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View Full Version : Two Ducted fans in one duct. Questions?


stu78
Feb 16, 2005, 08:28 AM
I have often wondered if there is any benifit to putting a series of ducted fans in a single duct within a model jet aircraft.

I know there is a huge difference between conventional jet engines and ducted fans, but the former tend to have several stages of compression before the combustion stage.

Now, Would it be advantageous to have two or maybe more ducted fans in a single tube?

Maybe all fans could be of the same size/speed, or a bigger slower fan at the inlet to draw in a lot of air followed by a smaller faster fan to accelerate the air further.

There are lots of possibilities, and although I studied aeronautics, engines were not my strong point :confused:

So, what would be the benifits of the following arrangements of ducted fans:

1. Two identical fans in series. (air passes through fan 1, through a sealed tube and through fan 2 to the exhaust tube.)

Versus

2. Two identical fans in Parallel. (i.e. each has its own inlet tube and exhaust tube)


3. Two different fans in series (as described in the paragrapg above). (air passes through fan 1, through a sealed tube and through fan 2 to the exhaust tube.)

I am interested to know the theoritical output in terms of static thrust and exhaust velocity. no numbers, just setup 1 should procude x time the static thrust of setup 2 etc, etc....

I hope this raises some interesting debate, and look forward to reading your views.

Stuart

gkamysz
Feb 16, 2005, 10:32 AM
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227689&highlight=tandem+fan
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205347&highlight=tandem+fan
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178861&highlight=tandem+fan
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196147&highlight=tandem+fan
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83207&highlight=tandem+fan

Happy reading.

Greg

Thomas B
Feb 19, 2005, 01:04 PM
Our brilliant German ezoner Ralph Dvorak produced a tandem fan commercially, a few years back before the advent of many choices of brushless motor.

He wanted a small diameter unit that gave good performance on a couple of can motors. He did a LOT of R and D to perfect the correct fan pitch and shape for each position in the tandem unit. Just putting two fans in one duct does not work any better...it usually works worse.

Model ducted fans perform not through pressure, but through efflux velocity.

You are better off these days to use a single fan and the proper brushless motor on a single fan jet model

Lots of models have two fans in parallel...F-15, F-18, etc. THAT is the way to use two fans.

stu78
Feb 22, 2005, 08:07 AM
Thanks for the replies, especially the links Greg.

As always, I searched before I posted, but I was looking for "fans in series" and similar things, if I had used the word tandem, I may have found all I was looking for right away.

Oh well, looks like a single fan is the way to go.

Thanks

Stuart