Experimental investigation on cross flow fan's casing parameters inside of a split air conditioner indoor unit by Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry

In this study, the flow effects of a Cross Flow Fan (CFF) casing inside of a Split Air Conditioner (SAC) were parametrically investigated. Volute curvature, tongue angle, vortex wall angle and vortex wall distance to the CFF were selected as the investigation parameters. In addition, the existence of a heat exchanger was also tested to understand the relationship between these parameters and the heat exchanger. A total of 480 different design points were obtained through the combination of these parameters. To perform all of these experiments in a relatively short time, a half model parametric SAC prototype was designed. Each model was tested by Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) on the symmetry plane. After post processing of the results, evaluations were made according to selected output parameters, which were average velocity, projected air flow rate and vorticity. As the result of the study, standalone and overall flow effects of these parameters were presented. A full prototype of the design with the optimum outputs was built and investigated using SPIV. The full prototype's results were evaluated based on the results from the parametric prototype. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.