Effect of fan arrangement and air flow direction on thermal performance of radiators in a power transformer

  • Sachin B. Paramane Global R&D Centre Crompton Greaves Ltd. Mumbai
  • Wim Van der Veken Crompton Greaves Power Systems Belgium NV
  • Atul Sharma Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
  • Joris Coddé University of Leuven, Division of Applied Mechanics and Energy Conversion (TME)

Abstract

The focus of the present numerical work is to study the effect of fan air flow direction and mounting arrangement on the thermalperformance of the radiators of power transformers using Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis. The study is carried outfor four radiators of 3 m height and 30 fins with 0.52 m width and two fans of 1 m diameter in vertical and horizontal airflow directions. The horizontal flows from the two fans are considered in the same and the opposite direction, with the fanslocated on the same and the opposite side, respectively running at the same speed of 860 rpm for all configurations. Thermalradiation is modelled using the discrete transfer radiation model. A comparison of different flow and heat transfer patterns aswell as heat dissipation—for the four different configurations—is presented. Velocity and temperature contours are used tovisualize the heat and fluid flow distribution over the radiators. Fans placed on one side of the radiators result in larger heatdissipation than the other arrangements studied. The reasons for the improvement in heat dissipation are presented.

Author Biography

Sachin B. Paramane, Global R&D Centre Crompton Greaves Ltd. Mumbai
Manager - Technology

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Published
2017-07-21
How to Cite
PARAMANE, Sachin B. et al. Effect of fan arrangement and air flow direction on thermal performance of radiators in a power transformer. Journal of Power Technologies, [S.l.], v. 97, n. 2, p. 127--134, july 2017. ISSN 2083-4195. Available at: <https://papers.itc.pw.edu.pl/index.php/JPT/article/view/724>. Date accessed: 25 apr. 2024.
Section
Thermodynamics

Keywords

radiators, fan arrangement, cross flow, heat dissipation, CFD, flow distribution, transformer cooling

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