Effects of the Impeller Inlet Tip Clearance on the Flow and Performance of Airfoil Fans

임펠러 흡입구 간극이 원심형 에어포일 송풍기의 성능에 미치는 영향

Performance tests of an airfoil fan and measurement of flow fields at the impeller exit are carried out to investigate the effects of the tip clearance between the rotor and inlet casing on the impeller performance. The impeller is twelve bladed of NACA 65-810 airfoils and tested with 3 different size of gap; 1, 2, 4mm. The relative decrease of pressure rising performance of the fan is 15 percent for the design flow rate when the gap size is 1 percent of the impeller diameter. The reduction of performance becomes large as the flow rate increases. The leakage flow through the clearance affects the through flow of the impeller, which results in decrease of the slip factor as well as the impeller efficiency. The data base obtained in the present study can be used for the design and flow analysis of the airfoil fans.