NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE DOUBLY CURVED BLADE PROFILES ON THE REVERSIBLE AXIAL FAN CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract. In reversible axial fans a change in the direction of the impeller rotation is accompanied with a change in the direction of the working fluid flow. To satisfy the flow reversibility, the impeller blades are usually designed with straight symmetrical profiles. The flow reversibility may also be achieved by using asymmetrical blade profiles in which, to satisfy the equality of the leading and trailing angle of the profiles, the mean line of the profile has to have a double curvature in the shape of the stretched letter 'S'. The paper numerically investigates the influence of the doubly curved blade profiles on the reversible axial fan characteristics. Numerical simulations are carried out on an axial fan only with the impeller, with the blades that have double-curved mean line profiles for different values of the angles at the profile ends. For numerical simulation the ANSYS CFX software package is used. Results of the numerical simulation are shown in diagrams Δp(Q), h(Q) and P(Q) at different angles of the profile ends. On the basis of the simulation and analysis of the characteristics, appropriate conclusions are proposed, along with the most advantageous profile of the blades