Effect of Gurney Flap Configuration on the Performance of a Centrifugal Fan

The present investigation is conducted to study the effect of Gurney flap configuration on the performance of a centrifugal fan at different Reynolds numbers. Gurney flaps of different configurations, such as angle, quarter round and half round corresponding to a nominal height of 1.2 mm (1.94% of the impeller blade spacing at tip) height are attached to the pressure surface of the centrifugal fan impeller blade tip. Performance tests are carried out on the centrifugal fan with a vaneless diffuser at five Reynolds numbers viz. 0.30, 0.41, 0.55, 0.69 and 0.80×105 based on the impeller tip speed, impeller blade exit height and kinematic viscosity, both with and without Gurney flaps. From the performance curves it is found that fan performance improves significantly with Gurney flaps at low Reynolds numbers and improves marginally at high Reynolds numbers. Gurney flap of angle configuration of height as small as 1.94% of the impeller blade spacing at tip increases head coefficient by 5.2% and increases the volume flow rate across the fan by 5.4% at the lowest Reynolds number of 0.30×105. Even though there is increase in both head and flow coefficients with other Gurney flap configurations (quarter round and half round), they are always less than that for the angle Gurney flap. The effect of Reynolds number on the performance curves is found to be negligible with Gurney flaps, whereas the effect of Reynolds number on the performance curves of the impeller without Gurney flap is found to be considerable. Additional experiments conducted with Gurney flaps of two configurations, viz. angle and quarter round, with a larger height of 2.5 mm (4.05% of the impeller blade spacing at tip) attached on the pressure surface of the centrifugal fan impeller blade tip have shown that the performance of the fan with quarter round GF is better than the performance of the fan with angle GF.