Abstract
Centrigugal fans are widely used due to their ability to achieve relatively high pressure ratios in a short axial distance compared to axial fans. Because of their widespread use, the noise generated by these machines causes one of serious problems. In general, centrigugal fan noise is often dominated by tones at BPF(blade passage frequency) and its higher harmonics. This is a consequence of the strong interaction between the periodic flow discharged radially from the impeller and the stator blades or the cutoff. But in vacuum cleaner fan the noise is dominated by not only the discrete tones of BPF but also broadband frequencies. In this study we investigate the mechanism of broadband noise and predict for the unsteady flow field and the acoustic pressure field associated with the centrifugal fan. DVM(discrete vortex method) is used to calculates the flow field and the Lowson's method is used to predict the acoustic pressures. From the results we find that the broadband noise of a circular casing centrifugal fan is due to the unsteady force fluctuation around the impeller blades related to the vortex shedding. The unsteady forces associated with the shed vortices at impeller and related to the interactions to the diffuser and the exit.
