Exergy analysis and experimental investigation of various vortex tube material with different combination of vortex generators

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the effect of various materials on the performance of vortex tube. Beforehand, the recent progresses in the improvements on the performance of vortex tube (VT) and its efficiency, a literature survey has been discussed. The present work reports vortex tube performance augmentation considering four different materials vortex tubes and their orifice. The thermophysical properties of the material was considered to analyse the performance of vortex tubes for various materials. It was found that the aluminium vortex tube and its orifice achieved the highest performance among all the rest of the materials. The highest cold and hot temperature separation magnitude for Al VT and Al Vortex generator is 24 °C and 50 °C at an inlet pressure of 5 bar. The vortex tube of various materials had exact dimensions and specifications for an “apple to apple” comparison. Results show that the specific heat, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity were the significant properties that affect the thermal performance of the VT. Furthermore, exergy analysis was done for the Al vortex tube and its orifice to predict the quality of available energy. It shows that high exergy destruction is found in hot regions for a high cold mass fraction.