Low-Noise Fan for the Orbital Station Ventilation System

Aeronautical and Space-Rocket Engineering


Аuthors

Chashchin A. Y.*, Krotov K. V.**, Khaustov A. I.***

Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: hashchin_mai@outlook.com
**e-mail: krotovkv@ya.ru
***e-mail: sinna286@mail.ru

Abstract

The long-term practice of operating orbital stations (OS) has demonstrated that noise is one of the significant adverse factors of space flight. High-intensity aerospace noise is a common biological irritant that leads to a shift in astronauts' auditory thresholds, sleep disorders, decreased performance, and discomfort. It is known that the main contribution to the noise occurrence onboard the OS is made by the life support systems, and mainly by ventilation systems. The main sources of noise in ventilation systems are the vane fans. The main reason for this is that the determining factor in the design of fans for the ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) OS is their overall characteristics minimization. This leads, in turn, to the rotation speed increase and, as a result, to a significant increase in the noise level. The OS ventilation system noise reduction on the way of its propagation by the sound insulation requires significant economic costs and leads to an in the spacecraft launch mass increase. The work is relevant due to the need for developing the low-noise fans for low-volume control systems of minimal mass and size.
The article considers the problem of the noise level reduction of ventilation systems at orbital stations by fans with toroid blade shape. An IMV fan (intermodular ventilation fan) installed in the American segment of the ISS orbital station and providing airflow between the modules is used as a fan with a standard blade shape. The ACh-2 toroid fan was developed as the IMV fan modification with toroid blade shape.
To determine both aerodynamic and noise characteristics of the fans, mathematical modeling of airflow in IMV and ACh-2 fan models was performed with the ANSYS FLUENT software package. The Scale Adaptive Simulation (SAS) model integrated into the software package was used to simulate the turbulent flow. The aerodynamic noise of the fans was being computed at a distance of 1 meter from the fan outlet section after reaching 6 fan revolutions. Computing was being performed at the same values of the total pressure, flow rate and rotational speed. The Fox-Williams Hawkings acoustic analogy was used for the noise computing. Computational results allowed plotting curves of the flow-pressure and noise characteristics of the fans. The fan noise frequency characteristics were obtained by the fast Fourier transform. It was found that the developed toroid fan, as an IMV fan analog, allows achieving the sound pressure reduction over the entire frequency range. The final noise reduction was 13%.

Keywords:

orbital station, ventilation system, toriс fan, computational gas-dynamics, aerodynamic characteristics, sound pressure level

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