• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.321-327
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• 2016

This paper presents the application of airfoil impeller for enhancement of aerodynamic performance of a high speed centrifugal fan. Three airfoil impellers are proposed, considering the maximum thickness and the location of maximum thickness of the airfoil. C4 airfoil thickness distribution is applied to the three airfoil impellers. The impellers are evaluated using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and suction power test. From the results, it is confirmed that flow separations on the pressure side of the impeller blades and the pressure side of diffuser blades are reduced when airfoil blade is applied to the impellers. It is also confirmed that with the centrifugal fan having airfoil impellers, there is an increase in fan efficiency by approximately 3% and reduction in specific sound level by approximately 1.3 dB(A).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.957-968
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• 1999

Performance tests of an airfoil fan and measurement of flow fields at the impeller exit are carried out to investigate the effects of the tip clearance between the rotor and inlet casing on the impeller performance. The impeller is twelve bladed of NACA 65-810 airfoils and tested with 3 different size of gap; 1, 2, 4mm. The relative decrease of pressure rising performance of the fan is 15 percent for the design flow rate when the gap size is 1 percent of the impeller diameter. The reduction of performance becomes large as the flow rate increases. The leakage flow through the clearance affects the through flow of the impeller, which results in decrease of the slip factor as well as the impeller efficiency. The data base obtained in the present study can be used for the design and flow analysis of the airfoil fans.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.226-235
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• 2000

The performance prediction of an airfoil fan using a commerical code, STAR/CD, is verified by comparing the calculated results with measured performance data and velocity fields of an airfoil fan. The effects of inlet tip clearance on performance are investigated. The calculations overestimate the pressure rise performance by about 10-25 percent. However, the performance reduction due to tip clearance is well predicted by numerical simulations. Main source of performance decrease is not only the slip factor but also impeller efficiency. The reduction in performance is 12-16 percent for 1 percent gap of the diameter. The calculated reductions in impeller efficiency and slip factor are also linearly proportional to the gap size. The span-wise distributions of phase averaged velocity and pressure at the impeller exit are strongly influenced by the radial gap size. The radial component of velocity and the flow angle increase over the passsage as the gap increases. The slip factor decreases and the loss increases with the gap size. The high velocity of leakage jet affects the impeller inlet and passage flows. With a larger clearance, the main stream moves to the impeller hub side and high loss region extends from the shroud to the hub.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.371-379
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• 2000

A noise prediction method of axial flow fan is developed by incorporating through-flow method and vortex shedding noise model. Fan noise is assumed to be generated due to the pressure fluctuation induced by wake vortices of fan blades and radiate as diploe distribution. The wake vortices are analyzed by combining Karman vortex street model and through-flow analysis results, and the vortex-induced fluctuating pressure on blade surface is calculated by thin airfoil theory. The predicted sound pressure levels and directivity patterns of fan noise by the present method are favorably compared with fan noise test data. Furthermore, the present method is shown to be very useful for predicting the aero-acoustic performance map of the fan operated at off-design point.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.245-250
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• 1999

In order to design micro-fan appropriately, flow chacracteristics and mechanics should be carefully considered. The present work concerns with design procedure for a micro-fan using NACA(National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) airfoil series. The generation of fan profiles is carried out automatically by defining related parameters, which is also converted to CAD/CAM data automatically. The optimal parting surface for the mold of micro-fan is also calculated by analyzing the geometric data numerically. As a consequence, the high capacity micro-fan can be developed successfully with a high-quality and an improved efficiency.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.6 no.1 s.18
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• pp.23-29
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• 2003

Three-dimensional flow through a tubular centrifugal fan with airfoil type blades is analyzed, and the effects of turbulence model and numerical scheme on the results are investigated. Standard $k-{\epsilon}$ model and k - w model are tested as turbulence closures. The numerical schemes for convection terms, i.e., Upwind Differencing Scheme (UDS), Mass Weighted Skewed upstream differencing scheme (MWS), Linear Profile Skewed upstream differencing scheme (LPS), and Modified Linear Profile Skewed upstream differencing scheme (MLPS) are also tested, and the performances of these schemes coupled with two turbulence models are evaluated. The static pressure distributions are compared with experimental data obtained in this work, which shows that the $k-{\epsilon}$ model gives better results than the k-w model.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.23-29
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• 2001

Three-dimensional flow through a tubular centrifugal fan with airfoil type blades are analyzed using CFX-TASCflow. Standard k - $\epsilon$ model and k - $\omega$ model are used as turbulence closures. The numerical schemes for convetion terms, i.e., Upwind Differencing Scheme(UDS), Mass Weighted Skewed Upstream Differencing Scheme(MWS), Linear Profile Skewed Upstream Differencing Scheme(LPS), and Modified Linear Profile Skewed Upstream Differencing Scheme(MLPS) are also tested. And, the performance of these schemes coupled with two turbulence models are evaluated. Computational static pressure distributions are compared with experimental data obtained in this work.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.37-42
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• 2001

A computerized axial flow fan design system is developed with the capabilities for predicting the aerodynamic performance and the noise characteristics of fan. In the present study, the basic fan blading design is made by combining vortex distribution scheme with camber line design, airfoil selection, blade thickness distribution and stacking of blade elements. With the designed fan blade geometry, the through-flow field and the performance of fan are analyzed by using the streamline curvature computing scheme with spanwise total pressure loss and flow deviation models. Fan noise is assumed to be generated due to the pressure fluctuation induced by wake vortices of fan blades and to radiate as dipole distribution. The vortex-induced fluctuating pressure on blade surface is calculated by combining thin airfoil theory and the predicted flow field data. The predicted performances, sound pressure level and noise directivity patterns of fan by the present method are favorably compared with the test data of actual fans. Furthermore, the present method is shown to be very useful in designing the blade geometry of new fan and optimizing design variables of the fan to achieve higher efficiency and lower noise level.

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.661-669
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• 1996

Proposed is an aero-acoustic performance prediction method of axial fan. The fan aerodynamic performance is predicted by combining pitch-averaged quasi 3-D flow analysis with pressure loss models for blade boundary layer and wake, secondary flow, endwall boundary layer and tip leakage flows. Fan noise is assumed to be radiated as dipole distribution type, and its generation is assumed to be mainly due to the vortex street shed from blade trailing edge. The fluctuating pressure and lift on the blade surface are analyzed by incorporating the wake vortex stree shed from blade trailing edge. The fluctuating pressure and lift on the blade surface are analyzed by incorporating the wake vortex street model with thin airfoil theory. The aero-acoustic performance prediction results by the present method are in good agreement with the measured results of several axial fans. With the present prediction method, parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of blade chord length and spacing on the efficiency and the noise level of fan. In the case of lightly loaded fan, both efficiency improvement and noise reduction can be achieved by decreasing chord length or by increasing blade specing. However, when fan is designed at highly loaded condition, the noise reduction by increasing blade spacing penalizes the attaninable efficiency of fan.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.3 no.3 s.8
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• pp.31-40
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• 2000

A computer program is developed for the prediction of the aerodynamic performance and the noise characteristics in the basic design step of axial flow fan. The flow field and the performance of fan are analyzed by using the streamline curvature computing scheme with total pressure loss and flow deviation models. Fan noise is assumed to be generated due to the pressure fluctuations induced by wake vortices of fan blades and to radiate via dipole distribution. The vortex-induced fluctuating pressure on blade surface is calculated by combining thin airfoil theory and the predicted flow field data. The predicted performances, sound pressure level and noise directivity patterns of fan by the present method are favorably compared with the test data of actual fan. Furthermore, the present method is shown to be very useful in optimizing design variables of fan with high efficiency and low noise level.