TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental investigations and empirical relationship on the influence of innovative hub geometry in a centrifugal fan for performance augmentation
AU - Madhwesh, N.
AU - Vasudeva Karanth, K.
AU - Yagnesh Sharma, N.
N1 - Funding Information:
The experimental facility for conducting this research work was provided by the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal. The authors wish to express their gratitude and acknowledge the support provided by the institute in carrying out this research work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: One of the problem areas of fluid flow in the turbomachine is its inlet region, manifested by flow distortions due to the induced fluid swirl accompanied by improper flow incidence onto the impeller. Further, the hub forms one of the main components of many of the turbomachines and it is found that there has not been significant study on geometrical modifications of the same in centrifugal fans for augmented performance. This is partially due to designers trying to reduce the cost of the overall machine. Objective: There is a scope for detailed parametric study and the present work involves an exploration of flow behavior by parametric variation of hub geometry in terms of both its shape and size. Methods: Experiments are carried out in order to determine the importance of hub with different size and shapes. The geometric models of hemi-spherical and ellipsoidal hubs are considered for the analyses in the present study. Results: An optimized ellipsoidal hub configuration is found to yield a relative improvement of about 7.5% for head coefficient and 7.7% increase in relative theoretical efficiency over the hub-less base configuration. Finally, correlations are developed for the optimized hub shape configurations. Conclusion: It is revealed from experimental analysis that hub plays a vital role in streamlining the flow at the inlet to the centrifugal fan and augments its performance.
AB - Background: One of the problem areas of fluid flow in the turbomachine is its inlet region, manifested by flow distortions due to the induced fluid swirl accompanied by improper flow incidence onto the impeller. Further, the hub forms one of the main components of many of the turbomachines and it is found that there has not been significant study on geometrical modifications of the same in centrifugal fans for augmented performance. This is partially due to designers trying to reduce the cost of the overall machine. Objective: There is a scope for detailed parametric study and the present work involves an exploration of flow behavior by parametric variation of hub geometry in terms of both its shape and size. Methods: Experiments are carried out in order to determine the importance of hub with different size and shapes. The geometric models of hemi-spherical and ellipsoidal hubs are considered for the analyses in the present study. Results: An optimized ellipsoidal hub configuration is found to yield a relative improvement of about 7.5% for head coefficient and 7.7% increase in relative theoretical efficiency over the hub-less base configuration. Finally, correlations are developed for the optimized hub shape configurations. Conclusion: It is revealed from experimental analysis that hub plays a vital role in streamlining the flow at the inlet to the centrifugal fan and augments its performance.
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U2 - 10.1186/s40712-021-00127-5
DO - 10.1186/s40712-021-00127-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102756454
SN - 1823-0334
VL - 16
JO - International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
JF - International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
IS - 1
M1 - 5
ER -