Use of a beat effect for the automatic positioning of flow obstructions to control tonal fan noise: Theory and experiments

Tonal noise generated by axial fans at the Blade Passage Frequency and its harmonics is a source of discomfort for low-speed fans used in many cooling and ventilation applications. The noise control approach presented here is based on the interference between the unsteady aerodynamic blade loads responsible for tonal noise generation and secondary aerodynamic loads generated in the rotor plane by fixed, carefully positioned, small obstructions in the upstream flow. Although not strictly active control, the magnitude and phase of the secondary tonal noise can be adjusted by varying the axial distance between the rotor and the obstruction, and the circumferential position of the obstruction, respectively. An optimal position of the obstruction generally exists, that minimizes the total noise at a given frequency. This paper establishes a practical method for automatic positioning of such control obstructions. In a first step, the method searches for the optimal axial distance between the rotor and the obstruction using a slowly rotating control obstruction. The modulation created by the rotation of the obstruction allows for the primary and secondary noises to be distinguished in the frequency response of the sound field. The steepest descent algorithm is used to find the optimal axial distance, for which the magnitudes of the primary and secondary tonal noise are equal at the error microphone. Then, the optimal angular position of the obstruction is obtained by slowly rotating the obstruction until minimal total noise is achieved. Finally, it is shown that at the optimal axial and angular position, the BPF tone, which produced the largest area in the loudness pattern, has been greatly reduced.