Performance Analysis of Vortex Tube Refrigeration System by Experimental Method and Using ANN

Abstract

Vortex tube is a non-conventional cooling device, having no moving parts which will produce cold air and hot air from the source of compressed air without affecting the environment. When a high-pressure air is tangentially injected into vortex chamber, a strong vortex flow will be created which will split into two air streams, one hot stream at the periphery and the other cold stream at the inner core on both the ends. It can be used in the industrial applications such as spot cooling of cutting tools, heating process, refrigerators etc. It is weightless and requires less space. Also, the initial cost is low and its working expenses are less where compressed air is readily available. The present work is to analysis the performance of vortex tube by changing the mass flow rate of air at inlet and cold outlet. Vortex tube refrigeration system set up is fabricated with the help of instruments such as rotameter, pressure transmitter and RTD temperature sensors. In this experiment, a small vortex tube which is made up of stainless steel is used. The vortex tube is well insulated with a suitable insulating material. The experiment is carried out by varying the thermo-physical properties of the compressed air which is used as working fluid. By regulating the hot end control knob of vortex tube, the pressure, mass flow rate and temperature of air is measured at different points for various inlet working pressure.