• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.205-208
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• 2006

This paper proposes a new computational aeroacoustics method for an axial fan analysis. The major aeroacoustic noise source of an outdoor air-conditioner is the axial fan. It was revealed that the dominant noise source is the aerodynamic interactions between the rotating blade and stationary orifice. Many researches were focused on the fan only case. However, it does not fit to a real outdoor unit of air-conditioner. Especially, the inlet part of the axial fan of real system case is complex and not uniform. So, in order to identify the dominant noise source of axial fan, full outdoor unit analysis is important. Transient CFD analysis of full system was performed by commercial CFD code - SC/Tetra. Dominant noise source of the system was calculated by commercial CFN code - FlowNoise. The results show that not only BPF peaks but also broadband noise are similar to the measured data.

• 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.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2014

In order to clarify the effect of inlet bellmouth size of semi-opened type axial fan on its performance and flow fields around rotor, fan test and flow field measurements using hotwire anemometer were carried out for 6 kinds of bellmouth size. As results of fan test, the shaft power curve hardly changed, even if the bellmouth size changed. On the other hand, the pressure-rise near best efficiency point became small with the bellmouth size decreasing. Therefore, the value of maximum efficiency became small as the bellmouth size decreased. As results of flow field measurements at fan inlet, the main flow region with large meridional velocity existed near blade tip when the bellmouth size was large. As bellmouth size became smaller, the meridional velocity at fan inlet became smaller and the one at outside of blade tip became larger. As results of flow field measurements at fan outlet, the main flow region existed near rotor hub side.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1335-1342
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• 2000

Three-dimensional flow analysis and numerical optimization methods are presented for the design of an axial-flow fan. Steady, incompressible, three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used as governing equations, and standard k- ${\varepsilon}$ turbulence model is chosen as a turbulence model. Governing equations are discretized using finite volume method. Steepest descent method, conjugate gradient method and BFGS method are compared to determine the searching directions. Golden section method and quadratic fit-sectioning method are tested for one dimensional search. Objective function is defined as a ratio of generation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy to pressure head. Two variables concerning sweep angle distribution are selected as the design variables. Performance of the final fan designed by the optimization was tested experimentally.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.94-104
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• 2013

This paper describes the design to increase the blade loading factor of a low speed axial flow fan from normal 0.42 to highly loaded 0.55. A three-dimensional viscous solver is used to model the flows in the highly-loaded and normal loaded stages over its operation range. At the design point operation the static pressure rise can be increased by 20 percent with a deficit of efficiency by 0.3 percent. In the highly loaded fan stage, the rotor hub flow stalls, and separation vortex extends over the rotor hub region. The backflow, which occurs along the stator hub-suction surface, changes the exit flow from the prescribed axial direction. Results in this paper confirm that the limitation of the two dimensional diffusion does not affect primarily on the fan's performance. Highly loaded fan may have actually better performance than its two dimensional design. Three dimensional designing approaches may lead to better highly loaded fan with controlled rotor hub stall.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.790-798
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• 2008

Counter-rotating axial flow fan(CRF) consists of two counter-rotating rotors without stator blades. CRF shows the complex flow characteristics of the three-dimensional, viscous, and unsteady flow fields. For the understanding of the entire core flow in CRF, it is necessary to investigate the three-dimensional unsteady flow field between the rotors. This information is also essential to improve the aerodynamic characteristics and to reduce the aerodynamic noise level and vibration characteristics of the CRF. In this paper, experimental study on the three-dimensional unsteady flow of the CRF is performed at the design point(operating point). Flow fields in the CRF are measured at the cross-sectional planes of the upstream and downstream of each rotor using the $45^{\circ}$ inclined hot-wire. The phase-locked averaged hot-wire technique utilizes the inclined hot-wire, which rotates successively with 120 degree increments about its own axis. Three-dimensional unsteady flow characteristics such as tip vortex, secondary flow and tip leakage flow in the CRF are shown in the form of the axial, radial and tangential velocity vector plot and velocity contour. The phase-locked averaged velocity profiles of the CRF are analyzed by means of the stationary unsteady measurement technique. At the mean radius of the front rotor inlet and the outlet, the phase-locked averaged velocity profiles show more the periodical flow characteristics than those of the hub region. At the tip region of the CRF, the axial velocity is decreased due to the boundary layer effect of the fan casing and the tip vortex flow. The radial and the tangential velocity profiles show the most unstable and unsteady flow characteristics compared with other position of rotors. But, the phase-locked averaged velocity profiles of the downstream of the rear rotor show the aperiodic flow pattern due to the mixture of the front rotor wake period and the rear rotor rotational period.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.25-33
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• 2000

This study represents three-dimensional turbulent flow characteristics around an axial fan measured at the operating point ${\varphi}=0.32$, which is equivalent to the maximum flowrate region, by using three-dimensional fiber-optic type LDA system. This LDA system is composed of a 5 W Argon-ion laser, two optics in back-scatter mode, three BSA's, a PC, and a three-dimensional automatic traversing system. A kind of paraffin fog is used for laser particles in this study. Mean velocity profiles around an axial fan along the downstream radial distance show that the streamwise and the tangential components exist as a predominant velocity and have the maximum value at the radial distance ratio 0.8, while the radial component has a small scale distribution and its flow direction is inward except a part of blade tip. The turbulent intensity profiles show that the radial component exists the most greatly. And also the turbulent kinetic energy shows about 60% as a maximum value at the radial distance ratio 0.9. Moreover, the Reynolds shear stresses do not exist at upstream flow, but the streamwise and the radial components of them show about 20% as a maximum value at the radial distance ratio 0.9 at downstream flow.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.12a
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• pp.49-54
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• 1998

The flow inside an axial turbomachinery with multi-stage can be characterized as unsteady phenomena. In order to predict accurately these complex unsteady flow patterns including rotor-stator interaction effects, enormous computer resources are required. So it is not compatible in preliminary design process. In this study, steady coupled blade row flow with rotor-stator interaction solver is developed using interrow mixing model and used to predict the performance of the axial fan. To verify the computational method, the calculations are compared with experimental results and show satisfactory agreement with them. The interaction effects on the performance of the axial fan have also been studied by comparing the results of steady coupled blade row and steady single blade row flow calculation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.181-188
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• 2004

The frequency characteristics in an axial flow fan operating at a design and three off-design operating conditions have been investigated by measuring the velocity fluctuation of a tip leakage vortex and a wake flow. Two hot-wire probe sensors rotating with the fan rotor. a fixed and a moving ones, were introduced to obtain a cross-correlation coefficient between two sensors as well as the fluctuating velocity. The results show that the spectral peaks due to the fluctuating velocity near the rotor tip are mainly observed in the reverse flow region of higher flow rates than those in the peak pressure operating condition. However, no peak frequency presents near the rotor tip for near stall condition. Detailed wake flow just downstream of the rotor blade was also measured by the rotating hot-wire sensor. The peak frequency of a high velocity fluctuation due to Karman vortex shedding in the wake region is mainly observed at the higher flow rate condition than that in the design point.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1586-1594
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• 1997

Performance characteristics of a small propeller fan are numerically investigated solving the continuity and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The Reynolds stresses for turbulent transport are modelled using a k-.epsilon. turbulence model. The present numerical procedure is constructed using the Finite Volume Method with the SIMPLE algorithms. The performance parameters obtained from the calculations are compared with the measured values for the various flow rates. A performance test of the fan shows different characteristics between a radial type at small flow rates and an axial type at large flow rates. Comparisons between the predictions and the measurements show that the predicted results are in good agreement with the measured values and reasonably reproduce the sharp variations of the power and head coefficient around a flow coefficient .PHI.=0.3. These comparisons indicate that the present numerical method is capable of resolving the performance characteristics with reasonable accuracy. At low flow rates, it is found that the flow enters the fan in an axial direction and is discharged radially outward at the tip which happens in the centrifugal fan. The centrifugal effect makes a significant difference in the characteristics of a fan at the low and high values of flow coefficient.