Transformer Room Ventilation CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

The current project simulates the air conditioning inside a Transformer Room using ANSYS Fluent software. We perform this CFD project and investigate it by CFD analysis.

Transformers are devices that can transfer electrical energy between two or more windings through electromagnetic induction. These transformers are placed in a room due to safety issues, in which an optimal air conditioning system should be used where the transformers are stored.

These transformers are considered a kind of heat source that affects the ambient air temperature. The present model is designed in three dimensions using Design Modeler software. The model consists of a two-part room with a thin membrane.

This room has 10 air inlet ducts through the top and 4 ducts for air outlets on the side walls. In this room, 3 transformers are designed as heat sources. A porous (louver window) medium is also used for each airflow outlet.

The meshing of the model has been done using ANSYS Meshing software. The element number is 592411.

Transformer Room Methodology

In this project, a two-piece room is designed with a divider in the middle, made by a wooden wall with thermal conductivity of 0.173 W/m.K. Inside the room, there are three transformers made of aluminum with thermal conductivity of 202.4 W/m.K, each of which has a constant heat source equal to 6060.606 W/m3.

The airflow enters the room through ducts designed on top of one of the transformer room walls (with speeds equal to 1,531 m/s and 2.04 m/s, with an angle equal to 45 degrees and at a temperature equal to 303.15 K). It exists through the outlets (with a pressure equal to atmospheric pressure).

For better distribution of hot air flow out of the room, louver windows connected to the exhaust ducts are used, each of which has a porosity coefficient equal to 0.6 and a viscosity resistance (1/ permeability) of 211100000 1/m².

Also, convection heat transfer around the walls of the transformer is assumed. The fluid bulk temperature equals 300 K, and the heat transfer coefficient equals 24 W/m2.K.

The standard k-epsilon model is used to solve turbulent fluid equations. Also, the energy equation has been enabled to account for the temperature change within the computational domain.

Transformer Room Conclusion

At the end of the solution process, two-dimensional contours related to pressure, temperature, and velocity were obtained. As seen in the temperature contour, the overall temperature will decrease due to the forced convection and airflow motion within the transformer room.