Effect of Blade Numbers on Aerodynamic Performance and Noise of Small Axial Flow Fan

Abstract

To more fully explore the effect of blade numbers on aerodynamic performance and noise of small axial flow fan, some solutions are adopted to obtain the parameters’ distribution of the flow field.Firstly, the standard k-ε turbulence model is used to calculate the steady flow field of six different fan blades(such as 5,7,9,11,13,15) , and the SIMPLE algorithm is applied to couple vecolity and pressure. Secondly, the large eddy simulation in conjunction with the FH-W noise model are used to compute the unsteady flow field and noise. Finally, the experimental results verify that the calculation methods of steady flow field and unsteady flow field are correct. The conclusions show: (1)Total pressure and efficiency generally maintain the trend of firstly increasing and then decreasing with increasing the blade numbers, and it is the greatest when fan blade number is 11. The flow rate coupled with the maximum efficiency has never changed with increasing the blade numbers. (2)With the increasing blades, overall sound pressure level of the aerodynamic noise is gradually decreasing near the outlet of fan tip, while it is firstly decreasing and then increasing before decreasing again 1 meter away from the central axis of the impeller along the outlet. When fan blade number is 11, overall sound pressure level of the aerodynamic noise is the greatest.