{"id":16514,"date":"2022-10-13T11:59:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T09:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=16514"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:52:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:52:44","slug":"reduce-pressure-losses-increase-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/products\/fans\/reduce-pressure-losses-increase-efficiency_16514\/","title":{"rendered":"Reduce pres\u00adsure losses, increase effi\u00adciency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numer\u00adical aero\u00addy\u00adnamics and simu\u00adla\u00adtion are part of day-to-day devel\u00adop\u00adment work for motor and fan manu\u00adfac\u00adturer ebm-papst. For many years, its engi\u00adneers have been working on devel\u00adoping their fans using powerful CFD tools, not only for opti\u00admizing complex impeller geome\u00adtries (Fig. 1), but also for motor or elec\u00adtronics cooling concepts or in the context of acoustic testing for noise char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics. Customers benefit from this exten\u00adsive exper\u00adtise and from the aero\u00addy\u00adnamic design of their own end devices that are going to contain ebm-papst fans.<\/p>\n

Fig. 1: CFD simu\u00adla\u00adtion is used to contin\u00adu\u00adally improve the impeller geom\u00adetry of the fans \u2013 for greater effi\u00adciency and better air flow. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Poten\u00adtial simu\u00adla\u00adtion in the product devel\u00adop\u00adment process<\/h2>\n

The simu\u00adla\u00adtion of fluid mechanics makes flow and flow vari\u00adables such as pres\u00adsure or velocity visible in the entire calcu\u00adlated area. In terms of measure\u00adment, it is often not possible to measure at certain points or, under certain circum\u00adstances, the measuring instru\u00adments influ\u00adence the flow, or a variety of measuring sensors and methods are required to obtain compa\u00adrable infor\u00adma\u00adtion. The measuring set-up that results is then complex and expen\u00adsive. In addi\u00adtion, a sample device that can be measured must have been set up before\u00adhand. If an unfa\u00advor\u00adable flow situ\u00ada\u00adtion is then found in the device during such tests, this can often only be imple\u00admented with a successor product as part of a redesign for time and cost reasons.<\/p>\n

That is why it is better to simu\u00adlate the instal\u00adla\u00adtion situ\u00ada\u00adtion for aero\u00addy\u00adnamics in the early devel\u00adop\u00adment phases of a customer device. This facil\u00adi\u00adtates a flex\u00adible response to aero\u00addy\u00adnamic weak\u00adnesses in the design because the customer\u2019s digital proto\u00adtype can be opti\u00admized before a first sample is actu\u00adally set up. The calcu\u00adla\u00adtion result of the actual state forms the basis for assessing the quality of adapted design vari\u00adants.<\/p>\n

This ensures at an early stage that the installed fan really works with the desired prop\u00ader\u00adties without high costs accu\u00admu\u00adlating. It is there\u00adfore worth taking advan\u00adtage of the possi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties of CFD at an early stage of devel\u00adop\u00adment. (Fig. 2).<\/p>\n

Fig. 2: Ideally, the simu\u00adla\u00adtion is used at the begin\u00adning of a project as far as possible so that solu\u00adtions can be assessed at an early stage. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Simu\u00adla\u00adtion as a service<\/h2>\n

CFD can be used to calcu\u00adlate, visu\u00adalize and improve the flow condi\u00adtions in the customer device, or to compare different concepts with one another. The fan\u2019s energy consump\u00adtion and sound depends on how the housing encour\u00adages air flow, whether it is drawn in axially from the front, centrifu\u00adgally from all sides or on one side. In poor cases, this can double the power consump\u00adtion or halve the effi\u00adciency, and can signif\u00adi\u00adcantly increase the noise level. CFD helps in under\u00adstanding the aero\u00addy\u00adnamic condi\u00adtions in the device (Fig. 3).<\/p>\n

Fig. 3: Visu\u00adal\u00adiza\u00adtion of air flow through a venti\u00adlation unit. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Before the simu\u00adla\u00adtion begins, the objec\u00adtive should first be defined and a few ques\u00adtions answered. Does air have to flow through a heat exchanger as evenly as possible? Is the simu\u00adla\u00adtion supposed to detect pres\u00adsure losses? Does the customer want to perform a general check on the choice of fan? Is the device in which the fan oper\u00adates supposed to be as quiet as possible? Once these types of ques\u00adtions have been clar\u00adi\u00adfied, the 3D CAD data and the expected oper\u00adating point (pres\u00adsure, air flow, speed) of the fan provide the basis for simu\u00adla\u00adtion. In addi\u00adtion, there are also char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adistic curves from the filters, heat exchangers or guard grills installed in the device, for example. The data are cleared up and unnec\u00ades\u00adsary details are removed (cleaning). Then the simu\u00adla\u00adtion is prepared in a prepro\u00adcessing phase, meaning that certain boundary condi\u00adtions are spec\u00adi\u00adfied and the geome\u00adtries are networked. The grid struc\u00adture divides the space that the air passes through into many indi\u00advidual cells, which form the basis of the math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adical calcu\u00adla\u00adtion. The simu\u00adla\u00adtions then run on high-perfor\u00admance computers that are in a server room at the ebm-papst site in Hollen\u00adbach.<\/p>\n

Prac\u00adtical exam\u00adples: Exploiting poten\u00adtial for opti\u00admiza\u00adtion<\/h2>\n

Using the simu\u00adla\u00adtion results, the engi\u00adneers then esti\u00admate the poten\u00adtial for opti\u00admiza\u00adtion and develop concrete sugges\u00adtions for improve\u00adment. For example, a customer devel\u00adoped an air purifi\u00adca\u00adtion device in which the fan was to be used for pushing air out. However, the simu\u00adla\u00adtion showed signif\u00adi\u00adcant turbu\u00adlence (Fig. 4), which increased the power consump\u00adtion at the oper\u00adating point. Using the fan to draw air in, i.e. changing its instal\u00adla\u00adtion posi\u00adtion, proved to be helpful here. The air flow is now very uniform, the power consump\u00adtion is decreased and there is also a posi\u00adtive effect on oper\u00adating noise.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>

Fig. 4a: In an air purifi\u00adca\u00adtion unit, the air flow could be signif\u00adi\u00adcantly improved by changing the fan instal\u00adla\u00adtion posi\u00adtion ... <\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>

Fig. 4b: ... The power consump\u00adtion dropped and the device oper\u00adates more quietly. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Another example: Using simu\u00adla\u00adtion results, the effi\u00adciency of a heat pump could be signif\u00adi\u00adcantly improved. Thanks to geometric changes, the pres\u00adsure losses in the device fell by a total of 17 percent. The indi\u00advidual sub-areas in the device were assessed sepa\u00adrately and the product design was adapted accord\u00adingly. Here too, the user bene\u00adfited from the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties provided by CFD calcu\u00adla\u00adtion.<\/p>\n

These exam\u00adples show that it is worth\u00adwhile for end device manu\u00adfac\u00adturers to rely on numer\u00adical flow simu\u00adla\u00adtion and to apply these at an early stage of devel\u00adop\u00adment to avoid subse\u00adquent devel\u00adop\u00adment costs. ebm-papst supports this with its long-standing CFD expe\u00adri\u00adence and offers such eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions and calcu\u00adla\u00adtions to ensure that the fans operate as effi\u00adciently as possible in the appli\u00adca\u00adtion. Even small opti\u00admiza\u00adtions to the instal\u00adla\u00adtion situ\u00ada\u00adtion can reduce pres\u00adsure losses, increase effi\u00adciency, or mini\u00admize running noise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numer\u00adical aero\u00addy\u00adnamics and simu\u00adla\u00adtion are part of day-to-day devel\u00adop\u00adment work for motor and fan manu\u00adfac\u00adturer ebm-papst. For many years, its engi\u00adneers have been working on devel\u00adoping their fans using powerful CFD tools, not only for opti\u00admizing complex impeller geome\u00adtries (Fig. 1), but also for motor or elec\u00adtronics cooling concepts or in the context of acoustic [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16514"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16547,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16514\/revisions\/16547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}