Application of NACA 6412 Airfoil for Noise and Vibration Reduction in Evaporator Fan Blades

In today's industry, due to the importance placed on occupational health and safety, regulations are being implemented to reduce noise in factory conditions. This study aims to reduce fan noise levels while simultaneously enhancing fan efficiency. We focused specifically on the evaporator fans used in the ammonia refrigeration tunnels at Unilever's Algida ice cream production facility. Both physical and computational models of the fan blades were developed using Fluent and Phoenics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Vibration analyses of the fan blades were performed using the modal analysis module. Through the analysis of pressure distributions on the existing fan blades, it was found that aerodynamic irregularities were the primary contributors to the noise. To address this, the NACA 6412 airfoil model was selected for the redesign, resulting in balanced pressure distribution across the blade surfaces and a reduction in noise levels from 96 dB to 78 dB.