Abstract
This research has been carried out in order to provide an understanding of the physical behaviors of the flow variation of pressure and temperature in a vortex tube. A computational fluid dynamics model is used to predict the flow fields and the associated temperature separation within a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube. The CFD model is a steady axisymmetric model (with swirl) that utilizes the standard k-e turbulence model. The second-order numerical schemes, was used to carry out all the computations. Vortex tube with a circumferential inlet stream and an axial (cold) outlet stream and a axial (hot) outlet stream was considered. Performance curves (temperature separation versus cold outlet mass fraction) were obtained for a specific vortex tube with a given inlet mass flow rate. Simulations have been carried out for varying amounts of cold outlet mass flow rates. The model results has reasonable agreement with experimental data.
Highlights
Vortex tube is a simple device with no moving parts for producing hot and cold air (When compressed air flows tangentially into the vortex chamber through the inlet nozzles)
In the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, the cold exit pressure boundary condition was specified at the measured cold exit pressure and the hot exit pressure was iteratively specified until the experimentally measured cold fraction was achieved
Comparing the total temperature and the swirl velocity profiles (Fig. 12 and 10) show that the low temperature zone in the core coincides with the negligible swirl velocity zone
Summary
Vortex tube is a simple device with no moving parts for producing hot and cold air (When compressed air flows tangentially into the vortex chamber through the inlet nozzles). They measured the inlet and outlet temperatures of the vortex tube and compared with the predictions from the fluid dynamics model. The temperature separation predicted by their model for commercially available vortex tube was found to be in reasonable agreement to the experimental measurements.
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