Development of a Performance-Based Design Technique for an Axial-Flow Fan Unit Using Airfoil Cascades Based on the Blade Strip Theory

Axial-flow fans are widely used as cooling fans in the outdoor units of split-type air conditioners. The design of an axial-flow fan blade involves stacking several airfoils that can be differently designed for each spanwise section. However, the complex flow field around the fan blade, including circumferential and axial flows, presents challenges when applying the single airfoil theory. This study proposed a systematic performance-based design method for axial-flow fans using a cascade of airfoils based on the blade strip theory. The theory characterized the complex three-dimensional flow field driven by an axial-flow fan in terms of a two-dimensional cascade of airfoil flows. Computational fluid dynamics based on finite volume methods were used to predict the flow field and aerodynamic sound sources of an existing low-pressure axial-flow fan partially covered by a fan shroud, and the results were validated against experimental measurements. Three radial locations in the spanwise region from the hub to the blade tip that have a significant impact on aerodynamic performance were selected, and the two-dimensional flow field on a cylindrical surface with a constant radius was extracted from the three-dimensional flow field to characterize the performance of an axial fan. Then, the airfoils at the targeted span locations were optimized for a higher flow rate and greater efficiency via two-dimensional simulations using the cascades of the airfoil, and the selected optimized airfoils were applied to existing fan blades. The effectiveness of the proposed performance-based design method for low-pressure axial-flow fans was validated by the results, which showed that the redesigned fan blades with cascades of airfoils performed as predicted, increasing the intended higher flow rate by about 1%, improving power consumption by 8%, and lowering the overall sound pressure level by 1.5 dBA.