Total Unsteadiness Downstream of an Axial Flow Fan With Variable Pitch Blades

Variable pitch axial flow fans are widely used in industrial applications to satisfy variable operating conditions. The change of the blade pitch leads to a different rotor geometry and has a major influence on the unsteady operation of the machine. In this work, an experimental research on an axial flow fan with variable pitch blades has been carried out. First of all, the fan performance curves has been obtained. Then the flow field has been measured at ten radial locations both at the inlet and exit rotor plane using hot wire anemometry. Velocity components and total unsteadiness were determined and analyzed in order to characterize the influence of pitch blade and operating conditions on the flow structure.