Effect of Vortex Design on a Half-Ducted Axial Flow Fan (In the case of forced vortex design)

Abstract

An improvement of the half-ducted axial flow fan design by applying the forced vortex design to the rotor blade was conducted by CFD. The quasi three-dimensional flow theory was applied for the half-ducted fan design, and the meridional flow was calculated by the method of streamline curvature. When the radial balance equations from hub to tip was solved, the vortex design was changed from the constant-whirl-velocity design to the forced vortex design in reference to our previous experimental results of the half-ducted fan's internal flow. The analysis of the three-dimensional internal flow fields of the half-ducted fan designed by adopting the forced vortex design was conducted. As a result of CFD, the efficiency η of the fan was about 1-3 % larger at the flow rate coefficient φ of 0.158-0.343 than the constant-whirl-velocity design.