Experimental Investigation of Vortex Tube Refrigerator

Seminar:Anand Krishnan N : S7 M1 : CET

Introduction
The vortex tube (also called Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube) is a simple mechanical device Which splits a compressed gas stream into cold and hot streams. having No moving parts and long operation time. No Freon, No Electricity, No Chemical Reaction. Used for cooling
Cutting tools Electronic control cabinets Food storage Firemens suits

But has low thermal efciency.

Working
Vortex Generation Chamber Compressed Gas In Control Valve

Cold Air Out

Hot Gas Out

 Pressurized gas enters the vortex tube tangentially through Nozzles. Strong swirling ow is generated. Stream separates into a cold and hot stream. Cold stream in the central region and Hot stream in the annular region. Cold stream leaves the cold tube through a central orice near the entrance nozzle. Hot stream ows towards the hot end and leaves the hot tube

Objectives
Investigation of influence of geometrical
parameters on vortex tube performance Divergence angle of hot tube Length of divergent hot tube Number of nozzle intakes Inlet pressure

Experimental setup
Cold gas out Compressed Gas

Hot gas out

Flow diagram of experiment 1.Heat exchanger 4.Vortex tube 2. Pressure tank P: pressure Gauge 3,5. Rotameter T: thermocouple

V1: cold end tube V3: divergent hot tube d-diameter of cold outow tube D-diameter of the vortex tube

V2: nozzle V4: Conical valve L-length of the vortex tube -divergence angle

o Compressed nitrogen is processed through the heat exchanger (1) and pressure regulator (2) o Guided tangentially into the vortex tube (4) via a nozzle after passing through a rotameter (3) o Temperature of inlet nitrogen before the nozzle inlet is regulated to 293.15 K o Mass ow rate of the cold ow is measured using rotameter (5)

o Flow rate of the hot stream is regulated by a conical valve o Temperatures of the inlet and outlet streams are measured with thermocouples o Pressures of the streams are measured by pressure gauges

Vortex tube parameters

Inner diameter of hot tube, D =10 mm Diameter of cold end tube, dc=4.5 mm. Cross-section (w x h) of nozzle=1 mm x 3 mm

Results and discussion

Operational characteristics of Vortex tube
o Cold stream fraction o Cold temperature difference

Cold stream fraction, XC =

Cold temperature dierence, Tc = Inlet stream temperature - Cold stream temperature = Ti - Tc

1.Angle of divergent tube

Inuence of the angle of divergent hot tube on the cold temperature difference

Four different angles , =0,2,4, 6,8 Tube with length,L =100 mm, No. of nozzles inlet = 3 Inlet pressure = 0.4 Mpa Development trend of Tc for different angles is almost same Tc has maximum value around XC = 0.2 should be neither too large nor too small = 4 is best to get highest Tc Highest Tc = 44.8 K at 0.2 cold flow fraction 11.7 % higher than that of =0 =0 and = 6 has almost same curve. As increases,friction loss and viscous loss decreases

Length of divergent tube

Inuence of the length of divergent hot tube on the temperature difference

 L = 80, 100, 120 and 140 mm are employed With = 4 , N=3 , Pi= 0.4MPa Tc has relative small difference at XC < 0.2 but high range for

different lengths
For XC > 0.2 ,Tc increases with increase in length Curve for L=120 mm and L=140 mm are almost equal There is a critical length over which no improvement Here critical length is 120 mm

Number of inlet nozzle intakes

Inuence of the number of nozzle intake on the cold temperature difference

 N = 3, 4 and 6 intakes are studied With = 4 , L=100 mm, Pi= 0.4 MPa Change of Tc for N = 6 is intensive compared with the mild change for N = 3 Increase in N will increase sensitivity of Tc Tc maximum for N=6 and minimum for N=3 for XC < 0.3 Increase in N will decrease performance for XC >0.4 Effect of nozzle intakes on the refrigeration performance firmly relies on the cold flow fraction

Inlet Pressure

Inuence of the length of divergent hot tube on the temperature difference

 Different inlet pressures 0.2,0.3,.04 MPa are studied

With = 4 , L=100 mm, N=6 Trend of variation is same for different pressures Tc has maximum value around XC = 0.2 for all pressures As pressure increases Tc increase for all values of XC

Tc relative difference for different pressures decreases with

increase in cold mass fraction

Conclusions
The performance of vortex tube can be improved by using a divergent hot tube, and the divergent angle should be small and not more than 6 Optimum divergence angle is 4 at which performance is highest which exceeds the cylindrical one by about 11.7 % The highest temperature reduction will be obtained at about XC=0.2 There is a critical divergent tube length, which is 120mm The effect of nozzle intakes on the refrigeration performance relies on the cold flow fraction. Cold temperature difference increase with increase in pressure

References
Experimental investigation of vortex tube refrigerator with a divergent hot tube
by Kun Chang ,Qing Li ,Gang Zhou, Qiang Li International journal of refrigeration 34 (2011) 322-327

A critical review of temperature separation in a vortex tube

by Yunpeng Xue, Maziar Arjomandi, Richard Kelso Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 34 (2010) 13671374

A new vortex generator geometry for a counter-ow Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube

by Orhan Aydin, Burak Markal, Mete Avci Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2505-2511

Thank You