Experimental Validation of Rapid Prototype Model of Fan and Prediction of Performance Characteristics of the Cooling Fan for an Armored Vehicle

This paper deals with the performance validation of the scaled Rapid Prototype to that of an original fan for an armored vehicle. The validation includes evaluation of pressure drop “-vs-” flow rate and power characteristics of the fan model. This paper mainly focuses experimental setup for testing of the fan model. Especially, the improvement to the test rig to reduce the turbulence and to increase the area ratio, which in turn will improve the flow pattern for accurate measurement. This was achieved by introducing a single newly designed and developed hardware named “flow straightener-throttle”. With the help of this new hardware both laminar flow and throttling was achieved. This “flow straightener-throttle” can be either of “plate type” or of “tube type” and accuracy of experimental data obtained with both the types were satisfactory.

The difference of loss with both the types of straightener were also established which will help in prediction of loss for different flow rates between the tube type and the plate type.