scholarly journals Investigating the In-Flow Characteristics of Multi-Operation Conditions of Cross-Flow Fan in Air Conditioning Systems

Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 959
Author(s):  
Weijie Zhang ◽  
Jianping Yuan ◽  
Qiaorui Si ◽  
Yanxia Fu

Cross-flow fans are widely used in numerous applications such as low-pressure ventilation, household appliances, laser instruments, and air-conditioning equipment. Cross-flow fans have superior characteristics, including simple structure, small size, stable airflow, high dynamic pressure coefficient, and low noise. In the present study, numerical simulation and experimental research were carried out to study the unique secondary flow and eccentric vortex flow characteristics of the internal flow field in multi-operating conditions. To this end the vorticity and the circumferential pressure distribution in the air duct are obtained based on the performed experiments and the correlation between spectral characteristics of multiple operating conditions and the inflow state is established. The obtained results show that when the area of the airflow passage decreases while the area of the eccentric vortex area gradually increases, then the airflow of the cross-flow fan decreases, the outlet expands, and the flow pattern uniformity reduces. It was found that wakes form in the vicinity of the blade and the tail of the volute tongue, which generate pressure pulsation, and aerodynamic noise. The pressure distribution along the inner circumference shows that the total minimum pressure appears in the eccentric vortex near the volute tongue and the volute returns near the zone. Moreover, it was found that the total pressure near the eccentric vortex is significantly smaller than that of the main flow zone. As the flow rate decreases, the pressure pulsation amplitude of the eccentric vortex region significantly increases, while the static and total pressure pulsation amplitudes are gradually increased. Close to the eccentric vortex on the inner side of the blade in the volute tongue area, total pressure is low, total pressure on the outside of the blade is not affected, and pressure difference between the inner and outer sides is large. When the flow rate of the cross-flow fan is 0.4 Qd, there is no obvious peak at the harmonic frequency of the blade passage frequency. This shows that the aerodynamic noise is caused by the main unstable flow.


2016 ◽  
Vol 693 ◽  
pp. 251-256
Author(s):  
Zhi Qiang Yang ◽  
C.J. Wu

The aerodynamic noise of a cross flow fan with uneven blade spacing in room air-conditioner was simulated by computational aerodynamic acoustics (CAA) method. It is detailed to analyze the vorticity distribution of the flow field and the power spectral density of measured points’ pressure fluctuations, and the results demonstrate the non-uniform impeller used in this paper can significantly improve internal flow characteristics. Thus the broadband noise got reduced.



2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
New Mei Yet ◽  
Vijay R. Raghavan ◽  
W.M. Chin

A detailed characterization is carried out on a typical cross flow fan used in the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry, in order to understand the fan design in detail. The study is carried out numerically by use of the software FLUENT and followed by experimental validation. Appropriate grid size selection has done, the RMS error is less than 7%. From the study, it is concluded that the thickness of the blade determines the total flow area and flow rate delivered. When the internal blade angle is at 90°, shock free entry is incurred and maximum flow rate can be achieved. The external blade angle should be within 20 to 45 degrees, to avoid rapid drop of pressure coefficient and efficiency. Lastly, the formation of the eccentric vortex zone inside the cross flow fan and flow field pattern are observed. The forming location and size of the zone determines the total air flow rate delivered and the amount of flow leakage through the tongue. Thus, the efficiency of the fan is highly sensitive to the flow structure in this zone.



2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Cho ◽  
Young J. Moon

The unsteady viscous flow fields of a cross-flow fan are computed by time-accurately solving the two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the unstructured triangular mesh solver algorithms. Based on pressure fluctuation data acquired at the surfaces of 35 rotating blades and stabilizer, acoustic pressures are predicted by the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation. The aerodynamic noise sources of the cross-flow fan are also identified by correlating the acoustic pressure fluctuations with the unsteady flow characteristics during one revolution of the impeller. The present method is applied to the uniform and random pitch fans to investigate their performance and aeroacoustic noise characteristics, especially the frequency modulation of the tonal noise at the blade passing frequency (BPF).



2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Yao ◽  
Kwongi Lee ◽  
Minho Ha ◽  
Cheolung Cheong ◽  
Inhiug Lee

A new pump, called the hybrid airlift-jet pump, is developed by reinforcing the advantages and minimizing the demerits of airlift and jet pumps. First, a basic design of the hybrid airlift-jet pump is schematically presented. Subsequently, its performance characteristics are numerically investigated by varying the operating conditions of the airlift and jet parts in the hybrid pump. The compressible unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, combined with the homogeneous mixture model for multiphase flow, are used as the governing equations for the two-phase flow in the hybrid pump. The pressure-based methods combined with the Pressure-Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO) algorithm are used as the computational fluid dynamics techniques. The validity of the present numerical methods is confirmed by comparing the predicted mass flow rate with the measured ones. In total, 18 simulation cases that are designed to represent the various operating conditions of the hybrid pump are investigated: eight of these cases belong to the operating conditions of only the jet part with different air and water inlet boundary conditions, and the remaining ten cases belong to the operating conditions of both the airlift and jet parts with different air and water inlet boundary conditions. The mass flow rate and the efficiency are compared for each case. For further investigation into the detailed flow characteristics, the pressure and velocity distributions of the mixture in a primary pipe are compared. Furthermore, a periodic fluctuation of the water flow in the mass flow rate is found and analyzed. Our results show that the performance of the jet or airlift pump can be enhanced by combining the operating principles of two pumps into the hybrid airlift-jet pump, newly proposed in the present study.



Author(s):  
Joseph Mazur ◽  
Trilochan Singh

An experimental investigation of the flow in a cross flow fan at three operating conditions is reported. Velocity and pressure maps for the flow field are presented along with a determination of the momentum exchanges and energy transfers between the blading and the flow field regions.



Author(s):  
Seung-Jun Kim ◽  
Jin-Hyuk Kim ◽  
Young-Seok Choi ◽  
Yong Cho ◽  
Jong-Woong Choi

Abstract This study presents the numerical analysis on the inter-blade vortex characteristics along with the blockage effects of runner blade in a Francis hydro turbine model with various flow rate conditions. The turbine model showed different flow characteristics in the runner blade passages according to operating conditions, and inter-blade vortex was observed at lower flow rate conditions. This inter-blade vortex can lead to performance reduction, vibration, and instability for smooth operation of turbine systems. The previous study on blockage effects on various runner blade thickness, showed its influence on hydraulic performance and internal flow characteristics at low flow rate conditions. Therefore, the inter-blade vortex characteristics can be altered with the blockage effects at low flow rate conditions in a Francis hydro-turbine. For investigating the internal flow and unsteady pressure characteristics, three-dimensional steady and unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes calculations are performed. These inter-blade vortices were captured at the leading and trailing edges close to the runner hub. These vortex regions showed flow separation and stagnation flow while blockage effects contributed for decreasing the inter-blade vortex at low flow rate conditions.



Author(s):  
Kang Li ◽  
Hao Gao ◽  
Peng Jia ◽  
Lin Su ◽  
Yidong Fang ◽  
...  

In electrical vehicles, replacing positive temperature coefficient heater as heat source with an air source heat pump could improve the driving range and decrease energy consumption in cold climate. Design of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module for heat pump system has a significant influence on its performance in each working mode. A newly designed heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module was introduced in this paper. The air flow characteristics of the heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module in four working modes were analyzed, and the air flow rate and wind resistance were obtained by numerical simulation. Experiments were also conducted for validating its airflow rate in each working mode. Results of these experiments show that some unfavorable phenomena such as flow maldistribution and vortex inside the heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module exist, which could lead to insufficient utilization of the heat exchange area of heat exchangers and the generation of aerodynamic noise. Furthermore, the air flow rate of the original heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module was also measured for comparison, and the designed heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module shows nearly 15–20% decrease in each working mode.



2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanchit Pawananont ◽  
Thananchai Leephakpreeda

Control of on–off valves for linear flow characteristics is a challenging design problem due to nonlinearity of valve mechanism and fluidic properties under various operating conditions. In this study, averaging pulse width modulation (PWM) is proposed as a control valve signal by implementing PWM with predetermined duty period so that overflow at the open position and underflow at the closed position are divided proportionately around desired mean flow rates during entire cycle periods. Multichannels in a parallel pattern are implemented to yield linear flow characteristics with higher resolution than a single channel. With pressure and temperature measurements, the volumetric flow rate is determined by an empirical model of flow characteristics across flow control valves at given operating conditions. The experimental results on achieving the desired volumetric flow rate of air under actual flow conditions without a flow meter are presented for viability of the proposed methodology in practical uses.



Author(s):  
Kitti Nilpueng ◽  
Somchai Wongwises

In this study, the flow mechanisms of HFC-134a and HFC-410A, including flow pattern, pressure distribution, temperature distribution, and mass flow rate inside short-tube orifice are presented and compared under the same working temperature. The test runs are performed at condenser temperature ranging between 35 and 45°C, evaporator temperature ranging between 2 and 12°C, and degree of subcooling ranging between 1 and 12 °C. The results show that the temperature distribution along the short-tube orifice obtained from HFC-410A is slightly higher than that obtained from HFC-134a. On the other hand, the pressure distribution between both refrigerants shows the large difference. It is also found that the tendency of mass flow rate obtained from HFC-134a almost coincides with those obtained HFC-410A as the operating conditions and short-tube orifice size are varied. However, the average mass flow rate of HFC-134a is slightly lower than that of HFC-410A.





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