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Unsteady flow simulations in a three-lobe positive displacement blower

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Abstract

To improve the performance of the positive displacement blower, it is imperative to understand the detailed internal flow characteristics or enable a visualization of flow status. However, the existing two-dimensional unsteady, three-dimensional steady or quasi-unsteady numerical simulation and theoretical analysis cannot provide the detailed flow information, which is unfavorable to improve the performance of positive displacement blower. Therefore, the unsteady flow characteristics in a three-lobe positive displacement blower are numerically investigated by solving the three-dimensional, unsteady, compressible Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-ɛ turbulent model. In the numerical simulation, the dynamic mesh technique and overset mesh updating method are adopted. Due to the air being compressed in the process of the rotors rotating, the variation of the temperature field in the positive displacement blower is considered. By comparing the experimental measurements and the numerical results on the variation of flow rate with the outlet pressure, the maximum relative error of the flow rate is less than 2.15% even at the maximum outlet pressure condition, which means that the calculation model and numerical computational method used are effective. The numerical results show that in the intake region, the fluctuations of the inlet flow are greatly affected by the direction of the velocity vectors. In the exhaust region, the temperature changes significantly, which leads to the increase of the airflow pulsation. Through analysis on the velocity, pressure and temperature fields obtained from the numerical simulations, three-dimensional unsteady flow characteristics in the positive displacement blower are revealed. The studied results will provide useful reference for improving the performance and empirical correction in the design of the positive displacement blower.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Xiaomin Liu & Jun Lu

Authors
  1. Xiaomin Liu
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  2. Jun Lu
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Correspondence to Xiaomin Liu.

Additional information

Supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China(Grant No. xjj20100073), and Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2011KTCL01-04)

LIU Xiaomin, born in 1971, is currently an associate professor at School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. He received his PhD degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, in 2001. His research interests include numerical simulation and design of turbomachinery.

LU Jun, born in 1988, is currently a master candidate at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include the CFD and optimization design of fluid machinery.

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Liu, X., Lu, J. Unsteady flow simulations in a three-lobe positive displacement blower. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 27, 575–583 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.03.575

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.03.575

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