Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Performance of Cross-Flow Fan: A Comparison through Additive Manufacturing and Conventional Methods

Cross-Flow Fans (CFFs), also known as Tangential fan, are widely used in various industries, particularly in automotive or domestic air conditioning, and have recently attained much attention. Alongside the significant research works, traditional techniques and additive manufacturing techniques have exclusively revealed stimulating results in turbomachinery. Despite various works either in academic sectors or industry, and to meet the requirement of performing research works, CFFs have been manufactured using different types of 3D-printer: i) rotor using stereolithography (SLA), ii) plastic rotor using selective laser sintering (SLS-plastic), iii) aluminum rotor using selective laser sintering (SLS-aluminum), further with iv) machined rotor using CNC process. The objective is to compare their aerodynamics and aeroacoustics performances for facilitating the production of these fans. It has been found that the CNC rotor is different in terms of aeroacoustic behavior due to its difference internal diameter edge profile and shape. SLS rotors expressed a higher roughness compared to SLA rotor. Considering aeroacoustic behavior, building process, complexity, balancing, time and cost, SLA process found to be more applicable for the development of a cross flow fan.