A Criterion for the Preliminary Design of High-Efficiency Tube-Axial Fans

Author(s):  
Massimo Masi ◽  
Stefano Castegnaro ◽  
Andrea Lazzaretto

Tube-axial fans are widely used in industrial applications because of their compactness, simplicity, and low cost. However, the achievable fan pressure rise is generally penalised by the absence of a straightener and diffuser, and the consequent waste of tangential and axial dynamic pressures at the fan outlet. The corresponding fan efficiency drop might not comply with stringent regulations like the European Directive for energy-related products. Thus, operation ranges of high efficiency need to be clearly defined in the preliminary design phase, especially when constraints on maximum size and/or rotational speed are imposed. This paper proposes analytical formulas and charts to evaluate the efficiency of the tube-axial fan configuration (with or without tail-cone diffuser) when constraints on fan size and/or speed are additional design requirements. The analytical formulas and charts have been validated against experimental data. On this basis, a preliminary design criterion is suggested for high-efficiency tube-axial fans featuring arbitrary vortex design blades of constant swirl type. The criterion is used to design a 315 mm low-to-medium pressure tube-axial fan that is able to operate at a constant aeraulic efficiency peak of approximately 0.6 for blade positioning angles in the range 20° to 30°.

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (suppl. 3) ◽  
pp. 553-564
Author(s):  
Johannes Walter ◽  
Dieter Wurz ◽  
Stefan Hartig ◽  
Martin Gabi

Axial fans are used in power plants for fresh air supply and flue gas transport. A typical configuration consists of an axial fan and annular diffuser which connects the fan to the following piping. In order to achieve a high efficiency of the con-figuration, not only the components have to be optimized but also their interaction. The present study focuses on the diffuser of the configuration. Experiments are performed on a diffuser-piping configuration to investigate the influence of the velocity profile at the fan outlet on the pressure recovery of the configuration. Two different diffuser inlet profiles are generated, an undisturbed profile and a profile with the typical outlet characteristics of a fan. The latter is generated by the superposition of screens in the inlet zone. The tests are conducted at a high Reynolds number (Re ? 4?105). Mean velocity profiles and wall shear stresses are measured with hydraulic methods (Prandtl and Preston tubes). The results show that there is a lack of momentum at the outer wall of the diffuser and high shear stresses at the inner wall in case of the undisturbed inflow profile. For the typical fan outlet profile it is vice versa. There are high wall shear stresses at the outer wall while the boundary layer of the inner wall lacks momentum. The pressure recovery of the undisturbed inflow configuration is in good agreement with other studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Cheng ◽  
Longjun Xu ◽  
Chenglun Liu ◽  
Zao Jiang ◽  
Qiyuan Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract In this work, red mud was used as raw material to extract Al and Fe with hydrochloric acid. The high-efficiency polyaluminum iron chloride (PAFC) flocculant was prepared via adjusting the pH of the leaching solution, the molar ratio of aluminum and iron, and the polymerization temperature. The effect of synthesis and flocculation conditions on the flocculation performance of aged landfill leachate was investigated. The results confirmed that the PAFC prepared at the polymerization pH of 2.5, the Al/Fe molar ratio of 8, and the polymerization temperature of 70 °C had the optimum flocculation effect. The flocculation consequences of PAFC and commercial polyaluminum iron chloride flocculant (CPAFC) under different flocculation conditions were compared. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), UV254, chroma and settlement height of PAFC at flocculant concentration of 60 g/L and solution pH of 6 were 72.2%, 79.2%, 82.9% and 9.5 cm (within 90 min), respectively. PAFC has excellent flocculation performance and can be used as a simple, potentially low-cost wastewater treatment agent in industrial applications.


Author(s):  
Siddharth Thakur ◽  
Wanlai Lin ◽  
Jeffrey Wright ◽  
Wei Shyy ◽  
Ron Lievens

A CFD-based computational tool is used to analyze flows in axial fans. Computed results for an axial fan flow field for one particular blade shape are presented; certain global quantities such as the mass-averaged pressure rise and the static efficiency available from test data for different mass flow rates are used to evaluate the trends predicted by the CFD results. The characteristic feature of the fan flow fields presented here is a very low pressure rise; due care is exercised to ensure that grid dependence and numerical dissipation do not smear out the key features of the computed flow fields.


Author(s):  
Tommaso Bonanni ◽  
Lucio Cardillo ◽  
Alessandro Corsini ◽  
Giovanni Delibra ◽  
Anthony G. Sheard ◽  
...  

The work presented in this paper concerns a useful method for axial fans preliminary design based on the “Derivative Design” concept. The emphasis is, on one side, on education and, on the other, on the practical help that such method can provide in the early preliminary design process. A complete data set of an axial fan measured with ISO 5801 standards is the start point for the investigation and the prediction of the multiple possible performance that different fan configurations can provide, in terms of dimensionless duty coefficients. In particular, configurations with different number of blades, and hence of solidity, are studied. The typical options of derivative design are explored and relations for performance prediction are presented. A detailed description of the derivative design methodology is followed by tests and validation. The tools employed are a fully three dimensional code, the Advanceded Actuator Disk Mode (AADM), and two other in-house codes, the Meanline Axisymmetric Calculation (MAC) and Axisymmetric Laboratory (AXLAB). Results of the derivative design method are reported, showing a good accuracy against the AADM data. The MAC and AXLAB ensure still acceptable results when increasing the solidity of the machine. On the contrary, a decrease of solidity leads to higher relative errors in the prediction of the load coefficient. In conclusion, an exploration of the possible fields of operation of a blade profile can be carried out by a correct prediction of the stage diffusion factor.


2005 ◽  
Vol 498-499 ◽  
pp. 676-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Fernandes ◽  
E.U.C. Frajndlich ◽  
Humberto Gracher Riella

The high pure synthetic zeolite have a large application in industry and agriculture, being nowadays in majority imported in Brazil. The biomass like rice hull ash (RHA), a rice industry waste, can be real advantageous in manufacture of different materials, since that is produced in large scale in the country. The silica extraction from RHA by alkaline leaching is a low energetic coast process and high efficiency, obtaining high pure silica with high reactive amorphous structure, very interesting for zeolite production. In this work was developed a economically feasible route for the production of high purity and crystallinity ZSM-5 zeolite, free of expensive template, starting from a low value intake, a industrial waste, producing a high value materials. The extracted silica from RHA in sodium silicate form is precipitated in the proper zeolite formation reactional mixture. The ZSM-5 have a lot of industrial applications due your high selectivity in catalytic reactions and high thermal and acid stability.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taku Iwase ◽  
Kazuyuki Sugimura ◽  
Taro Tanno

We designed an axial fan for servers using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and numerical optimization. The performance of the fan, namely static pressure rise and efficiency, was calculated using commercial CFD software based on an incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. An automatic program developed in-house was used to generate the grids for CFD calculation. Numerical optimization—using a simulated annealing algorithm (SA)—was used for determining the optimized shape of the fan. After optimizing the fan, initial and optimized fan designs were made for experiments using rapid prototyping, and their performances, based on such things as efficiency and noise level, were measured. Results demonstrated that the optimized fan design achieved higher efficiency than the initial design. Multi optimization was also developed for maximizing the fan efficiency and minimizing the casing height. An additional finding was that there was a trade-off between the fan efficiency and casing height.


Author(s):  
Victorita Radulescu

Abstract Present paper describes some experimental results obtained for modeling an axial fan with newly designed blade profiles, having high efficiency, low vibrations and noise. The axial fan was firstly designed by computational method, during a research project with our industrial partner SAVEB SA. One of the company objectives is represented by the production of the axial industrial fans, dedicated to different users to eliminate the smoke and the air pollutants from industrial halls, according to their specific needs. In the beginning, are presented some aspects of the theoretical aspects used in the numerical modeling for designing the rotor blades. Some considerations concerning the selection of the incidence angles of 10°, 15°, and 20° are mentioned. The profiles were selected from the recommended schemes, for different industrial applications, as the industrial halls for the air or gas circulation without corrosive, abrasive, or toxic agents, metallic dust, or with crowding/sticking suspensions contents. For this type of axial fan, the content of suspensions should not exceed 50 mg/m3. Further is presented the experimental stand, in conformity with actual standards, STAS 7466-84 and DIN 24163, equipped with a hydrometer with an error less than 3%, barometer with an error less than 1 mm Hg, stroboscope and tachometer with an error less 0,5% from the total rotation velocity, two voltmeters, with an error less 0,5, two wattmeters, etc. For the experimental tests was selected a fan with a diameter of 630 mm, which as standard execution has a maximum efficiency of 56%, in six different constructive variants: a rotor with 12 profiles and directory device with 11 blades, with 6 blades and directory device, etc. As the first variant of the rotor’s profiles has been used two solutions for the realization as two technological options, both of them tested in the laboratory. There are detailed some schemes adopted for the measurements and tests, and finally the adopted solution for measuring different characteristic parameters like efficiency, noise, and vibrations produced by the axial fan. Next are illustrated part of the measurement reports and the corresponding charts. Of the total amount of experimental results were selected for measuring scheme III and IV for their optimum energetic characteristics and high efficiency. All four diagrams are presented for both selected solutions used in the realization of the fan rotor blades. Finally, some conclusions and references are presented.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R. Neal

Low-speed axial fans are used extensively for ventilation purposes in industrial and commercial buildings. In agricultural applications, such as a greenhouse, the ventilation is critical, since entire crops can be damaged or destroyed if a clean air supply is not maintained. The cost-marginal nature of these businesses demand that operating costs be kept to a minimum, hence there is a strong motivation to develop higher efficiency ventilation fans. An analysis of a low-speed axial fan has been developed using a control volume-based energy balance. The specific fan is an axial ventilation fan that is commonly found on agricultural facilities such as green-houses or livestock buildings. These fans induce an airflow from a large building into the open atmosphere at very low (or often effectively zero) system restriction or pressure rise. The definition for static efficiency, which is commonly used by the axial fan community, is examined and its implications are discussed. Since static efficiency yields a zero-percent efficient fan at a zero pressure rise operating condition, the ventilation fan industry has developed an alternate definition of efficiency. This alternate definition of efficiency, along with other proposed definitions, are described and their limitations are discussed. A new definition of efficiency is introduced and its basis in the integral energy equation is identified. The primary loss mechanisms of low-speed axial turbomachinery are discussed and scaling arguments are developed and used in the integral energy equation analysis. The results of this analysis yield an expanded expression of efficiency in which the loss mechanism terms can be empirically determined. When analyzed with values for a particular fan system, these results can further be used as the basis for an optimization study of that fan system.


2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raman Chadha ◽  
Gerald L. Morrison ◽  
Andrew R. McFarland

High efficiency air blowers to meet future portable aerosol sampling applications were designed, fabricated, and their performance evaluated. A preliminary blower design based on specific speed was selected, modeled in CFD, and the flow field simulated. This preliminary blower size was scaled in planar and axial directions, at different rpm values, to set the Best Efficiency Point (BEP) at a flow rate of 100 L/min (1.67×10−3 m3/s @ room conditions) and a pressure rise of 1000 Pa (4″ WC). Characteristic curves for static pressure rise versus air flow rate through the impeller were generated. Experimentally measured motor/blower combination efficiency (ηEXP) for the preliminary design was around 10%. The low value was attributed to the low efficiency of the D.C. motor used (Chadha, 2005). CFD simulations using the κ–ε turbulent model and standard wall function (non-equilibrium wall functions) approach overpredicted the head values. Enhanced wall treatment under-predicted the head rise but provided better agreement with experimental results. The static pressure rise across the final blower is 1021 Pa at the design flow rate of 100 L/min. Efficiency value based on measured static pressure rise value and the electrical energy input to the motor (ηEXP) is 26.5%, a 160% improvement over the preliminary design.


Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1924
Author(s):  
Alaaeldien Hassan ◽  
Xu Yang ◽  
Wenjie Chen ◽  
Mohamad Abou Houran

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) have become a trend in the field of DC/AC inverters and one of the main requirements in many of the industrial applications. MLIs spread in the academic research field and replaced the conventional inverters due to the several advantages that these topologies presented over the conventional inverters, as follows. (1) Operate with a high number of steps in the output voltage waveform, which helps in reducing the level of harmonics and presents fine and clear waveforms; furthermore, reduce the voltage stress on the switching devices and gives it a long lifetime and more reliability. (2) MLIs have a low rating of the switching devices, which has a noticeable role in reducing the system cost. (3) MLIs can be operated at both higher and lower switching frequencies, which reduces the level of power losses and enhances the overall efficiency. The main problem that faces the researchers in the multilevel inverters field is to design a topology that uses the optimum number of components to ensure the low cost and obtain a high efficiency. This paper presents a description of different topologies of MLIs that were investigated in the last two decades to show the pros and cons of each topology. Also a set of performance parameters that were used to measure the effectiveness of the MLI topologies have been discussed.


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