An Investigation Into Acoustics and Vibraton of CPAP Devices: Numerical Prediction of Centrifugal Fan Acoustics and Vibration

Author(s):  
Xuan-Tung Vuong ◽  
A. M. Al-Jumaily ◽  
Robert Paxton

Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) devices are used to generate pressurized airflow to relieve upper airways and allow Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) patients to breathe comfortably and easily. The airflow path in these devices consists of several components including but is not limited to inlet and outlet ducts, a centrifugal fan, a humidifier and a human interface. These components contribute significantly to the noise generated by the airflow. This research paper present a numerical study of a centrifugal fan performed with commercial ANSYS software package to predict the sound and vibration produced by the centrifugal fan. The methodologies are following: first, the unsteady flow field is computed using the CFD model to obtain aerodynamic quantities and sound sources. Then, the finite element method (FEM) is used to predict the flow-induced vibration using the predicted aerodynamic quantities. Finally, the Ffowcs-William and Hawkings’s (FW-H) acoustic analogy is used to predict the acoustic pressure at the far-field using the sound sources from the unsteady simulation.

Author(s):  
Kin’ya Takahashi ◽  
Masataka Miyamoto ◽  
Yasunori Ito ◽  
Toshiya Takami ◽  
Taizo Kobayashi ◽  
...  

The acoustic mechanisms of 2D and 3D edge tones and a 2D small air-reed instrument have been studied numerically with compressible Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Sound frequencies of the 2D and 3D edge tones obtained numerically change with the jet velocity well following Brown’s semi-empirical equation, while that of the 2D air-reed instrument behaves in a different manner and obeys the semi-empirical theory, so called Cremer-Ising-Coltman theory. We have also calculated aerodynamic sound sources for the 2D edge tone and the 2D air-reed instrument relying on Ligthhill’s acoustic analogy and have discussed similarities and differences between them. The sound source of the air-reed instrument is more localized around the open mouth compared with that of the edge tone due to the effect of the strong sound field excited in the resonator.


Author(s):  
Q Liu ◽  
D Qi ◽  
Y Mao

A numerical study on the aerodynamic noise generation of an industrial centrifugal fan with forward swept blades is carried out. Three-dimensional numerical simulations of the complete unsteady flowfield in the whole impeller — volute configuration are performed to obtain the aerodynamic sound sources. Then, aerodynamic sound is calculated using the Lowson equation and compared with the measurements. Moreover, the fan is modified for noise reduction by increasing the distance between the impeller tip and the volute tongue and sloping the volute tongue. The sound levels of the modified fan are lower than those of the original one over almost the entire range of frequencies analysed. The blade passing frequency level of the modified fan is decreased by about 15 dB at the design point. The method described and applied in this work provides a good qualitative prediction of the noise generation when designing a new fan, thus facilitating the choice of the lowest noise fan from several feasible alternatives.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ottersten ◽  
Huadong Yao ◽  
Lars Davidson

In this study, an isolated centrifugal fan is investigated for the aerodynamic and acoustic performances usingRANS and URANS simulations. The noise is predicted by coupling the URANS and the Ffowcs Williams andHawkings acoustic analogy. The aerodynamic properties obtained from RANS and URANS are consistentwith the experimental data. The magnitudes of the tonal noise at the blade passing frequencies are wellpredicted. Recirculating flows, which are responsible for reducing the fan efficiency and increasing the noisegeneration, are observed between the shroud and the blade trailing edges. It is found that the recirculatingflows are associated with the gap between the shroud and the inlet duct.


Author(s):  
Manjunath L Nilugal ◽  
K Vasudeva Karanth ◽  
Madhwesh N

This article presents the effect of volute chamfering on the performance of a forward swept centrifugal fan. The numerical analysis is performed to obtain the performance parameters such as static pressure rise coefficient and total pressure coefficient for various flow coefficients. The chamfer ratio for the volute is optimized parametrically by providing a chamfer on either side of the volute. The influence of the chamfer ratio on the three dimensional flow domain was investigated numerically. The simulation is carried out using Re-Normalisation Group (RNG) k-[Formula: see text] turbulence model. The transient simulation of the fan system is done using standard sliding mesh method available in Fluent. It is found from the analysis that, configuration with chamfer ratio of 4.4 is found be the optimum configuration in terms of better performance characteristics. On an average, this optimum configuration provides improvement of about 6.3% in static pressure rise coefficient when compared to the base model. This optimized chamfer configuration also gives a higher total pressure coefficient of about 3% validating the augmentation in static pressure rise coefficient with respect to the base model. Hence, this numerical study establishes the effectiveness of optimally providing volute chamfer on the overall performance improvement of forward bladed centrifugal fan.


2015 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 588-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Rong ◽  
Ke Cui ◽  
Zijun Li ◽  
Zhengren Wu

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150267
Author(s):  
Bo Luo ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Song Yan ◽  
Zhengjing Shen ◽  
Haoguang Zhang

The noise emitted from an axial fan has become one of the primary concerns for many industrial applications. This paper presents the work to predict the noise generation and investigate sound sources in a low speed axial fan. Computational fluid dynamics modeling is conducted using Scale Adaptive Simulation for the unsteady flow field. The sound predictions by the acoustic analogy are in good agreement with the experimental data. The results from this study show that the aerodynamic interaction between the blades and outlet vanes has a major contribution to the radiated noise spectrum. Two types of sources of narrowband humps are identified in the axial fan. The first is found at the leading edge of the blade tip, which is related to the interaction of coherent flow structures in the blade tip region. The second is found in the vicinity of the blade hub, which can be attributed to the recirculating flow and hub vortex. The noise below the frequency of 1500 Hz is mainly due to the blade-outlet vane aerodynamic interaction, manifested as the tonal sound at BPF and its harmonics, whereas above 1500 Hz the broadband component of sound is mainly related to the turbulent boundary layers.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrícia Superbi Lemos Maschtakow ◽  
Jefferson Luis Oshiro Tanaka ◽  
João Carlos da Rocha ◽  
Lílian Chrystiane Giannasi ◽  
Mari Eli Leonelli de Moraes ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE: To verify if the reference values of Sleep Apnea cephalometric analysis of North American individuals are similar to the ones of Brazilian individuals presenting no craniofacial anomalies. The study also aimed to identify craniofacial alterations in Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) patients in relation to individuals without clinical characteristics of the disease through this cephalometric analysis. METHOD: It were used 55 lateral cephalograms consisting of 29 for the control group of adult individuals without clinical characteristics of OSAHS and 26 apneic adults. All radiographs were submitted to Sleep Apnea cephalometric analysis through Radiocef Studio 2.0. The standard values of this analysis were compared, by means of z test, to the ones obtained from the control group and these were compared to values from apneic group through Student's t test. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between values obtained from control group and standard values. On the group of OSAHS patients it was observed a decrease on the dimensions of upper airways and an increase on the soft palate length. CONCLUSIONS: The standard values of Sleep Apnea analysis can be used as reference in Brazilian individuals. Besides, through lateral cephalograms it was possible to identify craniofacial alterations in OSAHS patients.


2008 ◽  
Vol 617 ◽  
pp. 231-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL J. BODONY ◽  
SANJIVA K. LELE

An analysis of the sound radiated by three turbulent, high-speed jets is conducted using Lighthill's acoustic analogy (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. 211, 1952, p. 564). Computed by large eddy simulation the three jets operate at different conditions: a Mach 0.9 cold jet, a Mach 2.0 cold jet and a Mach 1.0 heated jet. The last two jets have the same jet velocity and differ only by temperature. None of the jets exhibit Mach wave characteristics. For these jets the comparison between the Lighthill-predicted sound and the directly computed sound is favourable for all jets and for the two angles (30° and 90°, measured from the downstream jet axis) considered. The momentum (ρuiuj) and the so-called entropy [p − p∞ − a∞2(ρ − ρ∞)] contributions are examined in the acoustic far field. It is found that significant phase cancellation exists between the momentum and entropy components. It is observed that for high-speed jets one cannot consider ρuiuj and (p′ − a∞2ρ′)δij as independent sources. In particular the ρ′ūxūx component of ρuiuj is strongly coupled with the entropy term as a consequence of compressibility and the high jet velocity and not because of a linear sound-generation mechanism. Further, in more usefully decoupling the momentum and entropic contributions, the decomposition of Tij due to Lilley (Tech. Rep. AGARD CP-131 1974) is preferred. Connections are made between the present results and the quieting of high-speed jets with heating.


Author(s):  
A. M. Al-Jumaily ◽  
S. Ashaat ◽  
B. A. Martin ◽  
R. Heinzer ◽  
J. Haba Rubio ◽  
...  

The airway binary fluid layer and the structural characteristics of the upper airways have significant influence on the activity of the airway muscles by changing airway compliance and collapsibility during obstructive sleep apnea trauma. The uvula plays an important role in the collapse process. Using MRI scans, this paper develops a structural model for the uvula and determines its dynamic characteristics in terms of natural frequencies and mode shapes as a preliminary process to determine optimum conditions to therapeutically relieve upper airway obstruction. The effect of the variation of tissue elasticity due to water content is elaborated on.


Author(s):  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Cosimo Bianchini ◽  
Jacopo D’Errico

This paper deals with a numerical study aimed at the validation of a computational procedure for the aerothermal characterization of pre-swirl systems employed in axial gas turbines. The numerical campaign focused on an experimental facility which models the flow field inside a direct-flow pre-swirl system. Steady and unsteady simulation techniques were adopted in conjunction with both a standard two-equations RANS/URANS modelling and more advanced approaches such as the Scale-Adaptive-Simulation principle, the SBES and LES. The comparisons between CFD and experiments were done in terms of swirl number development, static and total pressure distributions, receiving holes discharge coefficient and heat transfer on the rotor disc surface. Several operating conditions were accounted for, spanning 0.78·106<Reφ<1.21·106 and 0.123<λt<0.376. Overall the steady-state CFD predictions are in good agreement with the experimental evidences even though it is not able to confidently mimic the experimental swirl and pressure behaviour in some regions. Although the use of unsteady sliding mesh and direct turbulence modelling, would in principle increase the insight in the physical phenomenon, from a design perspective the tradeoff between accuracy and computational costs is not always favourable.


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