Investigation of Aerodynamic Performance Optimization in Range Hood Air Duct System

The structure design and its optimization of the air duct system in the range hood have a very important influence on the aerodynamic performance of the range hood. In this paper, a commercial CFD software FLUENT is used to simulate several operating conditions of the range hood. The reliability of the numerical simulation results is verified by comparing with the experimental results. And then, the response surface methodology is conducted to improve the aerodynamic performance of the range hood by optimizing the air inlet width ratioε, the volute width B and the volute export expansion rate β. Based on the CFD results, the effects of the air passage system structure on aerodynamic performance of the range hood is revealed. The aerodynamic performance and corresponding noise of the original and optimized range hood are also tested. The studied results show that the flow regime in the range hood is improved and the flow loss is reduced through the optimization of the structural parameters. The total pressure of the range hood in the all operating conditions is improved. When the aerodynamic noise remaines basically unchanged, the maximum flow rate of the range hood increases by 0.95 m³/min.