• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.4 no.1 s.10
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• pp.22-29
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• 2001

Centrifugal fans are widely used in industrial practices but the noise generated by these machines causes one of the most serious problems. In general, the centrifugal 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 flow discharged from the impeller and the cutoff in the easing. However, only a few researches have been carried out on predicting the noise because of the difficulty in obtaining detailed information about the flow field and casing effects on noise radiation. The objective of this study is to develop a prediction method for the unsteady flow field and the acoustic pressure field of a centrifugal fan, and to calculate the effects of small vanes that are attached in original impeller - Splitter impeller. We assume that the impeller rotates with a constant angular velocity and the flow field around the impeller is incompressible and inviscid. So, a discrete vortex method (DVM) is used to model the centrifugal fan and to calculate the flow field. The force of each element on the blade is calculated by the unsteady Bernoulli equation. Lowson's method is used to predict the acoustic source. The splitter impeller changes the acoustic characteristics as well as performance. Two-splitter type impeller and splitter impeller which splitter locates in jet region are good for acoustic characteristics.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.12a
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• pp.129-136
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• 2000

Centrifugal fans are widely used and the noise generated by these machines causes one of the most serious problems. In general, the centrifugal 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 flow discharged from the impeller and the cutoff in the casing. However, only a few researches have been carried out on predicting the noise because of the difficulty in obtaining detailed Information about the flow field and casing effects on noise radiation. The objective of this study is to develop a prediction method for the unsteady flow field and the acoustic pressure field of a centrifugal fan, and to calculate the effects of small vanes that are attached in original impeller - Splitter impeller. We assume that the impeller rotates with a constant angular velocity and the flow field around the impeller is incompressible and inviscid. So, a discrete vortex method (DVM) is used to model the centrifugal fan and to calculate the flow field. The force of each element on the blade is calculated by the unsteady Bernoulli equation. Lowson's method is used to predict the acoustic source. The splitter impeller changes the acoustic characteristics as well as performance. Two-splitter type impeller and splitter impeller which splitter locates in jet region are good for acoustic characteristics.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.5-11
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to design the transonic centrifugal compressor impeller with splitter blades and analyze the flow fields with respect to various splitter blades. Seven impellers with different splitter chord length or pitchwise location were tested by using CFD method. To investigate aerodynamic performance, Mach number distribution and entropy distribution were confirmed. As a result, it is found that the size of transonic region and shock wave location are related to the splitter chord length and pitchwise location. Also the impeller with long chord length of splitter shows higher total pressure ratio but lower efficiency than those of the impeller with short chord length of splitter. In terms of pitchwise location, the impeller with the splitter located in mid-pitch of main blades shows the best performance with respect to pressure ratio and efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.113-118
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• 2000

Centrifugal pump are widely used and the noise generated by these machines causes one of the most serious problems. In general, the centrifugal pump 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 flow discharged from the impeller and the cutoff in the casing. However, only a few researches have been carried out on predicting the noise because of the difficulty in obtaining detailed information about the flow field and casing effects on noise radiation. The objective of this study is to develop a prediction method for the unsteady flow field and the acoustic pressure field of a centrifugal pump, and to calculate the effects of small vanes that are attached in original impeller-splitter impeller. We assume that the impeller rotates with a constant angular velocity and the flow field around the impeller is incompressible and inviscid. So, a discrete vortex method(DVM) is used to model the centrifugal pump and to calculate the flow field. The force of each element on the blade is calculated by the unsteady Bernoulli equation. Lowson's method is used to predict the acoustic source. The splitter impeller changes the acoustic characteristics as well as performance. Two-splitter type impeller is good for acoustic characteristics.

• 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.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.168-173
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• 2012

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the aerodynamic performance according to the application of splitter blades in an impeller of a centrifugal fan used for a refuse collection system. Numerical analysis of a centrifugal fan was carried out by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the shear stress transport turbulence model. A validation of numerical results was conducted by comparison with experimental data for the pressure and efficiency. From analyses of the internal flow field of the reference fan, the losses by the reverse-flows were observed in the region of the blade passage. In order to reduce these losses and enhance fan performance, two splitter blades were applied evenly between the main blades, and centrifugal impellers having the different numbers of the main blades were tested with their application. Throughout the numerical analyses of the centrifugal fan with splitter blades, it was found that the reverse-flow regions in the blade passage can be reduced by controlling the main blade numbers with splitter blades. The application of splitter blades in a centrifugal fan leads to significant improvement in the overall fan performance.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

Mini centrifugal pumps having a diameter smaller than 100mm are employed in many fields. But the design method for the mini centrifugal pump is not established because the internal flow condition for these small-sized fluid machines is not clarified and conventional theory is not suitable for small-sized pumps. Therefore, mini centrifugal pumps with simple structure were investigated by this research. Splitter blades were adopted in this research to improve the performance and the internal flow condition of mini centrifugal pump which had large blade outlet angle. The original impeller without the splitter blades and the impeller with the splitter blades were prepared for an experiment. The performance tests are conducted with these rotors in order to investigate the effect of the splitter blades on performance and internal flow condition of mini centrifugal pump. On the other hand, a three dimensional steady numerical flow analysis is conducted with the commercial code (ANSYS-CFX) to investigate the internal flow condition in detail. It is clarified from experimental results that the performance of the mini centrifugal pump is improved by the effect of the splitter blades. Blade-to-blade low velocity regions are suppressed in the case with the splitter blades and total pressure loss regions are decreased. The effects of the splitter blades on the performance and the internal flow condition are discussed in this paper.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 1989

Flows through impellers of centrifugal compressors are calculated by a streamline curvature method. A method for the exit boundary condition is suggested in the present paper. Flow angles are assumed to be deviated from the blade angle parabolically. The maximum deviation is adjusted for the whole angular momentum to balance with the empirically estimated value by using Stanitz' slip-factor. The present method is verified to reasonably simulate flows through the impeller, when the 3-dimensionality of the flow is not strong. It is also shown that the method can be applied for the design of the splitter in the impeller.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1065-1072
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• 2014

The shape of an impeller splitter for a dual-inlet centrifugal blower was optimized to enhance the blower performance. Two design variable, the normalized chord and pitch of a splitter, were used to evaluate the blower performance and internal flow fields based on the three-dimensional flow analysis. The blower performance obtained using this numerical simulation had a maximum error of 4 percent compared to that in an experiment at the design flow condition. The shape optimization of the splitter successfully increased the blower efficiency and pressure by 3.65 and 1.14 percent compared to the reference values. The blower performance was increased by reducing the flow separation near the blade suction surface by optimizing the shape of the splitter, which produced a pressure increase at the outlet of the volute casing.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.152-155
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• 2008

In this paper, the effect of modification of geometric variables on the performance of a centrifugal compressor blade has been studied numerically. The compressor contains six main blades and six splitter blades. Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with shear stress turbulence (SST) model are discretized by finite volume approximations and solved on hexahedral grids for flow analysis. The design variables from blade lean angle at tip and middle of the blade have been modified. The isentropic blade efficiency and pressure have been predicted with the variation of the variables. Frozen rotor simulation is performed and adiabatic wall condition has been used. One of the six blades of compressor has been used for simulation to reduce the computational load. Optimum number of meshes has been selected by grid-dependency test, and this is used for all the simulations with changing geometric variables. The detailed flow analysis results have been reported as well as the effects of the variables.