Enhancing Axial Fan Noise Reduction through Innovative Wavy Blade Configurations

Noise is one of the key indicators to evaluate axial flow fans, and in many cases, it is also the only indicator for determining their suitability for use. In this study, a new method to reduce axial fan’s noise was proposed for changing the section chord length to transform the blades of two axial fans with the same design parameters but distinct chord lengths to wavy blades. The aerodynamic calculations and noise reduction mechanism of the wavy configuration of the two fans were studied by combining CFD of large eddy simulation with the Lighthill acoustic analogy method. The results showed that the main mechanism contributing to noise reduction through wavy configuration was the promotion of transformation of the blade surface's layered vortex structure into an uncorrelated comb vortex structure. For fan blades with smaller chord lengths, the comb structure with low spanwise correlation was still maintained after the trailing edge, while for fan blades with larger chord lengths, the comb structure of the shedding vortex rapidly dissipated downstream of the trailing edge. Under the rated design conditions, the implementation of wavy leading edge blades resulted in noise reductions of 1.9 dB and 1.5 dB for the two fans, respectively, while wavy trailing edge blades yielded reductions of 2.6 dB and 2.1 dB, respectively. Furthermore, the adoption of wavy configuration induced a phenomenon of pressure increase and efficiency decrease in both axial fans at medium and low flow rates, with minimal impact at high flow rates. These outcomes underscored the superior noise reduction efficacy of the wavy trailing edge blades, offering a promising way for the noise reduction design of axial flow fans.