Study on Influence of Blade Number on Aerodynamic Noise of Half-ducted Propeller Fans for Packaged Air-conditioners

Flow fields in 2-blade and 4-blade half-ducted propeller fans for the outdoor units of air-conditioners were calculated with large eddy simulation based on finite element method with the aim of investigating the influence of blade number on aerodynamic noise. We confirmed that the tip vortex had a great influence on aerodynamic noise in half-ducted propeller fans. The length of the tip vortex trajectory and the blade pitch for the 2-blade propeller fan were longer than those for the 4-blade propeller fan. These were suppressed the interaction between the tip vortex and the adjacent blade in the 2-blade propeller fan. The 2-blade propeller fan was therefore more silent than the 4-blade propeller fan.