The effect of blade angle on the flow and pressure distributions in the vicinity of the diffuser blades of a room air conditioner

Many studies on air-conditioning systems are more focused on the individual thermal comfort rather than the thermal efficiency, due to an increase in health concerns. There are several factors influencing the thermal comfort, such as temperature, humidity, convection and air movement, etc. Numerical analyses were performed to investigate the effect of blade angle on the flow characteristics in the vicinity of diffuser blades of a room air conditioner (RAC), with three different blade discharge angles of 45.1°, 58.6° and 116°. We used the commercial code FLUENT to calculate the two-dimensional steady thermal flow fields with different impeller rotational velocities. The angular velocities were located within the range from 900 rpm to 1200 rpm. Turbulence closure was achieved using a standard k-ɛ model. A moving reference frame (MRF) approach was adopted to simulate the flow field generated by the impeller in an RAC. The results were graphically depicted with various geometrical configurations and operating conditions. This paper was presented at the 7th JSME-KSME Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, Sapporo, Japan, October 2008. Youn-Jea Kim received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 1982. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Dr. Kim is currently a Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. Dr. Kim’s research interests include gas dynamics, MEMS, and fluid-machineries, etc.