Active Control of Flow Separation in a Radial Blower

Abstract

An experimental investigation was undertaken as a proof-of-concept study for active separation control in a radial blower. Acoustic perturbations were introduced into the impeller housing of a small radial blower with fully stalled blades. Increases in the plenum pressure of 35% were achieved and, based on tuft-based flow visualization, it was concluded that the pressure increases were brought about due to excitation and deflection of the leading-edge separated shear layer. Within the parameter range considered here, the optimum dimensionless control frequencies were found to be O(0.5), irrespective of the blade orientation or number of blades. Moreover, the maximum pressure rise was achieved with an investment of only 2% of the fan input power. Backward bladed impeller blades exhibited slightly larger increases in pressure coefficients when compared with their forward bladed counterparts. The dependence of blower performance on reduced frequency was remarkably similar to that seen on flat plate airfoils at similar Reynolds numbers under periodic excitation.