Transformer Room Ventilation

Transformer Room Ventilation CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

This project simulates air conditioning within a transformer room using ANSYS Fluent. Transformers transfer electrical energy between two or more windings through electromagnetic induction, and for safety reasons, they're typically housed in dedicated rooms requiring an optimized air conditioning system to manage the substantial heat these units generate as they operate.

The 3D geometry was designed in Design Modeler, representing a two-part room separated by a thin membrane wall. The room features 10 air inlet ducts positioned along the top and 4 outlet ducts along the side walls, with 3 transformers modeled as internal heat sources. A porous medium representing a louver window was applied at each airflow outlet. The domain was meshed in ANSYS Meshing, totaling 592,411 elements.

Methodology

The room's central divider was modeled as a wooden wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.173 W/m·K. The three transformers were modeled as aluminum components (thermal conductivity of 202.4 W/m·K), each generating a constant heat source of 6060.606 W/m³.

Airflow enters the room through ducts positioned atop one of the transformer room walls, at velocities of 1.531 m/s and 2.04 m/s, angled at 45 degrees, and entering at 303.15 K; it exits through outlets held at atmospheric pressure. To improve the distribution of hot exhaust air leaving the room, louver windows were incorporated at the exhaust ducts, modeled as a porous zone with a porosity coefficient of 0.6 and a viscous resistance (inverse permeability) of 211,100,000 1/m².

Convective heat transfer was also applied around the transformer walls, assuming a fluid bulk temperature of 300 K and a heat transfer coefficient of 24 W/m²·K. Turbulence was resolved using the standard k-epsilon model, with the energy equation enabled to capture temperature variation throughout the domain.

Conclusion

Results include 2D contours of pressure, temperature, and velocity throughout the transformer room. The temperature contour confirms that forced convection and the resulting airflow motion within the room effectively lower the overall temperature — demonstrating that the combined ventilation and louver-assisted exhaust design successfully manages the heat generated by the transformers, keeping the room within a safer operating temperature range.