4.4. Acoustic analysis with various excitation frequencies
The excitation force of the impeller includes contributions by its blades, and changing the excitation frequency requires a change in BPF. As noted above, it is impractical to change the motor frequency, so changing the BPF essentially requires changing the number of impeller blades. This study proposed a noise reduction measure after comparing the results for using only 4 or 12 impeller blades at both the top and bottom of the suction housing. Mesh models for these designs are shown in Fig. 20 (compare to Fig. 13); in the analyses using these models, the same field point was used as in the previous analysis.Fig. 21 shows the FRFs obtained at field point 25 for the 4- and 12-blade models. Comparison
of these two graphs shows that their size, frequency, and phase information are similar. However, a closer look reveals that the natural frequency has moved to a low frequency. With this movement of the natural frequency, the natural frequency in the analysis is increasing and the natural frequency becomes dense especially at 2000 Hz and above. Fig. 22 shows that the portion, where the impeller occupies in the vertical cross section of the suction housing, has been removed with 360 rotation. It is thus assumed that the impeller is innumerable. A look at the FRF illustrated in Fig. 23 reveals that a number of the natural frequencies of 2000 Hz or higher are densely gathered. The actual suction housing
has many more blades, 52. Thus, the similar results as above are expected. Thus, the similar results as above are expected. Thus, reducing the number of impeller blades is proposed as a noise reduction measure.