Volutes for radial-flow turbomachines (e.g., centrifugal fans and pumps) are spiral funnel-shaped casings that house rotors. Their function is to guide the flow from rotors to outlets and maintain constant flow speeds. Under specific conditions, however, volutes are removed (termed voluteless) to reduce flow losses and noise. In this paper, a generic voluteless centrifugal fan is investigated for the tonal noise generation at an off-design operation point. In contrast to typical tonal noise sources induced by the fan blades, we find out that another predominant source is the turbulence stemming from the clearance gap between the fan front shroud and the inlet duct. The turbulence evolves along with the front shroud and is swept downstream to interact with the top side of the blade leading edge. An obvious additional tone is observed at $273\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz}$ other than the blade passing frequency (${\mathit{BPF}}_0$ ) and relevant harmonic frequencies. By coarsening the mesh resolution near the inlet gap and front shroud in the simulations, we artificially deactivate the gap turbulence. Consequently, the tone at $273\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz}$ disappears completely. The finding indicates that the interaction between the gap turbulence and blades accounts for the tone. As the gap turbulence exists near the front shroud, this rotating wall introduces rotational momentum into the turbulence due to skin friction. Hence, this tonal interaction frequency is smaller than ${\mathit{BPF}}_0$ with a decrement of the fan rotation frequency. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that voluteless centrifugal fans are studied for the gap-turbulence noise generation.

In this study, unsteady low-frequency characteristics in a voluteless low-speed centrifugal fan operating at a high mass flow rate are studied with improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES). This study is motivated by a recent finding that the non-uniformly distributed pressure inside this type of fan could be alleviated by improving the gap geometry. The present simulation results show that the velocity magnitudes of the gap have distinct low and high regions. Intensive turbulent structures are developed in the low-velocity regions and are swept downstream along the intersection between the blade and shroud, on the pressure side of the blade. Eventually, the turbulence gives rise to a high-pressure region near the blade’s trailing edge. This unsteady flow behavior revolves around the fan rotation axis. Additionally, its period is 5% of the fan rotation speed, based on the analysis of the time history of the gap velocity magnitudes and the evolution of the high-pressure region. The same frequency of high pressure was also found in previous experimental measurements. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the trigger of the gap turbulence, i.e., the unsteady local low velocity, has been determined.

In this study, three voluteless centrifugal fans are compared for their aeroacoustic performances. The tonal noise is predicted by coupling the IDDES with Formulation 1A of Farassat. The sources of the tonal noise at the blade passing frequency ($BPF$) are identified. It is found that the sources are related to the fan inlet gap, which introduces higher velocity intensities and turbulent fluctuations interacting with the blade leading edge. By redesigning the gap, the tonal noise at the $BPF$ is reduced effectively.