Investigation of cooling efficiency of rim driven fans compared with conventional fans

• Main Author: Kanaparthi, Noel Anish
• Other Authors: Basman Elhadidi
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75951
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Unlike most conventional fans, rim driven fans are not driven by an axisymmetric shaft but instead by the rim itself, thereby removing the need for a shaft. This is thus more effective and economical for the purposes of cooling for various appliances. A thorough steady CFD analysis was performed for this quantitative investigation, including a grid independence study for verification of both mesh models of both the rim driven fan as well as the conventional fan. Using a standard k-ro turbulence model on FL VENT™, the numerical results will reflect the intricate aspects of convective heat transfer in both models along with their flow visualization. A cooling efficiency parameter was formulated to compare the effective heat flux removed from the heat source by the respective fans thereby directly reflecting the aspect of cost.