Improved Aerodynamics of a Hollow-Blade Axial Flow Fan by Controlling the Leakage Flow Rate by Air Injection at the Rotating Shroud

Michaël Pereira (1) , Florent Ravelet (1) , Kamel Azzouz (2) , Tarik Azzam (3) , Hamid Oualli (3) , Smaïne Kouidri (1) , Farid Bakir (1)

1 LIFSE - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Fluides et des Systèmes Énergétiques
2 Valeo.ai
3 EMP - École Militaire Polytechnique [Alger]

Axial flow fans are used in many fields in order to ensure the mass and heat transferfrom air, chiefly in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry (HVAC). A more properunderstanding of the airflow behavior through the systems is necessary to manage and optimize thefan operation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) represents a real tool providing the ability toaccess flow structures in areas that measuring equipment cannot reach. Reducing the leakage flowrate, inherent in operation, by synthetic-jet techniques improves performance. This paper presents theCFD results performed on a hollow blade fan developed by our team. The leakage flow is controlledby blowing air from 16 designated circular holes and arranged on the fan shroud. We discuss theresults for two rotational speeds (1000and2000rpm) and two injection rates (400and800liters/min).The numerical results consistent with the experimental show, for the low rotation speed and highinjection ratio, significant gains in power (53%), torque (80%) and leakage flow rate (80%)

Mots clés: Improved axial flow fan; CFD; leakage flow rate; air injection; hollow blade; rotating shroud

Domaines: Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]

Michaël Pereira, Florent Ravelet, Kamel Azzouz, Tarik Azzam, Hamid Oualli, et al.. Improved Aerodynamics of a Hollow-Blade Axial Flow Fan by Controlling the Leakage Flow Rate by Air Injection at the Rotating Shroud. Entropy, 2021, 23, ⟨10.3390/e23070877⟩. ⟨hal-03282305⟩