• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.379-389
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• 2020

In this study, the flow and noise performances of high-speed fan motor unit for cordless vacuum cleaner is improved by optimizing the impeller which drives the suction air through flow passage of the cordless vacuum cleaner. Firstly, the unsteady incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved to investigate the flow through the fan motor unit using the computational fluid dynamics techniques. Based on flow field results, the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) integral equation is used to predict flow noise radiated from the impeller. Predicted results are compared to the measured ones, which confirms the validity of the numerical method used. It is found that the strong vortex is formed around the mid-chord region of the main blades where the blade curvature change rapidly. Given that vortex acts as a loss for flow and a noise source for noise, impeller blade is redesigned to suppress the identified vortex. The response surface method using two factors is employed to determine the optimum inlet and outlet sweep angles for maximum flow rate and minimum noise. Further analysis of finally selected design confirms the improved flow and noise performance.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.524-532
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• 2020

In this study, noise radiated from a high-speed fan-motor unit for a cordless vacuum cleaner is reduced by designing splitter blades on the existing impeller. First of all, in order to investigate the flow field through a fan-motor unit, especially impeller, the unsteady incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are numerically solved by using computational fluid dynamic technique. With predicted flow field results as input, the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) integral equation is solved to predict aerodynamic noise radiated from the impeller. The validity of the numerical methods is confirmed by comparing the predicted sound pressure spectrum with the measured one. Further analysis of the predicted flow field shows that the strong vortex is formed between the impeller blades. As the vortex induces the loss of the flow field and acts as an aerodynamic noise source, supplementary splitter blades are designed to the existing impeller to suppress the identified vortex. The length and position of splitter are selected as design factors and the effect of each design factor on aerodynamic noise is numerically analyzed by using the Taguchi method. From this results, the optimum location and length of splitter for minimum radiated noise is determined. The finally selected design shows lower noise than the existing one.