Effect of Blade Design Parameters on Air Flow through an Axial Fan

Abstract

The objective of this paper is the numerical study of the flow through an axial fan and examining the effects of blade design parameters on the performance of the fan. The axial fan is extensively used for cooling of the electronic devices and servers. Simulation of the three-dimensional incompressible turbulent flow was conducted by numerical solution of the (RANS) equations for a model. The SST- k-ω and k-e turbulence models are applied in the simulations which are done using CFX software. The comparison between available experimental data and simulation results indicates that the SST k-ω model gives more accurate results than the k-e model. The results also show that in separation regions and vortices, the pressure will decrease. Hub area and blade root contain large vortices. The effects of changes in the blade geometry and the number of blades on the fan performance are studied in detail. For the primary fan model with the different number of blades (4, 5, and 6), the maximum mass flow rate of 800 CFM is obtained. Hence, the number of blades had negligible effects on the maximum flow rate. By 3o% decreasing in the chord of the blades, the maximum mass flow rate of the fan with the different number of blades (5, 6 and 8) will be reduced to 500 CFM. Therefore, in order to increase the maximum mass flow rate, the chord and the width of blades should be increased. On the other hand, by increasing blades from 4 to 6 in the primary model, the maximum outlet pressure has been increased by 32%. Furthermore, it was found that in high flow rates, an increment in the number of blades had no effect on the produced static pressure.