E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

Design Optimization Method and Application of

High-Efficiency and Variable-Pitch Axial Flow
Fan
Chan Lee1*, Sang Ho Yang2, and Sang Yeol Lee2
1Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. of Suwon, Hwaseong, Republic of Korea
2Institute of Technology, Samwon E&B, Shiheung, Republic of Korea

Abstract. This paper describes servo motor–driven variable-pitch axial

flow fan, and its optimal design method, process and application results for
improving the efficiency of the variable-pitch fan. The design program for
constructing axial flow fan geometry is developed by combining fan blade
section design and through-flow performance prediction methods. The
optimization technique of this study is Hybrid Metaheuristic Algorithm
which is combined with the design program to find optimal design values
of blade setting angles, camber angles and chord lengths, and then to
maximize the fan efficiency. The axial flow fan obtained in this optimization
study shows 6.7% higher design-point efficiency than the initial design and
wide operation range with high efficiency by changing the pitch-angle of the
fan rotor blade.

1 Introduction
Axial flow fans are important machines used in many applications, and the recent global
climate change and carbon neutrality issues have further required the development of high-
efficiency fans to reduce the power required. One way to reduce fan power is a variable pitch
fan mechanism that secures high fan efficiency over a wide range of operations by adjusting
and controlling the fan blade setting angle by means of a hydraulic or servo motor mechanism.
Furthermore, since the three-dimensional fan blade shape of variable pitch axial fans greatly
affects fan efficiency, many studies have been conducted on the blade design and
performance analysis of highly efficient axial fans over a wide range of flow capacities.
McKenzie [1] presented a method for designing rotor blade shapes for variable pitch axial
fans using blade robustness and correlations expressed by the setting angle. Wallis [2]
proposed a method of designing a blade of a variable blade axial fan by using the correlation
between the flow angle and the blade cross-sectional lift coefficient. A typical applied fan
development study [3] has found that the blade angle determination of blade sections along
the blade span is a very important design problem for variable pitch fans, applying various
design methods and verifying their effectiveness through measurement and CFD modelling.
Spuy and Backstrom [4] optimized the blade angle distribution to minimize kinetic energy at
the outlet of an axial fan with a variable pitch rotor. For the automotive cooling axial fan

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

design, Lee [5] defined the camber angle, setting angle, and chord length of the fan blade
section as design variables and compared the performance characteristics of the fan according
to different fan blade design methods.
Therefore, in this study, variable-pitch operation mechanism for axial flow fan is
explained and the 3-D fan blade shape design optimization method, process and application
results are provided. The comparisons between the optimal fan with variable-pitch
mechanism and the existing fan show remarkable flow capacity range expansion, efficiency
improvement and electric power reduction through high-efficiency and variable-pitch fan
operation.

2 Blade design parameters of variable-pitch axial flow fan

An axial fan is an electric machine that increases pressure by introducing air by rotating the
blade by a motor, and the blade has a complex three-dimensional shape as shown in Fig. 1.
In addition, the air passing through these blades has the characteristic that the pressure and
efficiency change significantly depending on the flow rate, which has the disadvantage of a
relatively small flow rate range. For this reason, the development of a high-efficiency fan is
required through the optimal shape design of the blade, and research and development are
being attempted to secure a wide flow rate range through variable operation of the blade pitch
angle, β (or hub setting angle). In general, most of the pitch angle adjustments of fan blades
are made by hydraulic pressure, but the disadvantages of the hydraulic method include failure
of the hydraulic pump and hydraulic cylinder, environmental pollution due to leakage in the
hydraulic pipe system, damage to equipment, and slow response characteristics. Therefore,
this study adopted an electrical servo motor method to overcome the disadvantages of this
hydraulic system (see Fig. 1)

Fig. 1. Servo-motor driven variable-pitch axial flow fan

As shown in Fig. 2, 3D fan blade shape is constructed by designing 2-D blade sections
and stacking the section elements along blade span height and the main design parameters
are setting angle, camber angle and chord length of blade section. Especially the setting angle
and camber angle is the most important design parameters to determine fan flow capacity,
pressure and efficiency. For this reason, this study selects the setting angles, camber angles
and chord lengths at hub, mid-span and tip locations along blade span.

2
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

Fig. 2. Fan blade section design parameters and 3-D fan blade geometry

3 Axial flow fan design program

In this study, a design program, FANDAS, is developed and used to design the blade shape
and predict the performance of variable pitch axial fans. The FANDAS program has been
developed and verified by the authors, and can make the 3D fan blade shape design and the
performance prediction by through flow analysis method. The performance prediction
method by through flow analysis used in the FANDAS program is described in detail in
Reference [6]. The design reliability and prediction accuracy of the FANDAS program are
verified by comparing the internal flow field and performance prediction results of the axial
fan with the measurement results [4,7] as shown in Figure 3,4,5. From the comparison results,
it can be seen that the FANDAS program can be suitably used for design and efficiency
prediction in design optimization of variable pitch axial fans.

Fig. 3. 2-D fan blade section and 3-D fan blade geometry designs

3
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

0.20 0.8

: Prediction
Total pressure loss coefficient

: Measurement

0.15 0.6

Diffusion factor
0.10 0.4

0.05 0.2

: Prediction
: Measurement

0.00 0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Normalized blade span height Normalized blade span height

Fig. 4. Spanwise distributions of pressure loss coefficient and diffusion factor

100 500
: FVD (FANDAS) : FVD (FANDAS)
90 450
: CVD (FANDAS) : CVD (FANDAS)
: CBD (FANDAS) : CBD (FANDAS)
80 400 : FVD (CFD)
: FVD (CFD)
: CVD (CFD)
Static efficiency [%]

Static pressure [Pa]

70 : CVD (CFD) 350 : CBD ( Test)

: CBD (Test) : CBD (CFD)
60 : CBD (CFD) 300

50 250

40 200

30 150

20 100

10 50

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

3 3
Flow capacity [m /min] Flow capacity[m /min]

Fig. 5. Overall pressure and efficiency curves of fans

4 Design optimization of variable-pitch axial flow fan

In this optimization study, the FANDAS program is used as a tool for fan blade design,
performance and efficiency predictions. In addition, the FANDAS program is integrated with
the hybrid metaheuristic algorithm as an optimization technique [8]. Chord lengths, camber
angles and setting angles at hub (blade span 0%), mid-span (blade span 50%), and tip (blade
span 100%) locations are treated as design variables, and mathematical formulations with the
design variables and several design constraints are performed for the fan efficiency
maximization problem. The objective function of this optimization problem is defined as the
total pressure fan efficiency (η 𝑇 ) at the design point 3300m3/min, which is a function of
camber angles, setting angles, and chord lengths at the aforementioned hub, mid-span and tip
locations, and the design variables are optimized by the hybrid metaheuristic algorithm based
on the results predicted by the FANDAS program. As an optimization problem with
constraints, this study used 11 constraints including the allowable range of total pressure
and the design ranges for the camber angle, setting angle, and chord length. In this study, a
meta model is created using the FANDAS code, and the prediction error between the meta
model and the FANDAS code is 0.011%, so the calculation of the meta model for

4
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

optimization proceeds accurately and quickly. The time required for the design and
performance prediction of a single fan model by the meta model is only a few seconds.

Design variable & objective function Convergence history

Setting angle (tip)

Camber angle (tip)

Chord length (tip)

Total efficiency (η 𝑇 )

Fig. 6. Convergence histories of design variables and objective function

320
: Camber angle (Optimal)
Camber and setting angles [deg.]

80 : Camber angle (Initial) 300

: Setting angle (Optimal)
: Setting angle (initial) 280
: Chord length (Optimal)

Chord length [mm]

60 : Chord length (initial) 260

240

40 220

200

20 180

160

0 140
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Normalized blade span height

Fig. 7. Optimal fan blade angles and chord length
After several iterative computations for reaching to optimum design point (refer to Fig.
6), optimal design variables and the maximum fan efficiency are obtained and compared with
the initial design (refer to Fig. 7). The optimal camber angle appears larger than the initial
design value along the entire blade span, while the optimal setting angle at the hub (or pitch
angle) has fewer values than the initial design. The setting angle is defined as the 90-stagger
angle [deg.]. The optimal chord length is smaller than the initial design with constant chord
length and increases from the hub to the tip. The design point efficiency of the optimal fan
appears to be 85.8%, an improvement of 6.7%p compared to the initial design value. The
optimal fan blade shape has been fabricated and shown in Fig. 8.

5
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

Fig. 8. Optimal fan blade geometry

In this study, CFD technique is also used to check optimal fan design and verify fan
performance. The CFD model is constructed with structured mesh system in flow domain of
optimal fan rotor and outlet guide vane. Numerical computations are conducted by the
ANYSYS CFX code with Frozen rotor scheme or the SIMERCIS MP code with MRF scheme
for the interface between rotors and outlet guide vanes, and the ANSYS CFX computation
employs standard k-ω SST model and the SIMERICS MP code uses standard k- model for
turbulent flow inside fan blades [9,10]. The fan performance calculation results by the
standard k- model of the SIMERICS MP code and the k-ω SST model of the ANSYS CFX
code are almost identical. Fig. 9 shows mesh system used in this CFD modelling and
the flow domain is defined around optimal fan rotor blade and outlet guide vane with
infinite axis.

Fig. 9. Mesh system for optimal fan modelling and simulation

Fig. 10 compares the FANDAS prediction, the CFD prediction and the test results. The
FANDAS design results of optimal fan are matched well with the CFD and the test results.
The difference between the FANDAS and the test results can be explained by that actual fan
tests are conducted with finite axis, hub cap and tail cone so the test results are decreased by
the pressure losses at hub cap and tail cone when compared with the FANDAS design with
infinite axis. As can be seen in Fig. 11, when pitch angle is fixed as the optimal design value
(reference case), the design point fan efficiency predicted by the FANDAS code is 85.8%,
which is significantly larger than the initial value, 79.1%. The total pressure efficiency of the

6
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

optimal fan model is also maintained above 80% over the entire operating flow range by
changing the pitch angle.

100

80
Total pressure efficiency [%]

60

40

: Design (FANDAS)
20
: CFD (ANSYS CFX)
: Test (W/O tail cone)
: Test (W/ tail cone)
0
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
3
Flow capacity [m /min]

Fig. 10. Efficiency curve of optimal fan at fixed pitch-angle

100

80
Total efficiency [%]

60

40
: FANDAS (-5 deg.)
: FANDAS (-2 deg.)
: FANDAS ( 0 deg.)
20
: FANDAS (+2 deg.)
: FANDAS (+ 5 deg.)
: CFD ( 0 deg.)
0
1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
3
Flow capacity [m /min]

Fig. 11. Efficiency curves of optimal fan due to the changes of pitch angle

5 Conclusions
This study presents the optimal design method for axial flow fans to maximize efficiency and
reduce power consumption. In this study, the fan design program is developed and combined
with the optimization algorithm. The optimal fan design is verified by CFD simulation and
actual fan testing. By using the optimal design fan blade and adjusting the pitch angle of the
blade, it increases the design point efficiency of the optimal fan by 6.7% compared to the
initial design, increases the flow capacity range more than that of the fixed pitch angle blade

7
E3S Web of Conferences 597, 01004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459701004
GTEE 2024

fan, and maintains the fan efficiency by more than 80% under variable pitch operation
conditions.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and
Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade, Industry &
Energy(MOTIE), Republic of Korea. (No. 2021202080026).

References
1. A.B. McKenzie, Axial Flow Fans and Compressors, Ashgate Pub. (1997)
2. R.A. Wallis, Axial Flow Fans and Ducts, John Wiley & Sons. (1983)
3. S.J. van der Spuy, Master of Engineering Thesis, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Stellenbosch (1997)
4. S.J. van der Spuy, S. J. and T.W. von Backstrom, R & D Journal, 18,.3 (2002)
5. C. Lee, Technical report. Hanon systems (2016)
6. C. Lee, KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery, 24 (2021)
7. C. Lee, S.W. Kim, and H.T. Byun, IJMECH, 12, (2023)
8. S.W. Kim, B.I. Choi, D.H. Choi, C. Lee. and S.H. Yang, KSFM Journal of Fluid
Machinery, 25 (2022)
9. SIMERICS MP code user manual, Kyungwon Tech., (2022)
10. ANSYS CFX code user manual, ANSYS (2023)