Using Small Wind Turbine Technology to Design an AntiFrost Fan

Abstract

Anti-frost fans (AFFs) are widely used in agriculture to reduce the frost damage to crops. The small wind turbine rotor design code (SWRDC) was adapted to design the blades of an anti-frost fan to maximize the mass flow rate through the rotor while minimizing the blade mass and aerodynamic noise. Using a random sample set of 60 baseline designs, the design is iterated using a genetic algorithm to obtain an optimized design with a mass flow rate of 3.11 kg/s, a blade mass of 6.96 kg, and with a noise level of 72.8 dB.