also introduced to obtain the cross-correlation coefficient between the two sensors located in the vortical flow as well as the fluctuating velocity. The results show that the vortical flow structure near the rotor tip can be clearly observed at the quasi-orthogonal planes to a tip leakage vortex. The leakage vortex is enlarged as the flow rate is decreased, thus resulting in the high blockage to main flow. The spectral peaks due to the fluctuating velocity near the rotor tip are mainly observed in the reverse flow region at higher flow rates than the peak pressure operating condition. However, no peak frequency presents near the rotor tip for near stall condition.