Detailed Study of an Efficient Small Diameter Automotive Engine Cooling Fan System

Abstract

This paper deals with stator efficiency improvement meant for automotive engine cooling fan systems. A new rapid prototype of a long stator designed for a small diameter Valeo rotor (320 mm) has been manufactured and tested on a recently designed Valeo-LEMFI test rig. The following points are presented: • Overall performances of the 320 mm rotor alone. • Overall performances of the 320 mm rotor combined with the new long stator vanes: this study confirms the gain of efficiency foreseen previously with the simplified radial equilibrium code VENTAX. • Steady velocities measured 41 mm downstream of the stage configuration: These measurements obtained by using a 5-hole probe show high deflection carried out by the stators with long chord lengths. Comparisons with preliminary CFD simulations are also shown for both the overall performances and the local velocities.