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Influence of surrounding structures upon the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the outdoor unit of a split air-conditioner

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Abstract

DC-inverter split air-conditioner is widely used in Chinese homes as a result of its high-efficiency and energy-saving. Recently, the researches on its outdoor unit have focused on the influence of surrounding structures upon the aerodynamic and acoustic performance, however they are only limited to the influence of a few parameters on the performance, and practical design of the unit requires more detailed parametric analysis. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics(CFD) and computational aerodynamic acoustics(CAA) simulation based on FLUENT solver is used to study the influence of surrounding structures upon the aforementioned properties of the unit. The flow rate and sound pressure level are predicted for different rotating speed, and agree well with the experimental results. The parametric influence of three main surrounding structures(i.e. the heat sink, the bell-mouth type shroud and the outlet grille) upon the aerodynamic performance of the unit is analyzed thoroughly. The results demonstrate that the tip vortex plays a major role in the flow fields near the blade tip and has a great effect on the flow field of the unit. The inlet ring’s size and throat’s depth of the bell-mouth type shroud, and the through-flow area and configuration of upwind and downwind sections of the outlet grille are the most important factors that affect the aerodynamic performance of the unit. Furthermore, two improved schemes against the existing prototype of the unit are developed, which both can significantly increase the flow rate more than 6 %(i.e. 100 m3·h−1) at given rotating speeds. The inevitable increase of flow noise level when flow rate is increased and the advantage of keeping a lower rotating speed are also discussed. The presented work could be a useful guideline in designing the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the split air-conditioner in engineering practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Chengjun Wu & Jiang Liu

  2. School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Jie Pan

Authors
  1. Chengjun Wu
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  2. Jiang Liu
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  3. Jie Pan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chengjun Wu.

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Supported by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, Ministry of Education of China(PCSIRT)

WU Chengjun, born in 1968, is currently a professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. He received his PhD degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, in 1999. His research interests include mechanical dynamics, CFD/CAA simulation, and damping technology application.

LIU Jiang, born in 1986. He recievd his master degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, in 2011. His research interests include vibration and noise control for mechanical structures, and CFD/CAA simulation.

PAN Jie, born in 1957, is currently a professor at Centre for Acoustics, Dynamics and Vibration, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Australia. He received his PhD degree from The University of Adelaide, Australia, in 1989. His research interests include mechanical dynamics, acoustics, vibration and noise control for mechanical structures, and CFD/CAA simulation.

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Wu, C., Liu, J. & Pan, J. Influence of surrounding structures upon the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the outdoor unit of a split air-conditioner. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 27, 836–845 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.0515.095

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.0515.095

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