An integrated experimental and numerical study of forward–curved centrifugal fan

Abstract In this work, a small forward–curved (FC) centrifugal fan is successfully generated for the thermal task of cooling laptop computers by utilizing an integrated scheme, which consists of fan design, mockup manufacture, experimental verification, and numerical simulation. In the fan design, a high-performance cooling fan (45×45×7 mm 3 ) is designed under the space limitations of notebook computers with the emphasis on the blade shape, blade inlet angle, and the outlet geometry of the housing. At first, a NACA4412 airfoil is adopted as the basic blade shape to match the low-velocity characteristics of a small fan. Then, by adjusting the blade inlet angle, the blade can be aligned with the incoming flow. Additionally, a redesign of outlet geometry is included to enhance the volume flow rate with less noise. Thereafter, prototypes are manufactured by the CNC machine to carry out the corresponding experimental verifications. To ensure a reliable outcome, the fan's performance and noise tests are executed in the AMCA and semi-anechoic chambers following CNS-8753 code. Moreover, the flow patterns throughout the fan are visualized using numerical techniques. By comparing the experimental and numerical results, a good agreement between them indicates a great potential to reduce expensive experimental work by using CFD tools. In summary, this study presents a reliable and systematic scheme to generate a small FC centrifugal fan for the cooling management of notebook computers.