Phenomenon of labyrinth seal with low static pressure difference and large clearance - (Prediction of performance and experimental result)
The low pressure axial flow fans with an outer ring, used for cooling automobile radiators, have a significantly large tip clearance between the ring tip and the fan shroud. It has been found that the turbulent reverse flow, or leakage flow, which occurs at the tip clearance, greatly affects the fan performance and noise level. Therefore, in order to improve the fan performance and noise level it is important to decrease the effect of leakage at the tip clearance. The authors investigated the performance of the straight-through type of labyrinth seal which operates in an extremely low static pressure difference with a large clearance. It was hoped that by sealing this clearance with the labyrinth seal the performance would be improved. It was verified that the labyrinth seal satisfied almost the same performance as that predicted by the previous theory. This theory was established by experimental studies in the condition of quite high static pressure difference when the labyrinth is stationary. However, it was later discovered that the leakage rate decreased significantly even though there was far lower ring speed in comparison to past research results where the ring rotated. This phenomenon is conspicuous in a lower differential pressure. However, the cause of this phenomenon has not been determined.
labyrinth seal fan tip clearance visualization