Parametric Design and Numerical Simulation of the Axial-Flow Fan for Electronic Devices

The procedure of the parametric design and numerical simulation is developed to enhance greatly fan design efficiency, which can generate high quality hexahedral mesh automatically. The numerical simulation can be performed automatically and the aerodynamic performance of the fan can be characterized without using any other tools. The developed procedure can be employed to the optimization design of the fan. Based on the procedure of the parametric design and numerical simulation, the influences of various design parameters on the aerodynamic performance of the fan are investigated deeply. Such influences can provide physical insight into the flow characteristics of the fan. The multiparameter constrained optimization procedure based on the combination algorithms of design of experiments, response surface models, genetic algorithm, and mixed integer optimization, is carried out aiming at the fan to maximize its coefficient of flow rate over the operating range rather than at a single operating point with parallel computational fluid dynamics. Results show that the aerodynamic average flow rate coefficient of the optimal fan is increased by 14.5% compared to the initially designed fan. This paper demonstrates the potential of the proposed procedure to be applied widely in industry for the purpose of improving work efficiency among engineers.