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Numerical and experimental investigation of the bell-mouth inlet design of a

centrifugal fan for higher internal flow rate

Article  in  Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology · August 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s12206-013-0609-6

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 Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x
DOI 10.1007/s12206-013-0609-6

Numerical and experimental investigation of the bell-mouth inlet design of

a centrifugal fan for higher internal flow rate†
Sanghyeon Kim1, Seung Heo1, Cheolung Cheong1,* and Tae-Hoon Kim2
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea
2
LG Electronics Inc. Refrigeration Division, Changwon, 641-110, Korea

(Manuscript Received December 15, 2012; Revised February 6, 2013; Accepted March 4, 2013)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract

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 vari-
ous 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 considera-
tion 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 predic-
tions. 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.
Keywords: Bell mouth; Centrifugal fan; Flow rate; Guide vane; Tip clearance
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

high performance fans. These studies usually focus solely on

1. Introduction
the performance improvement of the fan. The inlet and the
Centrifugal fans are widely used in various machines such outlet flow conditions of a fan in a large number of real appli-
as refrigerators, which use centrifugal fans to circulate cold air. cations are usually very complex. Such complexity hinders the
The internal structure and the duct system of a refrigerator fan from achieving its own expected performance. For exam-
have become increasingly complex because of continuous ple, a motor-box assembly located upstream of a fan at times
efforts to effectively use the internal space of a refrigerator. obstruct inflow streams, forming complex flow patterns such
These complex internal duct systems cause high-pressure loss as wake, separation, and vortex in the flow entrance, thereby
in flow streams driven by the refrigerator fan. These fans need affecting fan performance. Therefore, inlet and outlet flow
high-pressure capability to overcome these pressure losses. conditions should be considered prior to the development of a
With pressure considered, a centrifugal fan exhibits an ad- fan to achieve the highest efficiency in fan performance. If this
vantage over an axial fan because the former has high static consideration cannot be attained, the inflow and outflow con-
pressure despite a generally lower flow rate capability com- ditions must be optimized for an existing fan.
pared with the latter of the same size. Thus, a centrifugal fan is In this study, the bell-mouth inlet of a centrifugal fan in a
recommended for mechanical devices that require high- refrigerator is investigated to improve fan performance. The
pressure capability, such as a refrigerator. flow and noise characteristics of a centrifugal fan were exam-
Numerous studies [1-4] have been performed to develop ined by Heo et al. [2]. Several design factors such as tip clear-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 510 2311, Fax.: +82 51 514 7640 ance, inner fence, motor-box struts, and guide vane are first
E-mail address: ccheong@pusan.ac.kr selected. The effects of these factors on fan performance are
†
Recommended by Editor Yeon June Kang
© KSME & Springer 2013
quantitatively analyzed using computational fluid dynamics
2264 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273

(a)
Fig. 1. Internal structure of a target household refrigerator and the main
flow streams formed in a refrigerator.

(CFD) techniques to solve for incompressible Reynolds-

averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations to predict the cir-
culating flow generated by the fan inside a household refrig-
erator. Experiments are then performed to validate the nu-
merical predictions. The most effective design factor is then (b) (c)
selected, and further studies are performed to investigate in
detail the effects of the selected design factor on the volume Fig. 2. CAD data of a target fan system: (a) a fan-grill assembly; (b) a
bell mouth; (c) a centrifugal fan.
flow rate of the fan.

2. Target fan system and numerical methods where − ρ ui'u 'j represents the effect of turbulence in the flow
2.1 Target fan system field. This turbulence effect should be resolved to solve Eqs.
(1) and (2) by using CFD techniques. Boussinesq approxima-
Fig. 1 shows the internal structure of the target side-by-side- tion is widely applied to predict this turbulence effect and can
door household refrigerator and the main airflow streams be written as follows:
driven by a circulating centrifugal fan. The fan draws cold air
around an evaporator and simultaneously distributes the air  ∂u ∂u  2 ∂uk 
into a freezer compartment (left figure in Fig. 1) and a cool − ρ ui'u 'j = µt  i + j  −  ρ k + µt  δ ij (3)
 ∂x j ∂xi 
  3  ∂xk 
chamber (right figure in Fig. 1). The target fan system is de-
noted by yellow in Fig. 1 and is presented in detail in Fig. 2.
The fan-grill assembly consists of three parts (grill, fan, and where k and µt represent turbulence kinetic energy and tur-
bell mouth) and is located in the left-upper-rear side of a bulent viscosity, respectively. Numerous models can be
household refrigerator as shown in Fig. 1. Three struts support adopted to present turbulence, such as the κ-ε and the κ-ω
a motor box around the bell mouth. Fig. 2(c) shows solely the models. In this study, a realizable κ-ε model is used, which
centrifugal fan. The diameter of the fan with 9 blades is can be expressed by the following two equations:
140 mm and rotates at a designated rotating speed of
∂ ∂
1400 RPM.
∂t
( ρk ) +
∂x j
(
ρ ku j )
2.2 Governing equation and numerical methods (4)
∂  µ  ∂k 
=  µ + t   + Gk + Gb − ρε − YM + S K
Three-dimensional incompressible steady-state RANS ∂x j
 σ k  ∂x j 
equations are solved to analyze the flow field within a refrig- ∂ ∂
erator. The steady incompressible RANS equations can be ∂t
( ρε ) +
∂x j
(
ρε u j )
written as follows:
∂  µ  ∂ε  ε2
=  µ + t   + ρ C1Sε − ρ C2 (5)
∂u j ∂x j  σε  ∂x j  k + vε
=0 (1)
∂x j ε
+C1ε C3ε Gb + Sε
∂  ∂ui ∂u j  ∂
)
k
∂u
ρu j i +
∂p
∂x j ∂xi
=µ  + +
∂x j  ∂x j ∂xi  ∂x j
(
− ρ ui'u 'j (2)
where,
 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
Fig. 3. Computational grids.
 η  k rates. Refinement levels 1 to 6 correspond to the total number of ele-
C1 = max 0.43,  , η=S , S = 2 Sij Sij
 η + 5  ε
where Gk and Gb represent the turbulence kinetic energy
due to the velocity gradient and buoyancy, respectively. C1ε
and C2 are constants [5].
2.3 Computational grid and numerical method
The fluid inside the refrigerator is completely meshed to
eliminate any numerical and physical error from the boundary
conditions in predicting the volume flow rate of a fan in a
refrigerator. The computational domain consists of the rotating
and the stationary parts. Fig. 3 shows the rotating and station-
ary parts of the computational domain. The rotating part in-
cludes the centrifugal fan geometry and the rotating fluid
around the centrifugal fan.
The Delaunay method is used to capture the detailed ge-
ometry of the centrifugal fan [6]. Mesh volume with increased
accuracy can be obtained because the Delaunay method gen-
erates mesh volume from pre-defined surface meshes. The
prism layer is used to model the boundary layer of the fan
blades to accurately capture the physical phenomena occur-
ring near the surface of fan blades, as shown in the right lower
figure in Fig. 3. The stationary part includes all the fluid inside
a refrigerator except for the rotating fluid.
The governing equations are discretized with the finite vol-
ume method. The second-order UPWIND scheme is used for
spatial discretization. The SIMPLE method is used for pres-
sure-velocity coupling. The standard wall function is applied
to represent the turbulent flow field near the wall region. The
motion of the rotating fluid is modeled using the multiple
rotating reference frame technique. The fan rotates at a con-
stant rotating speed of 1400 RPM.
Grid refinement is implemented to ensure grid independent
numerical solutions for predicting fan performance and ana-
lyze the effects of the bell-mouth inlet on the performance.
The total number of elements increases as the meshes are re-
fined; however, the ratio of the number of meshes in the rotat-
ing part, including the fan, to the number of meshes in the
2265
Fig. 4. Results of the grid refinement study in terms of predicted flow
ments: 2.81, 3.95, 5.53, 9.09, 12.83, and 15.41 million, respectively.
stationary part occupied elsewhere remains the same. Fig. 4
shows that almost the same flow rate can be obtained from the
grids above refinement level 4. Therefore, the grids at refine-
ment level 4 are used in all subsequent numerical simulations
unless otherwise stated. The commercial software ANSYS
ICEM CFD (version 13.0) is used to generate the current grids.
3. Parametric studies
3.1 Preliminary studies
A numerical simulation is performed using the existing bell-
mouth inlet to clarify the flow phenomena around the bell-
mouth inlet, thereby determining the effect of the bell-mouth
inlet on fan performance. Important flow characteristics in two
regions are identified based on the predicted flow field: one
around the bell mouth and the other between the inner wall of
the bell mouth and the fan shroud.
Fig. 5 shows the predicted velocity field around the bell
mouth on the plane perpendicular to the axis of fan rotation. In
this target fan system, three struts support a motor around the
bell-mouth inlet. In Fig. 5, three distinct flow patterns can be
identified in the incoming flow around the bell mouth, and
these regions are bounded by these struts. On the lower side of
the bell mouth (region A), main flow streams are directed
from bottom to top with a highly regulated flow pattern. This
result is expected because only one passage to the inside of the
bell mouth around the lower side exists. In the right upper
region (region B), the flow is drawn into the bell mouth in a
clockwise direction. The velocity magnitudes in this region
are less than those in the region B, but the stream lines appear
very smooth and arranged. In the left upper region (region C),
the flow pattern is more irregular than those of the previous
two regions. This irregularity may be caused by the interaction
of the swirling flow with the left strut. This strut obstructs the
incoming flow, causing the flow to rotate away from the rim
of the bell mouth. Consequently, the flow cannot enter the bell
mouth in this region, leading to flow losses, thereby reducing
2266 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
Fig. 5. Predicted flow velocity distribution around the bell mouth on
the plane perpendicular to the axis of fan rotation.
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Tip clearance (a) and predicted velocity distribution of the flow
in a narrow gap between the centrifugal fan and the bell mouth (b).
the flow rate through the bell mouth into a fan. About 20% of
the total flow rate through the bell mouth enters the region
where the observed flow losses occur. Thus, a method to re-
solve flow losses is by modifying the shapes of the bell-mouth
inlet, thereby increasing the flow rate of the fan system.
Fig. 6 shows the prediction result of the velocity distribution
between the inner wall of the bell mouth and the fan shroud
with detailed geometries. The reverse flow can be identified in
this region. A narrow gab always exists between the rotating
part and its housing (this narrow gab is usually called a tip) in
a turbomachinery system. The flow direction in this region
varies from the main flow direction, as shown in Fig. 6(b).
These phenomena are usually called secondary-flows. The
identified secondary flow of the target centrifugal fan is a
leakage type of flow. The presence of a secondary flow re-
duces the performance of the turbomachinery. Therefore, fan
performance can be improved if secondary flows in this re-
gion are prevented.
Two underlying flow mechanisms causing the possible flow
loss through the target bell mouth were identified from the
prediction results of the flow driven by the centrifugal fan in a
refrigerator. On the basis of this result, a parametric study is
performed to improve fan performance, as discussed in the
next section.
Fig. 7. Predicted volume flow rate versus tip clearance.
3.2 Design factors
The previous numerical study that uses the original fan-grill
assembly indicates that an irregular flow pattern around the
left side of the bell mouth and the secondary flow between the
inner wall of the bell mouth and the fan shroud can reduce the
performance of a fan system. Additional numerical studies are
conducted by changing the geometry of the bell-mouth inlet to
resolve these problems and increase the performance of the
fan system. On the basis of previous results, four design fac-
tors are devised and proposed as possible solutions to the ob-
served flow losses: decrease in tip clearance, inner fence,
guide vane, and rearrangement of struts. In subsequent subsec-
tions, the effects of each design factor on fan performance are
numerically investigated.
3.2.1 Tip clearance
In a turbomachinery system, the tip clearance is defined as
the narrow gab between a fan and its housing (in this case, the
bell mouth). Fig. 6(a) illustrates tip clearance t. Fig. 6(b)
shows that the reverse secondary flow was identified in this
region. The presence of secondary flow reduces the perform-
ance of the turbomachinery. Therefore, the effect of tip clear-
ance on flow rate is numerically investigated to prevent the
secondary flow and increase fan performance. As shown in
Fig. 6, if tip clearance is increased, the area of inflow becomes
narrow, leading to a decrease in flow rate. Therefore, an in-
crease in tip clearance is not considered. Tip clearance varies
from t = 3.5 mm (original setting) to t = 1.0 mm by ∆t = 0.5
mm. The prediction results of the volume flow rate for each
case of tip clearance are presented in Fig. 7.
An initial decrease in tip clearance from an initial setting of
3.5 mm leads to an increase in flow rate. A decrease in tip
clearance results in a decrease in the volume flow rate below t
= 2.0 mm . Therefore, an optimal tip clearance that maximizes
the volume flow rate seems to exist. Similar results have been
reported in other studies [7, 8]. GAO et al. [7] numerically
investigated a low-speed centrifugal compressor and reported
the possibility that an optimum size for tip clearance exists,
 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
Fig. 8. Schematic of the inner fence structures: (a) horizontal type; (b)
vertical type.
Fig. 9. Predicted flow fields in the narrow gap between the centrifugal
fan and the bell mouth with inner fence structures: (a) horizontal type;
(b) vertical type.
which was non-zero tip clearance. Tahsin et al. [8] tested the
four-types of centrifugal impellers and reported the absence of
a linear relationship between the tip clearance and the per-
formance of the turbomachinery. However, despite numerous
studies [9-14] on the effects of tip clearance on fan perform-
ance, a unified theory remains difficult to establish because
the effect of tip clearance depends on the detailed geometries
of fan blades and housing case. Extending the current result to
other cases is difficult. The detailed effect of tip clearance on
fan performance must be investigated on a case-by-case basis.
3.2.2 Inner fence
When the air passing through the centrifugal fan collides
with the inner wall of the bell mouth, the flow particles lose
kinetic energy. If this phenomenon occurs near the centrifugal
fan, those air particles are taken back to the centrifugal fan
because of the difference in static pressure. These particles
then form a reverse secondary flow, which was observed in
the region between the inner wall of the bell mouth and the fan
shroud, as shown in Fig. 6(b). An inner fence is added to the
inner wall of the bell mouth to prevent this secondary flow.
Fig. 8 shows a schematic of the two types of inner fence struc-
tures: horizontal and vertical types.
Fig. 9 shows the prediction results of the velocity field in
the narrow gab region for each case. The air streams are guid-
ed along the main stream lines in the horizontal type, which
decreases the number of air particles that return to the narrow
gab. Consequently, the amount of reverse flow that caused the
secondary flow phenomena decreases. An additional advan-
tage is that the air is guided to move more smoothly into the
radial direction from the centrifugal fan. The horizontal type
of the inner fence is predicted to increase the flow rate by
1.7% relative to the original flow. However, the vertical type
inner fence seems to be partially successful in reducing secon-
2267
Fig. 10. Schematic view of the guide vane.
Fig. 11. Predicted flow field around the bell mouth with a guide vane
installed.
dary flow because all flows entering the narrow gab region act
similarly with the secondary flow. An additional secondary
flow is observed behind the fence, at worst. Therefore, the
predicted flow rate is increased by only 0.7%.
3.2.3 Guide vane
Fig. 5 shows the three struts that support a motor around the
bell-mouth inlet. In section 2.3, the left side strut inhibits the
cold air from entering through the bell mouth, which leads to
flow losses on the left upper side (region C). A guide vane is
then proposed to resolve this problem. Fig. 10 shows the basic
geometry of a guide vane as denoted by yellow color. Locat-
ing a guide vane in the left upper region of the bell mouth
leads suggests that the guide vane can regulate the flow direc-
tion toward the bell mouth inlet by restraining the air flow that
moves away from the inlet of the bell mouth.
Fig. 11 shows the predicted result of the velocity field
around the bell mouth on the plane perpendicular to the axis of
fan rotation. The effect of the guide vane can be easily under-
stood by comparing the results shown in Figs. 11 and 5. No
significant difference between two results can be found on the
lower side (region A) of the bell mouth. However, the flow
patterns in the right upper region (region B) and the left upper
2268 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
Table 1. Prediction results of the volume flow rate driven by a fan
according to different install locations of struts.
Angle (°) ∆CMM (%)
Case 1 180, 90, 0 0
Case 2 135, −45, −45 1.16
Case 3 90, 0, −90 1.80
Case 4 45, −45, −135 0.72
Case 5 0, −90, 180 −1.57
Case 6 −45, −135, 135 −1.18
Case 7 −90, 180, 90 −0.79
Fig. 12. Predicted flow field around the bell mouth for case 3.
(region C) are markedly changed. The dominant change is the
disappearance of the movement of the flow streams away
from the bell-mouth inlet. The air streams are guided toward
the bell mouth inlet because the large-scale circulating flow
structure observed in region C in Fig. 5 is broken by the guide
vane. Therefore, the flow rate of the fan system is predicted to
increase by 2.2% with the installation of the guide vane.
3.2.4 Strut location
The effect of the install location of the struts on the flow
rate is investigated as another trial to resolve the flow losses
observed at the left upper side (region C) of the bell mouth
because of the strut. Table 2 summarizes the predicted nu-
merical results of the volume flow rate according to the varia-
tion in strut locations, which are denoted by the angle from the
right-hand side strut of the original motor box. The three an-
gles in the second column denote the location of each strut,
whereas first row indicates the original struts. The gap angles
between the struts and the number of struts are the same as the
original ones because of the structural safety problem.
The highest flow rate is observed in case 3, in which the
struts are located at 90°, 0°, and −90°. Fig. 12 shows the pre-
dicted velocity distributions around the struts in case 3. One
strut located on the bottom side obstructs the main incoming
flow because the main direction of the incoming flow is from
Fig. 13. Fan performance tester.
bottom to top. However, the main flow may have kinetic en-
ergy that is sufficient to overcome the flow losses caused by
this strut. Therefore, no significant flow losses caused by the
strut are observed on the bottom side of the bell mouth. The
flow losses in the left upper region have been resolved by re-
locating the struts as in case 3, and the flow rate is predicted to
increase by 1.8%.
4. Experiments
This section presents the comparison between the predicted
numerical results and the measured experimental data. An
experiment on the flow rate is conducted, given the primary
aim of this study to improve the flow rate of the fan system.
The entire refrigerator installed with various fan grill assem-
blies is combined with the performance tester to measure the
flow rate of the fan system, as shown in Fig. 13. A fan tester is
often used to measure the exhaust or inhalation performance
of a fan. This test is generally conducted using a single fan.
However, the experimental method using a single fan cannot
be applied because the purpose of the experiments is to inves-
tigate the effect of the shape of the bell-mouth inlet on the
performance of a centrifugal fan. Therefore, the experiments
are conducted using an entire refrigerator with bell mouths of
various shapes.
Two modes are used for measurements using a fan per-
formance tester: the exhaust mode and the supply mode. The
exhaust mode measures the blowing capacity of a fan, where-
as the supply mode measures the inhaling capacity of a fan.
Measuring the blowing capacity of the current target fan sys-
tem is difficult because of the complex outlet flow structure of
the system. The inhaling capacity of the target fan system is
measured using the supply mode in a fan tester. All of the air-
intakes of a fan in a refrigerator have to be directly connected
to the test fan position in the fan performance tester to meas-
ure the flow rate of the fan system in the supply mode, as
shown in Fig. 14(b). The target refrigerator has three air-
intakes. The simultaneous connection of all air-intakes to the
fan tester involves a complex process. Therefore, only one air-
intake with the largest intake area is connected to the fan tester
through an additional duct. The other two air-intakes are com-
pletely sealed to eliminate additional air inflow.
The flow rate can be calculated from the measured pressure
drop between the front and the rear sides of a nozzle by using
 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
(a)
(b)
Fig. 14. Two measurement modes of a fan tester: (a) the exhaust mode;
(b) the supply mode.
Fig. 15. Comparison of the measured and the predicted volume flow
rate of the fan system in a refrigerator.
the following equation:
2 ∆P
Q = Cd AnY (6)
ρ (1 − β )
where Q denotes the volume flow rate, Cd is a nozzle dis-
charge coefficient, An is the area of the nozzle throat, Y is an
expansion factor accounting for compressibility, ∆p is the
measured pressure drop across the nozzle, ρ is the fluid den-
sity upstream of the nozzle, and β is the contraction ratio.
The tests are conducted using four models, the original fan
assembly and the three modified models, by using the vertical-
type inner fence with a tip clearance of 2.5 mm and a guide
vane. The horizontal type inner fence and tip clearance models
lower than 2.5 mm could not be applied because of manufac-
turing and vibration issues. Fig. 15 compares the numerical
and the experimental results in terms of volume flow rate. The
two results are shown to have a good agreement in terms of
the overall tendency of the variation in the volume flow rate
despite the predicted values being greater than the measured
2269
ones. The computation is conducted for the entire internal
space of the household refrigerator, which is simplified by
eliminating the small structures considered to have negligible
effects on fan performance. The measurement is performed
using a real refrigerator, including every structure such as an
evaporator, a condenser, and capillary tubes. These structures
induce additional loss because of the friction between the flow
and the structures in the experiment, which may be one of the
reasons for the measured values being less than the predicted
values. However, our goal is to investigate the effects of the
shroud shapes on the volume flow rate of the fan. The consis-
tency in the rate of variation in volume flow rate attributed to
the change in the design factors between the predicted and the
measured values validate the current numerical methods and
analysis results.
5. Further study on the effect of the guide vane
The four design factors are investigated by preliminary pa-
rametric studies to assess the effects of different bell-mouth
inlet shapes on fan performance. These four design factors
show positive effects on fan performance in terms of increased
flow rate. Tip clearance and the inner fence can increase flow
rate by preventing a secondary flow in the narrow gab be-
tween the fan shroud and inner side wall of the bell mouth.
The guide vane and the relocated struts have resolved flow
loss problem around the left upper side (region C) of the bell
mouth, thus increasing the flow rate.
However, several aspects such as easy manufacturing, low
manufacturing costs, and structural safety should be consid-
ered to apply these design factors to the actual system. When
the tip clearance is smaller than 2.0 mm, the centrifugal fan
collides with the inner side of the bell mouth and causes a
structural safety problem. Therefore, reducing the tip clear-
ance to lower than 2.5 mm is difficult. The rearrangement of
the struts requires additional safety analyses for the structural
vibration. The horizontal inner fence requires heavy changes
in the manufacturing process and cost. The guide vane is se-
lected as a final key design factor because this factor can be
readily applied to the existing system without heavy changes
in the manufacturing process. Further studies are conducted to
elaborate on the effect of this design factor on fan perform-
ance.
5.1 Design parameters of guide vane
The flow losses caused by the interaction of the incoming
flow with the left strut on the left upper side (region C) are
resolved by installing the guide vane to the bell mouth. How-
ever, the additional installation of the guide vane inevitably
induces the small circulating flow in the rear side of the guide
vane, as shown in Fig. 11, which may result in another loss.
Therefore, to maximize the advantage of guide vane by mini-
mizing this loss, a parametric study is conducted by changing
the design parameters of the guide vane: install angle, install
2270 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273

Table 2. Design parameter levels.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Angle [θ] 0° 30° 60 ° 90 °
Height [H] 20 mm 26.6 mm 33.3 mm 40 mm
Length [L] 22 mm 36.3 mm 50.7 mm 65 mm
Location [Φ ] 23.3° 37.7° 52.1° 66.5°

Fig. 17. Variation in the predicted volume flow rates according to the
variation in the design factors of the guide vane (─■ ─ : angle, ─●─ :
height, ─▲─ : length, ─◆─ : location).

AAAle AeAel 1A θA 0
AAAle AeAel 2A θA 30
AAAle AeAel 3A θA 60
AAAle AeAel 4A θA A0

Fig. 16. Schematic view of the guide vane and the design parameters:
install angle θ, height H, length L, and install location angle Φ .
Velocity m/s

location, height, and length. These design factors are depicted

in Fig. 16.
The variations in the selected design parameters are sum-
marized in Table 2. The dimensions of several design factors
are limited because of the constraints in installing the fan-grill
assembly inside a household refrigerator. The maximum and
the minimum heights of the guide vane are restricted by the
motor box and the height of the bell mouth, respectively. The
motor box is located at a height of 42 mm from the fan-grill
assembly. The height of the bell mouth is 18 mm from the
grill wall. Only a 24 mm gap exists between the motor box
and the bell mouth. The height of the guide vane can vary
from 20 mm to 40 mm. The guide vane must also be longer
than 22 mm because of the motor-supporting struts. The
maximum length of the guide vane is restricted to under less
than 65 mm because of the outer radius of the fan-grill assem-
bly. These constraints restrict the length of the guide vane to a
range of 22 mm to 65 mm.
The numerically predicted volume flow rates according to
the variation in each design factor are summarized in Fig. 17.
The volume flow rate continuously increases as the height and
the length of the guide vane increase; however, optimum val-
ues for the install location and the angle exist to maximize the
volume flow rate. The flow characteristics in the left upper
region of the bell mouth are investigated in terms of inflow
velocity, which is proportional to the flow rate. The purpose is
to closely examine the influence of each design factor on the
flow field according to the variations in each design level. The
flow fields for all cases can be distinctly characterized as two
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Φ
Fig. 18. Velocity distributions according to variation in the install angle
of the guide vane around the left upper region of the bell-mouth inlet.
parts: the front side (lower region) and the rear side (upper
region) of the guide vane. The predicted flow fields are inves-
tigated separately.
5.2 Effect of the install angle
First, the effect of the install angle θ of the guide vane is ex-
amined. The definition of the guide vane angle and its varia-
tion range are shown in Fig. 16 and Table 2, respectively. Fig.
18 shows the velocity distribution at the left upper region of
the bell-mouth inlet according to variation in the install angle
of the guide vane. The area below the curve represents the
flow rate through the local region for each case. Fig. 18 shows
that the characteristics of the velocity distribution vary be-
tween the rear and the front regions of the guide vane. On the
rear side, the highest flow rate is predicted for θ = 0°, whereas
the lowest flow rate is predicted for θ = 90°. On the front side,
the lowest flow rate is predicted for θ = 0° and the highest
flow rate is predicted for θ = 90°.
 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273 2271

(a)

Fig. 19. Re-circulating flow in the rear side of guide vane, θ = 60°.

These phenomena can be explained in terms of the pro-

(b) (c)
jected area of the guide vane. On the front side of the guide
vane, the projected area on the inflow increases as the install
angle of the guide vane increases. The projected area regulates
the increased air flow into the bell mouth. The increase in the
obstruction of the flow leads to the increase in the obtained
flow rate because the guide vane in the front region of the
guide vane acts as a fence obstructing the inflow into the bell
mouth. Therefore, the higher angle of the guide vane induces a
(d) (e)
higher flow rate on the front side. However, the related
mechanism affects flow in an opposite direction on the rear
side of the guide vane. The exchange between these two op-
posite phenomena is needed to obtain the maximum flow rate.
A small eddy current is also observed in the region behind the
Fig. 20. Variation in predicted flow velocity distributions around the
edge of the guide vane, as shown in Fig. 19. In this zone, an left upper side of the bell mouth for guide vanes of varying heights: (a)
additional flow loss occurs because of the circulating flow. h = 0 mm (original); (b) h = 20 mm; (c) h = 26.6 mm; (d) h = 33.3 mm;
This flow loss was found to increase when the angle of the (e) h = 40 mm.
guide vane increases. Therefore, the small eddy current and
the two observed opposite phenomena on the rear and the
5.4 Effect of length
front sides of the guide vane should be considered to optimize
the install angle of the guide vane. The maximum flow rate Fig. 21 presents the predicted distribution of the velocity
increment (1.82%) of the original flow rate can be achieved at vectors around the guide vane according to the variation in
the install angel angle θ = 30°. length from 22 mm to 65 mm. The flow pattern is found to be
considerably changed by the variations in length, and the flow
5.3 Effect of height rate of the centrifugal fan system continuously increases as the
length of the guide vane increases because more air flow can
The effects of the height of the guide vane are investigated be regulated from a longer guide vane. The length of the guide
by varying the height from 20 mm to 40 mm. Fig. 20 shows vane is the most effective design parameter among the four
the variations in the velocity magnitude contours according to parameters shown in Fig. 16. The flow rate changes most sig-
the height of the guide vane. nificantly according to the variation in length. The maximum
The velocity of the incoming flow on the rear side of the flow rate is observed at the maximum length l = 65 mm, in
guide vane continuously increases as the height of the guide which 5.29% of the flow rate is increased.
vane increases. However, the velocity suddenly exceeds in the
case at h = 33.3 mm on the front side. No significant differ-
5.5 Effect of install location
ence in the velocity distribution is indicated between the cases
at h = 33.3 mm and h = 40 mm because the motor box located Finally, the effect of the install location of the guide vane is
immediately above the guide vane restricts the significant investigated. Table 2 shows that four locations are selected in
change in flow pattern. The maximum flow rate is observed at the left upper region of the bell mouth, which is defined by the
the maximum height h = 40 mm, in which 3.21% of the flow install angle Φ. The flow losses observed in the left upper
rate is increased. region of the bell mouth caused by the structure of the motor
strut can be resolved by controlling the flow streams by using
2272 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 21. Predicted velocity distributions of flow for guide vanes at
varying lengths: (a) l = 22 mm; (b) l = 36.3 mm; (c) l = 50.7 mm; (d)
l = 65 mm.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 22. Variation in the predicted flow fields according to different
install angles of the guide vane: (a) Φ = 23.3°; (b) Φ = 37.7°; (c)
Φ = 52.1°; (d) Φ = 66.5°.
the guide vane. However, unexpected flow losses are observed
on the rear side of the guide vane because of the circulating
flow behind the edge of the guide vane. This flow loss may be
minimized by relocating the guide vane. Fig. 22 shows the
predicted flow velocity distribution around the bell mouth
according to the install location of the guide vane. The re-
circulation region immediately behind the guide vane be-
comes broader for Φ = 23.3° and Φ = 66.51° than those in the
other cases. In the case of Φ = 23.3°, the interaction between
the re-circulating flow and the strut leads to additional flow
losses; thus, the flow loss region becomes broad. In the case of
Φ = 66.51°, the curvature of the re-circulation flow increases
because the direction of the inflow is almost perpendicular to
that of the guide vane. Therefore, the install angle of the guide
vane should be selected between Φ = 23.3° and Φ = 66.51°.
The flow rate of the centrifugal fan system is predicted to
increase by a maximum of 1.98% at Φ = 52.1°.
6. Conclusion
The effects of the bell-mouth inlet on the volume flow rate
of a centrifugal fan are investigated to increase the perform-
ance of the centrifugal fan. The detailed analysis of the pre-
dicted velocity distributions around the bell mouth reveals that
the target fan system has two locations where flow losses oc-
cur. First, the secondary flow is observed in the narrow gap
regions between the centrifugal fan and the inner wall of bell
mouth. Two design factors, tip clearance (from 3.5 mm to 1
mm) and inner fence, are proposed to resolve this problem; the
effects of these factors are then investigated. The analysis
results show that the volume flow rate can be increased by a
maximum of 3.4% if tip clearance is set at 2 mm and by 1.7%
by using the horizontal type of the inner fence.
The other flow loss is observed in the left upper region of
the bell-mouth inlet. The guide vane and the rearrangements
of the struts supporting the fan motor box were considered to
resolve this flow loss. The numerical results indicated that
maximum flow rate increases of 2.2% and 1.8% can be
achieved by applying the guide vane and the rearranged struts,
respectively. These predictions are verified by comparing the
numerical results with the measured data obtained from fan
performance test experiments.
However, the guide vane concept is the one found to be
most applicable to the existing system because of the ease and
cost-effectiveness of manufacturing and structural safety com-
pared with the other design factors. A further study was con-
ducted to investigate the detailed effects of the guide vane on
the flow field and the volume flow rate by changing the four
design parameters. The length of the guide vane is determined
to be the most effective factor to consider to control the vol-
ume flow rate. A maximum flow rate increase of 5.29% is
achieved by using a guide vane with a length of 40 mm. The
study on the varying angles and install locations of the guide
vane reveals certain optimal values for the design factor levels
in the considered range to achieve maximum volume flow rate.
The volume flow rate increases in the given range as the
height of the guide vane increases.
Coupled effects may be present between the parameters of
the guide vane, which are studied independently. Therefore,
an optimization study is needed to consider the interaction
effect between design parameters, which provides the opti-
mum designs of the fan system. This optimization deserves
consideration in future studies.
Acknowledgment
This research was financially supported by the Ministry of
 S. Kim et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (8) (2013) 2263~2273
Education, Science Technology (MEST) and National Re-
search Foundation of Korea (NRF) through the Human Re-
source Training Project for Regional Innovation. This work
was supported by the Human Resources Development pro-
gram(No. 20113020020010-11-1-000) of the Korea Institute
of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning(KETEP)
grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade,
Industry and Energy.
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Sanghyeon Kim received his B.S. and
M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering
from Pusan National University in 2011
and 2013, respectively. He then contin-
ued his study as a Ph.D. candidate at
Pusan National University. His main
research interest is centrifugal fan per-
formance and noise.
Cheolung Cheong received his B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering from Seoul Na-
tional University in 1997. He received
his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechani-
cal and Aerospace Engineering from
Seoul National University, Korea, in
1999 and 2003. He is presently an asso-
ciate professor in the School of Me-
chanical Engineering at Pusan National University in Busan,
Korea. Dr. Cheong’s current research interests include fan
broadband noise, wind turbine noise, and computational
aeroacoustics.