Experimental modeling of a curved Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube refrigerator

Abstract

Vortex tube is a mechanical device that operates as a refrigerating machine. This device separates a compressed gas stream into hot and cold streams. In this paper a series of experiments has been carried out to investigate the influence of uniform curvature of main tube on the performance of the vortex tube. Results show that the curvature in the main tube has different effects on the performance of the vortex tube depending on inlet pressure and cold mass ratio. It was found that the maximum temperature difference (Δ T c,max) belonged to straight vortex tube, type A, however the maximum refrigeration capacity ( Q ˙ c , max ) belonged to curved vortex tube, type C. Non-dimensional cold temperature difference ( Δ T c / Δ T c , max ) and non-dimensional refrigeration capacity ( Q ˙ c / Q ˙ c , max ) are found to be independent of the curvature of the vortex tube.