Experimental study of the three-dimensional flow field in cross-flow fans

High-resolution PIV measurements of the flow field inside cross-flow fans have been performed in planes normal and parallel to the fan axis, both outside and inside the impeller. The well known difficulties in obtaining the optical access inside the impeller have been overcome by allowing the internal flow planes to be illuminated by the laser light sheet or shot by the CCD camera through the moving blade vanes. Measurements have been performed in two cross-flow fans having the same two-module impeller but casing geometries based on very different design concepts. PIV data in planes normal to the rotor axis show a strong correlation between vorticity distribution and turbulent shear stresses inside the eccentric vortex of each fan. Furthermore, they provide useful elements to explain the very different performance of the two fans evidenced by their characteristic curves. Measurements in planes parallel to the impeller axis show that wide three-dimensional recirculation structures develop near the casing end walls at the discharge of the fans. These mean flow structures are responsible for the backflow into the end portions of the impeller of part of the discharged fluid, which is then transported axially by the eccentric vortex towards the rotor central disc before being discharged once again outside the impeller. In the case of cross-flow fans including few rotor modules, the existence of significant axial velocity components inside the eccentric vortex can alter substantially the flow picture, common in the current literature, resulting from 2-D numerical models or measurements performed in a single transverse plane of the fan.