Radial fans and blowers are widely used in many different fields, such as heater blowers or fans and blowers for vacuum cleaners. Although the impellers for these fans are already quite well optimized, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the fan matching the impeller properly to it. A very common fan optimization strategy is to increase the efficiency of the radial impeller, keeping its operating point, i.e. the flow rate of maximum efficiency. However, in most of these cases the impeller is not matched to the fan and hence this procedure will not deliver the best fan, even if the efficiency of the impeller is improved. In order to understand how an optimization of the fan has to be done, a theoretical treatment is presented. Detailed theoretical formulas are presented and discussed. In order to validate the theory, a series of well directed impellers and fans was designed, CAD models constructed and using ANSYS CFX finally the corresponding flow simulation was performed. It is shown how the impellers have to be modified in order to shift the flow rate of maximum efficiency without significant decrease in efficiency. Finally a detailed experimental study was performed at the test rig conforming the German engineering norm DIN 24 163 [1]. Here the theoretical achievements were systematically verified at the test rig for vacuum cleaner fans. It is shown how to, based on this theory, from the very beginning design the radial impellers such that they are perfectly matched to the full fan. In such a way it is shown how to increase the efficiency of radial fans and blowers substantially.
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