Effect of volute tongue radius on the performance of a centrifugal blower – a numerical study

The volute tongue is an important region affecting the performance of a centrifugal blower. The profile of volute has to be carefully designed to provide the flow of air with maximum augmentation in static pressure rise at the expense of kinetic energy. A CFD analysis is presented in this research article to optimize the tongue radius of the volute casing of centrifugal blower. Four numerical models with various tongue radii have been analyzed and the results are compared with the base model. It is found from the analysis that a tongue radius ratio of 0.67 yields relatively a higher static pressure rise at the exit flange of the volute casing as compared to that for base model.