Fan: Fan Heater for HVAC System

Fan Heater for HVAC System — ANSYS Fluent CFD Simulation

This project examines the performance of a fan heater and the resulting movement of heated air within a room, using ANSYS Fluent under steady-state, pressure-based solver conditions with gravity effects included. Air circulating through the room passes over a heater positioned on one side, while a fan drives the heated air into the space.

The geometry was created in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured mesh, resulting in a total of 207,707 elements.

Methodology

Turbulent flow is modeled using the RNG k-epsilon model, while the Energy equation captures the temperature distribution throughout the domain. The ideal gas equation is used to account for variations in air density resulting from temperature changes.

Results

The simulation yields contours of pressure, velocity, and temperature, among other parameters. The pressure contour shows a reduction in pressure near the heater, driven by the rise of heated air. This heated air moves upward due to a combination of forced and natural convection.

The streamline contour illustrates this flow pattern in more detail: as the air heats up, its density decreases and it rises toward the upper regions of the room. As it travels upward, the air gradually loses heat, becomes denser, and eventually descends—establishing a recurring circulation pattern within the space.