Radial impeller is a part of the vacuum cleaner. Its role is to create vacuum with as little energy loss as possible. In this work we analyse the impeller using computational fluid dynamics which is an alternative to expensive and time-consuming measurements. In the OpenFOAM software environment, we created a computational model and performed a numerical analysis of flow conditions. The goal is to find the right physical and numerical model that will produce comparable results to the established ANSYS Fluent software. Best match is achieved by using k-omega SST turbulence model and second-order accurate numerical schemes. We have found out the impact of the compressibility and incompressibility of the air on the results. We generated the performance curves of the impeller from which it is clear at which volume flow rate the impeller has the highest efficiency. In the future, we will analyse the air flow through the entire motor unit of a vacuum cleaner.
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