Investigating on effect of fan blades angle of a water-cooled air conditioner on its performance through CFD analysis

Yingying  Zhang

doi:10.6180/jase.202511_28(11).0006

Investigating on effect of fan blades angle of a water-cooled air conditioner on its performance through CFD analysis

Mechanical Engineering

Yingying ZhangThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

College of Mechanical Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin 123000, Liaoning, China Corresponding author.

Received: April 15, 2023
Accepted: December 7, 2024
Publication Date: March 1, 2025

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202511_28(11).0006

Most studies conducted in the indoor unit of water-cooled air conditioners focus on increasing its efficiency and reducing its temperature. The purpose of this study is to conduct a numerical simulation of a centrifugal fan with forward blades using the CFD method and investigate the effects of changing the angle of the blades on the performance of the desired fan. The velocity and pressure distributions of the fan are obtained by solving momentum equations and ensuring continuity with the fluid flow inside the fan. An investigation was conducted on four different angles of ±5,±10 and ±15 degrees. The 3D flow of incompressible viscous fluids in the production domain was simulated using ANSYS CFX software. We consider the water cooler environment to be a porous one. Based on the simulation results, pressure and velocity contours are displayed around the angle of installation of the blower blade in the indoor unit. The gradients produced on the blower blade in four modes were compared. Four blades with different angles have been compared in terms of their speed at the cooler outlet. According to the results, the cooler output produces the best performance at an angle of-15 degrees.

Keywords: Water-cooled air conditioner, Centrifugal fan, Pressure distribution, Cooling system, Energy efficiency, Indoor unit.

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