Proceedings of IMECE2008

2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

October 31-November 6, 2008, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

IMECE2008-68878

MEASUREMENT AND COMPARISON OF AIRFLOW IN CONDENSER

AXIAL-FLOW FANS WITH ALUMINUM AND FIBERGLASS BLADES

N. Hosseini M. H. Raad
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Ferdowsi University of Mashad Ferdowsi University of Mashad
Mashad, Iran Mashad, Iran
hosseini_n@yahoo.com ghodsi_rad@yahoo.com

M. Moghiman
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Ferdowsi University of Mashad
Mashad, Iran
mmoghiman@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental investigation of
effects of physical characteristics of blades on the airflow rate
of an axial-flow fan. Two types of fiberglass and aluminum
blades have been compared. The comparison includes air
velocity, air flow and physical characteristics; like airfoil
design, twist, tip clearance and chord variation. Pitot tube has
been used as the most compatible device for airflow
measurement. Results show that aluminum blades have
performed better than fiberglass blades and the comparison of
experimental measurements against calculated results,
regarding fan laws, shows good agreement.
NOMENCLATURE
1B7
D fan diameter SP static pressure
d hub diameter TP total pressure
NFA net free area V mean velocity
Q a constant chord of 530mm. None of them are twisted, but the
airflow rate VP velocity pressure
INTRODUCTION
Axial-flow fans are the main part of dry cooling units.
Knowing the airflow produced by the fans is very critical due
to their impact on the units' efficiency. Many researchers have
numerically investigated the effect of blades on fans flow rate,
but fewer experiments have been done. What emphasizes the
need to experiment is that the large geometry of the fans highly
increases turbulencies caused by blades rotation. Also fans of
different designs, which have the same operating point under
design conditions, do not have the same operating point under
off-design conditions [1]. So measuring the airflow in working
conditions is critical to assure maximum coincidence with
design conditions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate
effects of physical characteristics of blades on the performance
of an axial-flow fan.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The experiment case is two types of fans installed in air-
cooled condenser of Touss Power Plant of Mashhad. The two
fans have the same diameter (6096 millimeters), inlet bell, and
rotational speed (167 RPM), but feature different blade
materials (Aluminum and Fiberglass), geometries, airfoil
designs, number of blades (7 and 8, respectively), and hub
diameters (92 and 93 centimeters, respectively). As illustrated
in figure 1, the aluminum blades are tapered with base chord of
570mm and tip chord of 300mm, but the fiberglass blades have
aluminum blades feature better curvature at the trailing edge.
The aluminum blade tip has been curved to maintain tip
clearance; while the fiberglass blade rectangular design causes
tip clearance to vary through the chord.
TESTO 350 XL Pitot tube has been utilized to measure
airflow rate of the two fans. Because of the large geometry of
the fans, airflow measurement must have been performed in
different radial divisions on the fan plane. Division radiuses
have been obtained from BSI flow measurement standard [2].

1 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

To evaluate the measured data, velocity of air flowing out of
the bundle door and its velocity at blade tip have been
compared to ensure that velocity at the door does not exceed
velocity at blade tip.

RESULTS
Data obtained from the Pitot tube have been analyzed by
MS Excel. Figure 2 shows velocity of air and figure 3 presents
airflow rate, at different radiuses for the two types of fans. As
illustrated in the last two figures flow and velocity of air
through the aluminum bladed fan exceed the fiberglass one at
radiuses larger than 150 centimeters. This is caused by
aluminum blades tapered design, better tip clearance and
Figure 1: Aluminum and fiberglass blades
trailing edge curvature that becomes more influential at higher
radiuses[3].
The relation between fan output power, total pressure and
airflow rate is

TP × Q × 9.81
HO =
1000
(1)

Where TP = SP + VP (2)

And SP = 15 millimeters of H2O (3)

Velocity pressure is a function of air velocity

 V 
2
Figure 2: Air velocity profiles
VP =  
 4.04  (4)
Q
V =
Where NFA (5)
π
NFA =
4
(
× D2 − d 2 )
And (6)

With the measured airflow rate of 315m3/s and using the

above formulas, fan output power can be obtained as

Ho = 69.93 kW (7)

Total efficiency is about 75% so the brake power would
be 69.93 ÷ 75% = 93.24 kW. Due to the input electrical current,
and motor and drive efficiency fan input power has been
measured 90 kilo Watts, which agrees with the 93.24 kilo Watts
in an acceptable margin.
CONCLUSIONS
The influence of air-cooled condenser efficiency on total
efficiency of the power plant and the differences of working
and design conditions has been the main cause to perform the
measurements [4]. Pitot tube data have been most reliable due
to fan laws and producer's technical information.
Physical properties of the two blades have been
comprehensively compared. Figures 2 and 3 clearly illustrate
the effect of blades geometry factors such as airfoil design,
chord widths, twist, tapered design and tip clearance on total
airflow provided by a single fan. That is the cause of better
performance of aluminum blades.
Figure 3: Airflow profiles
REFERENCES
[1] Bredell, J. R. and D. G. Krِger, 2006, Numerical
Investigation of a Performance in a Forced Draft Air-
Cooled Steam Condenser, Int. J. Applied Thermal
Engineering, 26, 846-852.
[2] Cristian Cuevas and Eric L. Winandy, 2002, New
Approach for Performance Testing of Air-cooled
Condensing Units, Applied Thermal Engineering, 22,
1403-1415.
[3] N. N. Petrov, N. A. Popov and E. Yu. Russkii, 2007,
Scientific Substantiation and Development of a New Series
of Axial Fans, Int. J. Mining Science, 43, 300-310.
[4] Oŭuz Uzol and Joseph Katz, 2007, Flow Measurement
Techniques in Turbomachinery, Springer Berlin
Heidelberg,

2 Copyright © 2008 by ASME