JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439

A study of radiator cooling fan with labyrinth seal

Kota Shimada, Kazuhide Kimura, Hiroshi Watanabe
Product Development Center, Toyo Radiator Co., Ltd., 4-14, Shioya-cho, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 457-8560, Japan
Received 25 September 2001; received in revised form 15 May 2003
Abstract
The performance of a conventional axial ow fan and other fans, which have various types of rings xed at the blade tips of the
same fan, were compared. Then, the effects of these rings were investigated in detail. The fans displayed higher performance with a
xed ring. The authors also showed that a labyrinth seal is able to seal the tip clearance between the ring and the fan shroud of the
fan with a xed ring, especially when the fan operates in a low static pressure difference. As a result, the fan with a xed ring and the
labyrinth seal prevented the effect of the tip clearance, and achieved higher fan performance and lower fan noise than the
conventional fan in any practical tip clearances.
r 2003 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. and Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Two different types of motor fans are generally used
for radiator cooling of automobiles. One is the conven-
tional fan, which does not have a ring at the blade tips,
and the other is the type of fans with such a ring. The
latter fans generally have numerous forward- or back-
ward-skewed blades with a short chord length. With
these fans, it is sometimes difcult to maintain the
strength of the blades, because of the difference in the
center of gravity of each cylindrical section of a blade.
These fans maintain strength by the ring which is xed
at the blade tips. These rings are generally called bands.
Therefore, the main reason to attach a ring is to
improve the strength. However, it is known that the
reverse ow or the turbulence at the tip clearance affects
the fan performance and the noise level. Therefore, there
is a high possibility that the existence of the ring affects
not only strength but also performance. However, there
are few reports which have researched the inuence of
the ring in the past.
Here, the authors investigated the effect of the ring
xed at the blade tips. Then, a labyrinth seal was
provided between the ring and fan shroud in order to
decrease the reverse ow at the tip clearance. The
performance and effectiveness of the labyrinth seal were
studied. As a result, the fan with a xed ring and the
labyrinth seal achieved higher performance and a lower
noise level.
2. The performance of the fan with a xed ring
Fig. 1 shows the fundamental fan that was used in this
experimental study. The fan diameter is 340 mm and the
hub diameter is 125 mm. It has seven blades, and the
rotational direction is clock-wise. The blades are skewed
forward in order to decrease broad band noise. The
design ow coefcient is f 0:18 at the operating point
when the fan was mounted in an engine compartment.
The fan was designed quasi-three-dimensionally, with
two-dimensional NACA65-series cascade data, which
was added with some corrections [1,2]. The difference in
fan performance with or without several kinds of rings,
which are xed at the blade tips, was investigated. Fig. 2
shows the model with a xed ring. In spite of the
difference in ring types, the diameter of all these rings is
362 mm.
Fig. 3 shows the shape of the shroud and the relative
location between the blade tip and the shroud of the
conventional fan. The shroud has a bell-mouth which is
formed with Radius R=11 mm at both the inlet and the
outlet. The full length of the shroud is L
0
=49.7 mm, and
the relative distance of the trailing edge of the blade tip
and the inlet of the shroud is L
1
=38.7 mm. Standard tip
clearance e is 3 mm. Fig. 4 shows the model with a xed
ring, which only has a bell-mouth at the inlet side. Type
A is the most popular commercially available form. The
shape of the ring is exactly the same as the fan shroud
shown in Fig. 3, except for the non-existence of the
ARTICLE IN PRESS
0389-4304/$30.00 r 2003 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. and Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0389-4304(03)00076-6 JSAE20034529
bell-mouth at the outlet. Here, the cover rate of the
shroud to the ring at the outlet is L
2
=3 mm. Fig. 5
shows the model with a bell-mouth added to the outlet
of the shroud of type A. The bell-mouth radius R of this
is the same as R of Figs. 3 and 4. This is also a
commonly seen fan model.
Fig. 7 shows the performance of these types. There is
no difference in performance at a higher ow coefcient
from the design ow coefcient f 0:18; between the
conventional fan and type A. The pressure coefcient c
decrease, which seems to be due to blade tip stall, is
shown at a lower ow coefcient from f 0:18 on the
conventional fan. However, it is not shown on type A.
Consequently, the existence of the ring has the effect of
creating a slight stall or a delay of stall in performance.
Type B shows the highest performance in the region
above f 0:15: This is due to the effect of rectication
of outlet ow and block of reverse ow stream by the
xed bell-mouth on the outlet side. However, Type B
shows a decrease in c with a lower f; starting from
f 0:13; compared to type A. This observation means
that the outlet bell-mouth interfered with the main ow,
which became strong mixed ow or radial ow. There-
fore, this lower f region seems to be the radius ow
region [3].
Fig. 6 shows the fan with a xed ring, which has a
bell-mouth at both sides. Although the shape of the ring
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Fig. 4. Fixed ring type A.
Fig. 5. Fixed ring type B.
Fig. 1. Conventional fan.
Fig. 2. Fan with a xed ring.
Fig. 3. Conventional type.
Fig. 6. Fixed ring type C.

Type A
Type B
Conventional Type
=3
2000rpm
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
Fig. 7. Fan performance of xed ring types.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 432
of type C is exactly the same as the shroud of the
conventional fan, the xed ring rotates with the fan.
Fig. 8 shows its performance(s). Type C shows a little
higher c in the region of f=0.10.17, but almost the
same performance as type B. Generally, there is the
danger of deterioration in fan efciency due to air
friction loss at the surface of the ring. However, in the
case of the fan that has a large tip clearance, it seems
that the effect of the restraint of reverse ow and
turbulence at the blade tips by the rings compensates for
that friction loss. Therefore, these fans with a xed ring
have a better performance.
However, the tip clearance between the ring and the
fan shroud exists once more, though reverse ow and
turbulence are restrained at the blade tips. This tip
clearance has reverse ow and becomes one of the
causes of deterioration in performance. Therefore, the
authors focused on improving performance by adding a
seal structure between the ring and the fan shroud to
prevent the reverse ow.
3. The labyrinth seal between the ring and the fan shroud
3.1. Operating pressure and clearance of the labyrinth
seal
It is problematic for a mechanical contact seal to be
used for the clearance between a ring and a shroud, as it
is necessary to maintain some clearance there. Accord-
ingly, the authors directed their attention to the
labyrinth seal as a clearance seal. This device contains
expansion grooves and throttles called ns, and
exchanges uid pressure into velocity in order to
maintain the differential pressure. This is called a
labyrinth seal. Labyrinth seals are frequently used for
compressors and turbines in order to seal their shafts.
Generally, the maximum operating static pressure
difference of these seals is 1.0 10
2
3.0 10
4
kPa, and
the clearance e of the seal section is about 0.10.6 mm
[4]. Therefore, most research concerning the use of
labyrinth seals has been conducted within these limits in
the past. However, in the case of these fans mentioned
above, the practical operating static pressure difference
is P
s
=50250 Pa and the clearance e of the seal section
or tip clearance is 3 mm. There is room for further
research about labyrinth seals in these extremely low
static pressure difference P
s
and large clearance e;
because their performance and the phenomenon is still
unclear. The authors chose type C because enough room
is available to construct a labyrinth seal within the ring.
3.2. Performance of labyrinth seals of straight-through
type and combined-staggered type
In order to discover the effectiveness of a labyrinth
seal, which has a large clearance e and operates in an
extremely low static pressure difference P
s
, the seal
performance was investigated and the result was
compared to the ideal labyrinth. The velocity, which
appears at the n edge, converts to a static pressure
constantly in a static temperature in an expansion
groove and then the velocity is completely lost just
before the next n. This is called the ideal labyrinth.
Labyrinth seals are generally divided into two
categories: the straight-through type and the staggered
type. In this case, the labyrinth seal does not change
radius. Fig. 9 shows the shape of the straight-through
type and the state of the tests. This seal consists of three
ns and two expansion grooves, and includes the bell-
mouths as the ns. The seal disk is inserted into the
inside of the ring to measure the leakage rate only from
the seal section. The ring with the labyrinth seal is able
to rotate with the seal disk. The inuence of the rotation
was also investigated.
Fig. 11 shows the performance of the straight-through
type. The performance of the ideal labyrinth, which is
n 123; is also shown in Fig. 11. Here, n means the
number of ns, and n 1 means just a ring-shaped
orice on the wall, which divides a room into two
different rooms of pressure. F is a dimensionless number
showing the leakage rate of the labyrinth seal and
named labyrinth function. In the case of the ideal
labyrinth, F is shown by Martins approximate equa-
tion, as shown [5] in Eq. (1). Here, the pressure ratio l is
the ratio of the outlet and the inlet absolute pressure,
shown as l P
n
=P
0
: In this experiment, the differential
pressure is signicantly small and l is nearly 1. In the
case of the experimental value, F is generally shown in
ARTICLE IN PRESS

Type C
Type B
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
=3
2000rpm
Fig. 8. Fan performance of xed ring type C.
Shroud
Air
Fin1 Fin2
Fin3

Pressure
Chamber
Seal Disc
Expansion
Grooves
Fig. 9. Straight-through type.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 433
Eq. (2) [5]. Here, G: leakage rate kg/s, F: opening section
of labyrinth seal m
2
, P
0
: absolute inlet pressure kPa, u
0
:
specic volume m
3
/kg,
F

1 l
2
n In 1=l
s
; 1
F G F

P
0
u
0
r 1
: 2
When the rotational speed is 0 rpm, the curve of the
straight-through type is located at a little lower F region
than the ideal labyrinth of n 1 in the whole pressure
region. In this state, the straight-through type is almost
the same as an orice rather than a labyrinth seal. It is
well known that the drawback of the straight-through
type is deterioration in performance, which is caused by
the air ow to the axial direction at the clearance area
[5], otherwise known as carry-over. It seems that the
expansion grooves did not work effectively because of
the large clearance, and just worked like a pipe line or a
tube. However, when the rotational speed is 2500 rpm,
the leakage rate decreases signicantly, especially in the
lower P
s
. When P
s
=100 Pa, the leakage rate is the same
as the ideal labyrinth of n 2: When P
s
=50 Pa, the
leakage rate is the same as the ideal labyrinth of n 3:
Fig. 10 shows the combined-staggered type. This type
has a counter-throttle added onto the shroud surface in
the upstream expansion groove of the mentioned
straight-through type. This counter-throttle intercepts
the carry-over ow. This type consists of both the
staggered type, with an expansion groove at the
upstream side, and the straight-through type, with an
expansion groove at the downstream side.
Fig. 12 shows the seal performance of the combined-
staggered type. When the rotational speed is 0 rpm, it
shows signicantly higher performance than the
straight-through type, and indicates a little higher F
than the ideal labyrinth of n 3: This means that the
combined-staggered type has nearly the same perfor-
mance as the ideal labyrinth with the same number of
ns. When the rotational speed is 2500 rpm, the
performance improves slightly, especially in the lower
P
s
region. At this rotational speed, the leakage rate
decreases more than the ideal labyrinth of n 3 in the
whole of the pressure region. Thus, as mentioned before,
the combined-staggered type shows the ideal perfor-
mance. However, this does not mean that it is working
as an ideal labyrinth without carry-over, but that it is
still working with considerable carry-over. The reason
for maintaining the same performance as the ideal
labyrinth is due to the uid loss of the wind stream by
the counter-throttle [6].
3.3. Inuence of rotation
Fig. 13 shows the change in the leakage rate of the
straight-through type with the ring tip speed U and the
specic leakage rate G: G is the ratio of the leakage rate
in the rotational state G
r
and the leakage rate in the
stationary state G
s
, thus shown as G=G
r
/G
s
. Here, the
peripheral velocity U=47.4 m/s corresponds with the
fan speed at 2500 rpm. G decreases when there is an
increase in U. This is particularly evident when P
s
is low.
When P
s
=50 Pa and U=47.4 m/s, G reaches G 0:58:
However, with previous research concerning the
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Air
Shroud
Seal Disc
Pressure
Chamber
Counter-Throttle

h
Fig. 10. Combined-staggered type.
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
50 100 150 200 250
Static Pressure Difference Ps (Pa)
L
a
b
y
r
i
n
t
h

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n

0 rpm
n
=
1
(
O
r
i
f
i
c
e
)
n
=
2
n
=
3
=3
Experimental
(n=3)
Calculated Ideal
Labyrinth
2
5
0
0
r
p
m
Fig. 11. Seal performance of straight-through type.
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
50 100 150 200 250
Static Pressure Difference Ps (Pa)
L
a
b
y
r
i
n
t
h

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n

0
r
p
m
2500rpm
n
=
2
n
=
3
=3
h =3
a =3
n
=
1
(
O
r
i
f
i
c
e
)
Experimental
(n=3)
Calculated Ideal
Labyrinth
Fig. 12. Seal performance of combined-staggered type.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 434
straight-through type labyrinth seal [7,8], G is about
G=0.80.9 when U=250 m/s and l 0:5: In addition,
they report that there is no signicant decrease in the
leakage rate when under U=50 m/s. Therefore, it was
discovered that G is seriously affected by U when P
s
is
extremely low. In spite of the case that the performance
is almost the same as the ideal labyrinth of n 1 due to
the large carry-over by the large e; it is possible to
further improve the performance closer to the ideal
labyrinth of n=23, by increasing the rotational speed
to approximately U=50 m/s.
Fig. 14 shows the change in the leakage rate with
rotation in the combined-staggered type. It shows
almost the same tendency as the straight-through type,
yet G is comparatively larger. Notably, when
P
s
=250 Pa, G does not change signicantly even when
U increases. In the case of P
s
=150 Pa, G starts to
decrease more sharply from about U=40 m/s. In the
case of P
s
=50 Pa, G starts to decrease drastically from
about U=20 m/s. Generally, the staggered type brings
about a signicant decrease in the leakage rate in lower
U compared to the straight-through type [4]. Therefore,
the results shown in Fig. 14 are different in comparison
to the past results. The reason for the decrease in G with
U is due to the increase in uid loss in the labyrinth. It
has been considered that the uid loss increases as the
eddy, which already existed when the labyrinth is
stationary, accelerated as a spiral eddy due to the
rotation [7]. However, the details are still not fully clear,
providing the impetus for further research to be done.
4. The fan performance with a labyrinth seal
4.1. Fan performance of the straight-through type and the
combined-staggered type
As mentioned in the last section, these labyrinth seals
are able to achieve a similar performance to that of the
ideal labyrinth, even though it has large e with carry-over.
Therefore, the authors tested and investigated the effect
of these labyrinth seals on the fan performance, shown in
Figs. 9 and 10, when these labyrinth seals are applied to
type C as shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 15, the results of the
tests are shown. The combined-staggered type shows a
higher c2f curve for the most part and Z
s
curve over the
region of f 0:16; compared to the straight-through
type. However, in the region of extreme low c; the
difference in performance from the straight-through type
is very slight, as the performance of the labyrinth seal of
the straight-through type improves signicantly. In
addition, both of the fans achieve a higher performance
in most regions than the conventional fan. On the other
hand, there was no large difference in the fan perfor-
mance between the straight-through type which is shown
in Fig. 9 and type C in Fig. 6.
4.2. Fan performance and noise level when tip clearance is
different
It is well known that the tip clearance seriously affects
the fan performance [3]. The authors investigated the
ARTICLE IN PRESS
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0 10 20 30 40 50
Peripheral Velocity U (m/s)
S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c

L
e
a
k
a
g
e

R
a
t
e

Ps=250Pa
Ps=150Pa
Ps=50Pa
=3
Fig. 13. Effect of rotation in straight-through type.
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0 10 20 30 40 50
Peripheral Velocity U (m/s)
S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c

L
e
a
k
a
g
e

R
a
t
e

Ps=250Pa
Ps=150Pa
=3
h =3
a =3
Ps=50Pa
Fig. 14. Effect of rotation in combined-staggered type.

Conventional
Type
Straight-Through
Type
Combined-
Staggered
Type
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
=3
2000rpm
Fig. 15. Fan performance of combined-staggered type.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 435
fan performance of the fans with a xed ring, when the
tip clearance was changed. It is easy to predict that
the seal performance of the straight-through type
decreases when e increases, because of the increase in
the carry-over. However, in the case of the combined-
staggered type, the carry-over is always intercepted
when the axial clearance a remains constant and the
height of the counter-throttle h is always the same as e;
as shown in Fig. 10. Therefore, it seems that the decrease
in performance is comparatively smaller than the
straight-through type.
Fig. 16 shows the performance(s) of the conventional
fan shown in Fig. 3, when the tip clearance is different.
Both c and Z
s
decrease substantially with an increase in
the tip clearance. Fig. 17 shows the case of the straight-
through type under the same conditions as above. Both
c and Z
s
decrease with an increase in e: However, the
decrease in performance is slight compared to the
conventional type, especially in the low c region.
Fig. 18 shows the performance in the case of the
combined-staggered type under the same conditions. A
large decrease in performance is not observed, even
though e is increased from 1 to 7 mm.
Fig. 19 shows the noise level of each type of fan when
e was changed. Each fan was mounted on the same
radiator under the same conditions, and the noise level
was measured at 1 m upstream from the radiator core
surface on the rotational axis. In the case of the
conventional fan, the noise level increases continuously
when e increases from 1 to 5 mm. However, the noise
level becomes saturated and there is no change when e
was increased from 5 to 7 mm.
In the case of the straight-through type, the noise level
is signicantly small compared to the conventional fan,
even though the noise level increased continuously when
e was increased from 1 to 7 mm. The xed ring prevents
leakage of the air from the pressure side to the suction
side of a blade through the tip clearance of the
conventional fan. As a result, the noise level decreased
due to the lower prominence of the stall or the eddies at
the blade tips [3].
In the case of the combined-staggered type, the noise
level is the lowest in all tip clearances, and a large
increase in the noise level is not observed in the region
where e is from 3 to 7 mm. The main difference between
the straight-through type and that of the combined-
staggered type is the difference in the leakage rate. Thus,
it is clear that the increase in the leakage rate made the
noise level higher. The cause seems to be the suction of
the turbulence component or eddies contained therein to
the leakage ow of the fan.
Generally, it is extremely difcult to control the tip
clearance when the fan shroud is plastic molded by an
injection molding machine, because of the contraction
of the resin. Therefore, a large plus tolerance is usually
given to e for safety reasons, and the designers have to
pre-consider the performance decrease due to this.
However, in the case of the fan with a combined-
staggered type labyrinth seal, there is no considerable
effect on performance and it is possible to keep the
fan noise lower, even though the tip clearance is
increased.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

=1
=3
=5
=7
0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
2000rpm
Fig. 16. Performance of conventional type with different e:

0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
=1
=3
=5
=7
=h
2000rpm
Fig. 17. Fan performance of straight-through type with different e:

=1
=3
=5
=7
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Flow Coefficient
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

0
30
60
S
t
a
t
i
c

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

S
(
%
)
=h
2000rpm
Fig. 18. Fan performance of combined-staggered type with different e:
Conventional Type
Straight-Through
Type
Combined-
Staggered Type
2000rpm
Tip Clearance (mm)
65
70
75
80
S
o
u
n
d

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
L
e
v
e
l
S
P
L

d
B
(
A
)
1 5 7 2 3 4 6
Fig. 19. Noise of the fans with different e:
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 436
5. Form of fan noise occurrence
The authors demonstrated the decrease in the fan
noise levels and the possible causes of this in the case of
the fans with a xed ring. Next, the authors observed the
difference of fan noise occurrence between the conven-
tional fan and the fan with straight-through type
labyrinth seal.
Generally, the fan noise of a simple axial ow fan,
which has a single stage, is divided into two categories,
the turbulent noise (broad band noise) and the revolu-
tion noise (discrete frequency noise). A reduction in
both noise types is essential. The revolution noise
frequency is generally expressed by Eq. (3). Here, F
r
:
revolution noise frequency (Hz), n
i
: integer (n
i
=1,2,3y),
N
f
: rotational speed (rpm), Z: number of blade:
F
r
n
i
N
f
Z=60: 3
The fan noise is frequently evaluated with an A-
weighted value correction. However, in the case of
radiator fans for automobiles, the revolution noise does
not often affect the corrected noise level, because the
frequency of revolution noise is comparatively low, which
is located out of the high sensitivity region of the A-
weighted value. In spite of this, the revolution noise is
very annoying. This is because the revolution noise is at
the specic frequency of noise that is pure-sound, against
the broad band random-sound, and it is known that
people feel pure-sound as excessive tonal annoyance [9].
Therefore, the authors decided to discuss these two noises
independently.
Fig. 20 shows the results of the sound pressure
distribution of the fans with and without a ring. This
experimental condition is suitable for the comparison in
Fig. 19 at e 3 between the conventional fan, and the
fan with straight-through type labyrinth seal. The fan
with the straight-through type labyrinth seal shows
lower turbulence noise at the region of 5005 kHz, and
this is especially signicant around 1 kHz. From Eq. (3),
the revolution noise frequency is F
r
=233 Hz, in n
i
=1.
As shown in Fig. 20, the primary peak is observed
around 233 Hz, and the secondary peak is observed
around 466 Hz. Both of them improve in the case of the
fan with the straight-through type labyrinth seal.
In order to discover the phenomenon of noise
occurrence of these two fans in detail, the sound sources
were identied. Specically the three-dimensional sound
intensity of the revolution noise and the turbulence noise
was measured on the surface of the radiator core. The
fan, shroud, radiator and operating conditions are the
same as in the case of Figs. 20 and 19, with e 3:
Moreover, the measuring positions to discover the
sound sources are close together at 62.3 mm intervals
upstream from the radiator core surface. The shape of
the core is a 374 mm square. There are 49 measurement
points, with a distance of 62.3 mm between each point.
These seven points exist in each X (abscissa) and Y
(ordinate) directions, dividing both sides equally into 6.
The sound intensity was measured by a pair of two
different microphones, facing each other, at all of the 49
measurement points in the three directions that are
shown in X, Y, Z. The center of a fans axis is located at
the center of the radiator core. The axial length from the
upstream end of the ring or the fan shroud to the
downstream core surface is 27 mm. Between this
distance, the skirt, which has a depth of 27 mm and
which is thin and cubically shaped, seals the whole of the
radiator core surface.
Fig. 21 shows the results of the measurement of the
sound intensity. First, turbulent noise was compared.
The reference broad band noise is 1 kHz. The axial
direction constituent of the intensity, which is radiated
from the core surface, is shown on the contour maps.
There is no large difference in the height, and the maps
show a quite gentle unevenness. Thus, the whole of the
core surface is a nearly uniform sound source. However,
the intensity level tends to be higher at the core center
than the four corners. There is a possibility that the
sound of the air ow which is passing through in the
core is being measured as well as the sound of eddies
from the blades, because the portion seems the same as
the portion of high air velocity on the core. The fan with
a xed ring shows a lower and gentler unevenness in
intensity level as a whole than the conventional fan. The
XY direction constituent is shown on the vector maps.
The sound is radiated uniformly and radially from the
core, and there is no signicant difference between either
of the fans.
Next, the revolution noise was compared. As the
primary frequency of the revolution noise, the intensity
at 250 Hz (1/3 oct.) was analyzed. The contour maps
show the axial direction constituent of the sound. The
solid lines show the positive intensity, which is radiated
to the upstream from the core surface, and the broken
lines show the negative intensity, which goes back the
other way to the downstream radiator core. In the case
of the conventional fan, the intensity level at the four
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Conventional Fan
63 125 250 500 1k 2k
1/3 Octave Frequency (Hz)
50
60
70
80
S
o
u
n
d

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

L
e
v
e
l

(
d
B
)
=3
2000rpm
Fixed Ring Fan
4k 8k 16k
40
30
Straight-Through
Type, n=3
( )
Fig. 20. Analysis of fan noise frequency.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 437
corners is the highest, and these portions are sufciently
high until they are connected to each other diagonally.
In the case of the fan with a xed ring, the intensity level
at the four corners is also the highest. However, the
portion of the upper right and the lower left are
independent and are not high until they are connected
to each other. At this time, the positive portion is
comparatively smaller than the negative portion. The
revolution noise of an axial ow fan occurs because of
interference by the xed structures, like the stays and the
stators, and the suction of the non-uniform ow [10]. In
this test, there are no xed structures in the front and the
back of the fan. Therefore, in this case, the suction of the
centripetal ow from the four corners is one kind of
suction of the non-uniform ow, and it is one of the
main causes of the occurrence of the revolution noise.
The XY direction constituent is shown on the vector
maps. Here, the sound source of the revolution noise is
the pressure uctuation on the blade surface because of
the suction of the non-uniform ow [11]. Thus, the fan
blades are sound sources and the sound is rotating with
the blades in the same direction. At this time, portions
that have irregular vectors are observed at four corners
of the core. There is a tendency that the portions where
the vectors face each other almost correspond with the
negative portions on the contour maps, and the portions
where the vectors are in the opposite direction of each
other almost correspond with the positive portions on
the contour maps. Thus, the revolution noise shows the
three-dimensional ow, where the noise appears from
the four corners of the core and rotates with the fan
blades, then is sucked to the negative portions on the
contour maps on the core surface. As a result, there is
not a large difference in the phenomenon of the noise
occurrence, but just a difference in the degree between
both of the fans, which are with or without a ring.
6. Conclusion
1. The rings which are xed at the fan blade tips affect
not only the mechanical strength, but also the fan
performance.
2. It is possible that the straight-through type labyrinth
seal and the combined-staggered type labyrinth seal,
which are mentioned in this research, achieve a close
performance to the ideal labyrinth. This occurs when
they are operated with a static pressure difference
lower than 250 Pa, and rotated with a peripheral
velocity lower than 50 m/s. Even though the periph-
eral velocity was under 50 m/s, a signicantly large
decrease in the leakage rate was observed, especially
in the straight-through type labyrinth seal, rather
than the combined-staggered type labyrinth seal.
3. The labyrinth seal, which is applied for tip clearance
between the ring xed at the blade tips and the fan
shroud, improves both the fan performance and
noise. In the case when the combined-staggered type
labyrinth seal is used, it is possible to ensure a
minimal effect in the change of the tip clearance to
the fan performance and noise level.
4. The results of the three-dimensional analysis in the
sound intensity method show that there is not a
signicant difference between the conventional fan
and the fan with a xed ring, which has a ring at the
blade tips. However just the intensity level is
different.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the instruc-
tions and encouragement given to them in the research
by emeritus Dr. Koichi Ohyama of the National
Aerospace Laboratory of Japan.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Fig. 21. Three-dimensional sound intensity of fan noise on the
radiator core surface.
K. Shimada et al. / JSAE Review 24 (2003) 431439 438
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