Research on the Similarities and the Solutions of an Inlet Cone Vortex in Centrifugal Fans

Abstract

The inlet cone vortex pressure pulsations in centrifugal fans with inlet guide vanes are caused by the oscillatory motion of the swirl flow in the inlet cone. These studies were carried out to clarify the similarities of inlet cone vortex pressure pulsations, and to find out solutions to reduce the amplitude. Three different centrifugal fans were tested for pressure pulsations. The results of these studies show that the Strouhal number of the oscillatory motions can be related to the ratio of the angular and the linear momentum fluxes. Then an effective solution was found for reducing the amplitude of pressure pulsations.