• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.90.2-90.2
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• 2011

This paper describes performance enhancement of a fuel cell's blower by controlling flow path. Different duct diameter at the inlet and outlet of the blower is selected for reducing blower noise level and input power. Hole diameter and the number of hole at the check valve are tested to reduce the input power of the blower. Two types of blower, fuel pressurized blower and cathode blower, are considered in the present study. Throughout experimental measurements of the test blowers, it is found that duct diameter is effective to reduce noise level and input power in the fuel cell blower. Noise reduction due to the optimal duct diameter at the outlet is more effective when flow rate is relatively large. That is, cathode blower has larger noise reduction compared to fuel pressurized blower because of larger flower rate. Input power of the blower can be reduced by controlling the hole diameter and the number of hole at the check valve.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.40-46
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• 2014

This paper describes blower performance characteristics of a automated vacuum waste collection system. Blowers serially connected to six or seven centrifugal blowers are evaluated by experimental measurements to understand blower performances according to blower numbers operated. Two different blowers and duct diameters connected to the main blowers are considered. Data acquisition system is introduced to measure pressure and pressure difference at the main duct simultaneously, which is connected to several blowers serially. A auxiliary blower, which is installed between a filter room and an air deodorizing apparatus, is also added to simulate its performance effect on the main blower. Throughout the experimental measurements of the blower system, it is found that pressure and inlet velocity at the upstream of a blower increase 3.7 and 2.4 times separately by increasing the operating blower numbers from one to seven. It is noted that blower efficiency and pressure measured at the system vary according to the distance between a air intake and a blower system. Auxiliary blower is effective to increase blower inlet suction pressure, while total energy consumption is increased relatively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.91-91
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• 2011

This paper describes development procedure of the four types of fuel cell's blowers: pressurized fuel blower, selective oxidation air blower, cathode air blower, and burner air blower. Diaphragm blowers having two heads are selected to maintain force balance when the rotating arms are moving by the driving motor. Dimensions of a diaphragm cavity is designed according to the optimal design procedure using numerical simulation and experimental measurement. Experimental apparatus is designed by considering the bower characteristics having low flow rate and high pressure. Test blower is operated by a diaphragm, which has suction and discharge port on the top of the blower. For analyzing the internal flow of the blower, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis is introduced in the present study. Throughout the optimal design of the blowers, blower performance is enhanced by reducing the unbalance motion of the rotating arm and loss region in the diaphragm cavity.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2429-2433
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• 2008

A rotary vane blower was developed as an air supply system for fuel cell application. As one way of improving the blower efficiency, a roller was adapted between vanes and cylinder housing. The performance of blower was investigated experimentally. The blower power input was about 115W to compress the air at normal atmospheric condition to 0.2 bar with the flow rate of 140 NLPM, resulting in the blower overall efficiency of 43%. After 400 hours of operation, the performance of blower was not changed. The result showed that developed blower was confirmed to be suitable for fuel cell application.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.739-744
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• 2012

This paper describes the blower performance used for single-stage high pressure regenerative blower. The blower considered is widely applied to the field of a fuel cell system, a medical equipment and a sewage treatment plant. Flow rate and rotating frequency of a impeller of the blower are considered as design parameters for the proper operation of the blower. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are introduced to analyze the performance and internal flow of the blower. Relatively good agreement between experimental measurements and numerical simulation is obtained. Throughout a numerical simulation, it is found that small and stable vortical flow generated inside the blade passage is effective to increase pressure and efficiency of the blower. Large local recirculation flow having low velocity in the blade passage obstructs the generation of stable vortical flow, thus increases the pressure loss of the blower. Detailed flow field inside the blower is also analyzed and discussed.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.86-93
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• 2014

This paper describes performance enhancement of a regenerative blower used for a 20 kW fuel cell system. Two design variables, bending angle of an impeller and blade thickness of an impeller tip, which are used to define an impeller shape, are introduced to enhance the blower performance. Internal flow of the regenerative blower has been analyzed with three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations to obtain the blower performance. General analysis code, CFX, is introduced in the present work. SST turbulence model is employed to estimate the eddy viscosity. Throughout the numerical analysis, it is found that the thickness of impeller tip is effective to increase the blower efficiency in the present blower. Pressure is successfully increased up to 2.8% compared to the reference blower at the design flow condition. And efficiency is also enhanced up to 2.98 % compared to the reference one. It is noted that low velocity region disturbs to make strong recirculation flow inside the blade passages, thus increases local pressure loss. Detailed flow field inside the regenerative blower is also analyzed and compared.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2014

This paper presents the performance enhancement of a double-inlet centrifugal blower by the shape optimization of an impeller. Two design variables, a number of blade and a length of chord, are introduced, and analyzed by a response surface method. Three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations are used to analyze the blower performance and the internal flow of the blower. Throughout the numerical simulation of the blower, blower efficiency can be increased by reducing separation flow generating from the blade leading edge of a blade pressure surface. It is noted that recirculation flow observed inside the blade passage induces low velocity region, thus increases pressure loss. Efficiency and pressure of the optimum blower are successfully increased up to 3% and 3.9% compared to those of reference blower at the design flow condition, respectively. Detailed flow field inside the blower is also analyzed and compared.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.47-51
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• 2011

This paper describes the shape optimization of a blower impeller used for a refuse collection system. Two design variables, which are used to define the blade angles of an impeller, are introduced to increase the blower performance. A blower efficiency is selected as an object function, and the shape optimization of the blade angles is performed by a response surface method (RSM). Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are introduced to analyze the internal flow of the blower and to find the value of object function for the training data. Relatively good agreement between experimental measurements and numerical simulation is obtained in the present study. Throughout the shape optimization, blower efficiency for the optimal blade angles is successfully increased up to 3.6% compared with that of reference at the design flow rate. Detailed flow field inside the turbo blower is also analyzed and discussed.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.87.2-87.2
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• 2011

This paper describes internal flow of a fuel cell's blower, which is mainly used for detached house and apartment. Test blower is operated by a diaphragm, which has suction and discharge port on the top of the blower. For analyzing the internal flow of the blower, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis is introduced in the present study. Hybrid grid system consisted of hexa hedral, tetra hedral and prism mesh is adopted to describe the complex geometry of the diaphragm blower. Throughout the numerical simulation, it is found that the present numerical modeling for analyzing the internal flow of the test blower is suitable for understanding the unsteady nature inside the cavity of the diaphragm. Detailed unsteady flow is analyzed using the results obtained by numerical simulation.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.688-695
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• 2012

The present study represents the effects of boundary condition on the performance of a centrifugal blower at the interference plane between rotational and stationary domains using three dimensional compressible Navier-Stocks equations. Two boundary conditions, frozen-rotor and stage, are compared to analyze the blower performance. Installation angle between the cutoff of a volute casing and a impeller blade is also introduced to evaluate the blower performance and to understand the internal flow inside the blower. Throughout numerical simulation, it is found that the frozen rotor interface method at the interference plane represents well the variations of flow field inside the blower compared to stage interface method. However, pressure has maximum two percent error according to the installation angles while pressure is almost constant for the stage interface method. And stage interface method can relatively well predict the blower performance. Detailed internal flows of the centrifugal blower are compared and analyzed by numerical simulation.