Experimental study of blade thickness effects on the global and local performances of a Controlled Vortex Designed axial-flow fan
Résumé
The purpose of this work is to study the effects of blade thickness on the performances of an axial- ow fan. Two fans that differ only in the thickness of their blades were studied. The first fan was designed to be part of the cooling system of an automotive vehicle power unit and has very thin blades. The second fan has much thicker blades compatible with the rotomoulding conception process. The global performances of the fans were measured in a test bench designed according to the ISO-5801 standard. The curve of aerodynamics characteristics (pressure head versus ow-rate) is slightly steeper for the fan with thick blades, and the nominal point is shifted towards lower fl ow-rates. The efficiency of the thick blades fan is lower than the efficiency of the fan with thin blades but remains high on a wider flow-rate range. The mean velocity field downstream of the rotors are very similar at nominal points with less centrifugation for the thick blades fan. The thick blades fan moreover maintains an axial exit-fl ow on a wider range of flow-rates. The main dierences concern local properties of the fl ow: Phase-averaged velocities and wall pressure fluctuations strongly differ at the nominal fl ow-rates. The total level of uctuations is lower for the thick blades fan that for the thin blades fan and the spectral decomposition of the wall fl uctuations and velocity signals reveal more harmonics for the thick blades fan, with less correlation between the different signals. For this kind of turbomachinery, the use of thick blades could lead to a good compromise between aerodynamic and acoustic performances, on a wider operating range.
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