Performance and Flow Condition of Contra-rotating Small-sized Axial Fan at Partial Flow Rate

Small-sized axial fans are used as air cooler for electric equipments. But there is a strong demand for higher power of fans according to the increase of quantity of heat from electric devices. Therefore, higher rotational speed design is conducted, although, it causes the deterioration of efficiency and the increase of noise. Then the adoption of contrarotating rotors for the small-sized axial fan is proposed for the improvement of performance. In the present paper, the performance curves of the contra-rotating small-sized axial fan with 100mm diameter are shown and the velocity distributions at a partial flow rate at the inlet and the outlet of each front and rear rotor are clarified with experimental results. Furthermore, the flow conditions between front and rear rotors of the contra-rotating small-sized axial fan are investigated by numerical analysis results and causes of the performance deterioration of the contra-rotating small-sized axial fan at the partial flow rate is discussed.