Numerical and experimental investigation of the bell-mouth inlet design of a centrifugal fan for higher internal flow rate

The energy efficiency of a household refrigerator is one of the most critical characteristics considered by manufacturers and consumers. Numerous studies in various fields have been conducted to increase energy efficiency. One of the most efficient methods to reduce the energy consumption of a refrigerator is by improving the performance of fans inside the refrigerator. A number of studies reported various ways to enhance fan performance. However, the majority of these studies focused solely on the fan and did not consider the working environment of the fan, such as the inlet and outlet flow characteristics. The expected performance of fans developed without consideration of these characteristics cannot be determined because complex inlet and outlet flow passage could adversely affect performance. This study investigates the effects of the design of the bell-mouth inlet on the performance of a centrifugal fan in a household refrigerator. In preliminary numerical studies, significant flow loss is identified through the bell-mouth inlet in the target fan system. Several design factors such as tip clearance, inner fence, motor-box struts, and guide vane are proposed to resolve these flow losses. The effects of these factors on fan performance are investigated using computational fluid dynamics techniques to solve incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for predicting the circulating flow of the fan. Experiments are then performed to validate the numerical predictions. Results indicate that four design factors positively affect fan performance in terms of flow rate. The guide vane is the most effective design factor to consider for improving fan performance. Further studies are conducted to investigate the detailed effects of the guide vane by varying its install angle, install location, height, and length. These studies determine the optimum design of the guide vane to achieve the highest performance of the fan and the related flow characteristics around the bell mouth.