ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION

DESIGN & FABRICATION OF VORTEX

TUBE FOR INDUSTRIAL COOLING

PREPARED BY
Arik Inkiyad Abeer (131462)
Md. Misbah Uddin (131445)
Muhammad Hamza Khan (131452)
Yousif Rahma (131468)
Hassan Alkasim (131467)
Khurram Hayat (121416)

SUPERVISED BY
Dr. A.R.M. Harunur Rashid
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering (MCE)
Islamic University of Technology (IUT)

Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering (MCE)

Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
 Certificate of research
The thesis title ‘Design and Fabrication of Vortex Tube for industrial Cooling’
submitted by Arik Inkiyad Abeer (131462), Md. Misbah Uddin (131445), Muhammad
Hamza Khan – (131452), Yousif Rahma (131468), Hassan Alkasim (131467) and
Khurram Hayat (121416) has been accepted as satisfactory in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Chemical
Engineering on November, 2017.

Supervisor

DR. A.R.M. HARUNUR RASHID

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering (MCE)
Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
Gazipur

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 Acknowledgements
The thesis was carried out by the author themselves under the close supervision and
guidance of DR. A.R.M. Harunur Rashid, Department of Mechanical and Chemical
Engineering (MCE), Islamic University of Technology (IUT). We would like to thank
him from the deepest of our heart, for helping us all the way. He dedicated his valuable
time and effort to solve our problems and guided us in such a nice way that is really
beyond imagination, His vast knowledge in the field related to this project also
enhanced our venture to a great extent. Last but not the least we express our gratitude
to ALLAH, THE ALMIGHTY.

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 Table of Contents

Certificate of research ........................................................................................ii

Acknowledgements............................................................................................ iii
Table of Contents ...............................................................................................iv
List of Figures .....................................................................................................vi
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................vii
1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
1.1 WORKING OF VORTEX TUBE ............................................................................... 2
1.2 CLASSIFICATION .......................................................................................................... 3
1.3 GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS ON VORTEX TUBE PERFORMANCE ................................... 3
1.3.1 Parameters experimented on ................................................................................ 3
1.4 OPTIMIZATION OF VORTEX TUBE FOR INDUSTRIAL COOLING ...................................... 4
2 Working Principle.......................................................................................... 5
2.1 FLOW STRUCTURE OF THE VORTEX TUBE .................................................................... 5
2.2 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF A VORTEX TUBE ..................................................................... 6
3 Analysis ......................................................................................................... 13
3.1 THE HEATING EFFECT IN A VORTEX TUBE ................................................................... 13
3.2 THE COOLING EFFECT IN A VORTEX TUBE ................................................................... 13
3.3 ESTIMATION OF THE TEMPERATURE DROP .................................................................. 14
3.4 GEOMETRICAL EFFECTS ON THE TUBE PERFORMANCE ................................................ 15
3.4.1 Tube Length ....................................................................................................... 15
3.4.2 Ratio of tube length over diameter..................................................................... 16
3.4.3 Vortex angle ....................................................................................................... 17
3.4.4 Inlet nozzle ......................................................................................................... 18
3.5 AIR MOVEMENT IN VORTEX TUBE .................................................................. 19
3.6 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE SEPRATION ......................................................... 19
3.7 VORTEX TUBE PERFORMANCE ......................................................................... 20
3.8 THERMO DYNAMICAL ANALYSIS OF VORTEX TUBE .................................. 20
3.9 EFFICIENCIES OF THE VORTEX TUBE.............................................................. 22
4 Design and Fabrication ............................................................................... 23
4.1 MATERIAL AND DESIGN ..................................................................................... 23
4.2 SPECIFICATION ........................................................................................................... 24
4.3 DESIGN OF VORTEX TUBE .......................................................................................... 24
4.3.1 Cold Outlet ......................................................................................................... 25
4.3.2 Inlet Hub ............................................................................................................ 26
4.3.3 Main Tube .......................................................................................................... 27

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 4.3.4 Hot Outlet........................................................................................................... 28
4.3.5 Hot End Valve.................................................................................................... 29
4.3.6 Vortex Tube (3D-view & Sectional view) ......................................................... 30
4.3.7 Vortex Tube (Experimental Setup) .................................................................... 31
5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 32
6 References ..................................................................................................... 33

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 List of Figures
FIGURE 1.1 WORKING OF VORTEX TUBE ........................................................................................................................... 2
FIGURE 2.1 FLOW STRUCTURE OF THE VORTEX TUBE ......................................................................................................... 5
FIGURE 2.2 FLOW STRUCTURE OF THE VORTEX TUBE (3D) .................................................................................................. 7
FIGURE 2.3 DIVISIONAL FLOW PATTERN INSIDE A COUNTER-FLOW VORTEX TUBE ...................................................................... 8
FIGURE 2.4 FLOW STRUCTURE IN A VORTEX TUBE............................................................................................................... 9
FIGURE 2.5 FLOW STRUCTURE IN A VORTEX TUBE............................................................................................................. 10
FIGURE 2.6 FLOW STRUCTURE IN A VORTEX TUBE............................................................................................................. 10
FIGURE 2.7 FLOW STRUCTURE IN A VORTEX TUBE............................................................................................................. 11
FIGURE 3.1 TUBE LENGTH ........................................................................................................................................... 16
FIGURE 3.2 THE RATE OF HEAT AND WORK TRANSFER PER UNIT LENGTH ALONG THE CONTROL SURFACE SEPARATING THE HOT AND
COLD CONTROL VOLUMES .................................................................................................................................. 16
FIGURE 3.3 HEATING EFFICIENCY OF THE VORTEX TUBE VERSUS VORTEX ANGLE. ..................................................................... 17
FIGURE 3.4 COOLING EFFICIENCY OF THE VORTEX TUBE VERSUS VORTEX ANGLE...................................................................... 18
FIGURE 3.5 ARRANGEMENTS OF INLET NOZZLES OF A VORTEX TUBE WITH 2, 3, 4 AND 6 NOZZLES. ............................................ 18
FIGURE 4.1 COLD OUTLET (WITH DIMENSION) ................................................................................................................ 25
FIGURE 4.2 INLET HUB (WITH DIMENSION) ..................................................................................................................... 26
FIGURE 4.3 MAIN TUBE (WITH DIMENSION) ................................................................................................................... 27
FIGURE 4.4 HOT OUTLET (WITH DIMENSION).................................................................................................................. 28
FIGURE 4.5 HOT END VALVE (WITH DIMENSION) ............................................................................................................. 29
FIGURE 4.6 VORTEX TUBE (3D-VIEW & SECTIONAL VIEW) ................................................................................................ 30
FIGURE 4.7 VORTEX TUBE (EXPERIMENTAL SETUP) .......................................................................................................... 31

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 ABSTRACT
A cooling system is very important for both man and machine. In general vapor compression
refrigeration system and vapor absorption refrigeration system are used for refrigeration
purpose. Vortex tube cooling system is a non-conventional type of cooling system which is
not used widely for cooling purpose. But it has many advantages over the conventional
cooling system. This project attempt has been made to construct a counter flow vortex tube
and its experimental setup has also been designed. Our objective is to check the performance
of counter flow vortex tube by changing the various geometrical parameters such as Tube
Length and diameter of hot end pipe and cold end pipe, Ratio of tube length over diameter
and Vortex angle so that we increase the performance of the vortex tube. We had also
predicted some of the experimental data that are available and observed the performance
variation by changing working parameters at inlet such as temperature and pressure.

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 1Introduction
The Vortex tube, also known as the Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, is a mechanical device
operating as a refrigerating or cooling machine without any moving parts, by separating a
compressed air/gas stream into a low temperature region and a high one. Such a separation of
the flow into regions of low and high temperature is referred to as the temperature (or energy)
separation effect. Generally, the vortex tube can be classified into two types. One is the
counterblow type (often referred to as standard type) and another is parallel or uni-flow type.
The air emerging from the "hot" end can reach temperatures of 200 °C, and the air emerging
from the "cold end" can reach - 50 °C. It contains the following parts: one or more inlet
nozzles, a vortex chamber, a cold-end orifice, a hot-end control valve and a tube. When high-
pressure gas is tangentially injected into the vortex chamber via the inlet nozzles, a swirling
flow is created inside the vortex chamber. When the gas swirls to the centre of the chamber, it
is expanded and cooled. In the vortex chamber, part of the gas swirls to the hot end, and
another part exist via the cold exhaust directly. Part of the gas in the vortex tube reverses for
axial component of the velocity and move from the hot end to the cold end. At the hot
exhaust, the gas escapes with a higher temperature, while at the cold exhaust, the gas has a
lower temperature compared to the inlet temperature.

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1.1 WORKING OF VORTEX TUBE

Figure 1.1 Working of vortex tube

1- Compressor
2- Inlet nozzle
3- Cold air outlet
4- Hot air outlet
5- Vortex tube
6- Digital temperature indicator
7- valve
8- orifice

Compressed air is passed through the nozzle as here; air expands and acquires high velocity
due to particular shape of the nozzle. A vortex flow is created in the chamber and air travels
in spiral like motion along the periphery of the hot side. This flow is restricted by the valve.
When the pressure of the air near valve is made more than outside by partly closing the valve,
a reversed axial flow through the core of the hot side starts from high-pressure region to low-
pressure region. During this process, heat transfer takes place between reversed stream and
forward stream. Therefore, air stream through the core gets cooled below the inlet
temperature of the air in the vortex tube, while air stream in forward direction gets heated up.

2
The cold stream is escaped through the diaphragm hole into the cold side, while hot stream is
passed through the opening of the valve. By controlling the opening of the valve, the quantity
of the cold air and its temperature can be varied.

1.2 Classification

Two types of vortex tube used in industry are

 parallel flow
 counter flow
Because of wide applications of the latter, it is studied in the present work.

1.3 Geometrical parameters on vortex tube performance

 Inlet nozzles
 Tube length
 Tube shape
 Ratio of tube length over diameter
 Vortex angle
 Tube exits
 Diffuser

1.3.1 Parameters experimented on

 Tube Length
 Ratio of tube length over diameter
 Vortex angle
 Inlet nozzle

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1.4 Optimization of Vortex Tube for Industrial Cooling

 Vortex tube has two outlet one is cold another is hot. Both can be used for Industrial
purpose.
 Cold output will be used for cooling effect, constant temperature, HVAC system,
machining process.
 Cold airflow and temperature are controlled by adjusting the slotted valve in the hot
air outlet. Opening the valve reduces the cold airflow and the cold air temperature.
Closing the valve increases the cold airflow and the cold air temperature.
 Hot output will be used for Industrial Heating, heating water tanks, hot tub and as a
substitute for Geyser system.

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 2Working Principle

2.1 Flow Structure of the Vortex Tube

In a vortex tube compressed air enters tangentially into it through one or more nozzles. One
part of the flow rotationally passes alongside the wall and exits as hotter fluid from the hot
end and the other part comes back from the hot end alongside the axis to the cold end and
exits as colder flow. Geometry of the vortex tube including flow inlets, cold and hot outlets
and associated flows including cold and hot streams are shown in fig –

Inlet

Cold Exit
Control
Plug Hot Exit

A --- A
Inlet

Axial flow (Generates Cold Stream)

Circular flow (Generates Hot Stream)

Figure 2.1 Flow Structure of the Vortex Tube

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2.2 Working principle of a vortex tube
Based on the discussions above, the flow behaviour inside a vortex tube is summarised in
detail as shown in Figures 2 and 3. This basic on which the temperature separation in a vortex
tube can be explained is as follows: When compressed air is injected into the tube from the
tangential inlet, it forms a highly vortical flow and moves to the end of the tube. The inner
part of the flow moves towards the hot end and turns back in front part of the tube. This part
of the flow gets expanded due to the low pressure in the central part of the tube and escapes
from the cold nozzle at a lower temperature than the injected air. Small amount of the inner
flow mixes with the multi-circulation and forms small vorticities that separate the cold flow
and multi-circulations. Due to the pressure gradient in a vortex tube, the lowest temperature
will be found in the central part of the flow near the injection port. After mixing with other
clod flow, which has been inwardly turned back, the minimum temperature of the exhausted
stream from the cold nozzle will be found to be higher than the lowest temperature inside the
tube. The cold and hot regions are also shown in the above figures, and between them is the
mixing and separating region. The peripheral part of the airflow escapes from the hot exit at a
higher temperature than the inlet temperature and the inner part of the flow is forced back by
the plug at the hot end. Due to the increase of the swirl velocity, the centrifugal force of the
swirling flow increases and leads to the outwards flow of the central fluid. On its way to the
cold end, the central flow moves outwards, mixes with the peripheral flow, and turns back to
the hot end again. In this way, the central flow performs multiple circulations before being
exhausted from the hot exit. Because of the strong swirling flow in the hot region of the tube,
sub-cycles of the multi-circulation might be found in the principal multi-circulation. The
temperature of the peripheral flow arises due to the partial stagnation and mixture induced by
the multi-circulation. The maximum temperature should be found at the outwards turn back
to the hot end of the central flow, i.e., about one third of the overall tube length distant from
the hot end as discussed in The maximum temperature along the wall was also reported to be
some distance from the hot exit.

6
 Figure 2.2 Flow Structure of the Vortex Tube (3D)

Based on this proposed flow behavior, the working principle of a vortex tube at variable cold
mass flow ratio, which is generally controlled by adjusting the hot end plug, is discussed
below. To perform an accurate analysis of the working process inside a vortex tube, the flow
pattern is divided into several regions, which are the vorticities in the corner of the tube, the
cold core, the peripheral flow, the mixing and separating region, and the hot region or
multicirculation region. The vorticities in the corner of the tube are induced by the injected
fluid and may be noticed as the secondary circulation when the cold exit is small. When the
cold exit of the vortex tube is larger than a critical value (i.e.
dc/dt=0.62, here dc is the diameter of cold exit and dt is the diameter of the vortex tube), all
the flow moving to the cold end will be exhausted from that exit and there will be no flow
being forced back to form the vorticities in the corner. The cold core region locates near the
injection point, and it is the region where expansion occurs and the temperature drops due to
the pressure gradient of the forced vortex. The minimum temperature inside a vortex tube is
always found in the central part of the cold core opposite the injection port. The size of the
cold core varies in the vortex tube with different experimental parameters. The peripheral
flow is that flow which moves in the peripheral layer and escapes from the hot exit. It mixes
with the multi-circulations and leaves the tube at a higher temperature due to energy
transformation from the kinetic energy of the peripheral flow, as discussed in the previous
exergy analysis. The mixing and separating region (4) may be found between the inwards
turn back flow in the cold core, and the outwards turn back flow of the multi-circulation in a
vortex tube. This region ensures the best performance of an ideal vortex tube by preventing
the mixture of cold and hot flow regions. In a vortex tube, which is not designed properly, the

7
mixing and separating region of the respective flow are not well delineated, and hence, this
leads to a reduction in the separating performance. Due to the complexity of the flow
condition, there has not been any theoretical analysis of the flow pattern in this region.
The multi-circulation locates near the hot end and causes the temperature rise of the working
fluid in the process of stagnation and mixture with the peripheral flow. It is also indicated by
the red and pink helix in, which show flow movement to the hot end and cold end,
respectively. For a vortex tube with small hot exit, the central part of the multi-circulation
region may move towards the cold end through the mixing region and mix with the cold flow
in the cold core region. Hence, the temperature drop of the cold flow is reduced by this
mixing.

Figure 2.3 Divisional flow pattern inside a counter-flow vortex tube

When the hot exit of a vortex tube is relatively large, there will not be any flow forced back
by the plug. Instead, all of the injected flow will escape from the hot exit. Due to the strong
swirling flow, a low pressure region in the central part of the tube near the cold exit will be
formed, reducing the extent of the temperature drop. Hence, entry of ambient air into the
vortex tube through the cold exit by suction, can occur and may lead to more fluid from the
hot end being exhausted than the injection. The inward suction of the ambient air has
previously been reported by the authors due to this low pressure region near the cold exit.
The temperature of the exhausted gas will show a small increase due to the mixture and
friction effect, which is weakened both by the temperature drop near the injection point and
entry of ambient air by suction. The flow inside the tube will perform as a forced vortex and
decay towards to the hot end. The flow behavior in a vortex tube with a large hot exit, shows

8
that only the peripheral flow in the vortex tube, as well as the sucked ambient air moving
along the center exist under this condition.

Figure 2.4 Flow structure in a vortex tube

When the area of the hot exit is reduced, there will be some gas escaping from the cold exit
and as a result, less gas leaves from the hot end. Part of the peripheral flow will be forced
back by the plug and multi-circulation with small scale will be formed. A transformation
from forced vortex at the cold end to the irrotational vortex at the hot end will be observed.
Partial stagnation and mixture due to this small scale multi-circulation causes a rise in the
temperature of this flow, although the temperature in this region is lower than the maximum
temperature generated by the vortex tube. The inner flow starts turning back because of the
blockage by the multicirculation. Temperature drops in the cold core is caused by the
pressure gradient in the tube, although there may be some suction of ambient air, which
reduces the temperature drop at the cold exit, depending on the dimensions of the cold and
hot exits. The vortex tube under this condition could generate cold and hot streams, and its
likely flow structure inside the tube is shown in Figure.

9
 Figure 2.5 Flow structure in a vortex tube

Once the hot exit is further decreased, more cold stream and less hot stream will be exhausted
from the vortex tube. At certain cold mass flow ratio, the pressure at the cold exit becomes
greater than the ambient pressure; hence suction at the cold exit will no longer be observed.
The temperature of the inner flow decreases due to the pressure gradient, and represents the
minimum temperature within the vortex tube, and is the result of both the maximum volume
of the cold core, and the lack of mixing the ambient air or the hot stream. Concomitantly, the
temperature of the hot stream increases due to the increased scale of the multicirculation,
which strengthen the effect of partial stagnation and mixture.

Figure 2.6 Flow structure in a vortex tube

If the cold mass flow ratio keeps increasing, a concomitant increase of the multicirculation
and a decrease of the cold core region would be expected. Therefore, due to the smaller
region for expansion and more gas in the cold region, the temperature drop of the cold stream

10
would be reduced. As a result, the effect of partial stagnation and mixture is therefore
strengthened by the increased scale of the multi-circulation, which leads to the increase of the
hot stream temperature. Moreover, due to the decreased hot exit area, more gas will be forced
back by the plug and subsequently, move to the cold end along the central part of the tube.
Thus, part of the central flow may mix with the cold flow and escape from the cold exit. This
mixture of two flows at different temperature causes the rise of cold temperature at the cold
exit and weakens the cooling effect of the vortex tube. In condition when the hot exit of a
vortex tube is blocked, all the injected gas leaves from the cold nozzle, i.e. the cold mass flow
ratio equals 1, and the flow structure in the vortex tube is represented in Figure 13. It is seen
from the Figure that the main part of the injected gas gets expanded in the cold core and is
exhausted from the cold exit. In such a condition, part of the peripheral flow then moves to
the hot end and forms the structure of multi-circulation in the rear part of the tube. Hence, the
temperature of flow in the rear part of the tube still increases due to the partial stagnation and
mixture in the multi-circulation region, which is indicated by the measured temperature of the
tube wall at the hot end. It was reported that the temperature of the tube wall at the hot end
had a 14 centigrade degree rise when the hot exit was blocked. As the cold core region
decreased and the amount of the expanding stream increased, the temperature drop near the
injection was not obvious as that in the vortex tube with other settings. The mixture of the
high temperature stream coming from the multi-circulation region further reduced the
temperature drop, which was reported as a 3.2 centigrade degree drop at the cold exit. The
tube performance when the hot end is blocked has also been reported in others’ studies.

Figure 2.7 Flow structure in a vortex tube

According to the proposed explanation, the parameters influencing the temperature change as
a function of the variable cold mass ratios discussed above, is in agreement with the
experimental results reported. With regard to the temperature drop of the cold stream at a

11
cold mass ratio from 0 to 0.3, the improving performance of the cooling effect may be caused
by the decrease with the extent of ambient air suction, until such time the tube reaches its best
cooling performance at a certain cold mass ratio. When the cold mass ratio is greater 0.3, the
temperature of the cold flow increases with the increasing cold mass ratio. This is mainly due
to the reduction of the cold core region and the increase of the hot stream emanated from the
multi-circulation region. The temperature of the hot stream increases with the increase of clod
flow ratio or decrease of the hot flow ratio. Furthermore, the increasing temperature is caused
by stronger stagnation and mixture due to the increasing region of multi-circulation as
discussed above. It should be noted that for a vortex tube having a cold mass ratio greater
than 0.8, i.e. the settings between Figures 12 and 13, the decreased extent of the peripheral
flow moving to the hot end, leads to the formation of a weaker region of multi-circulation.
This may explain the reason for the decreasing temperature of the hot stream when the cold
mass ratio is greater than 0.8. For the different vortex tubes employed in previous studies,
different critical cold mass flow ratios were found. However, the similarities in the tendencies
for change in the temperature profiles, show the reliability of these discussions and provide
solid support for the proposed explanation.

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 3Analysis

3.1 The heating effect in a vortex tube

The heating effect of a vortex tube could be induced by outwards energy transfer, including
both thermal and kinetic energy, and partial stagnation of the swirling flow. As indicated in
previous publication (Xue et al., 2010), the partial stagnation and mixture due to the flow
structure located near the hot end, contributes significantly to the temperature rise in a vortex
tube. At the hot exit of a counter-flow vortex tube, the outer layer of the peripheral flow
escapes from the small gap between the control plug and the tube as represented by the
yellow helix in figure 2. The inner part of the flow is forced back through the central region
of the tube (pink helix) by the plug. On its way towards the cold end, the swirling flow moves
outwards to the periphery, mixes with the peripheral flow, and then returns back to the hot
end (red helix). In this way the flow structure, termed multi-circulation, is formed and its
partial stagnation and mixture is the primary factor for the temperature rise. The flow
structure in the rear part of a vortex tube, as in the area of multi-circulation.

3.2 The cooling effect in a vortex tube

The cooling effect of a vortex tube is identified in this research as the result of the sudden
expansion of the working fluid near the injection port. When the fluid is injected into the
vortex tube, the main part of the fluid rotates and moves along the periphery towards the hot
end. Near the injection point, the inner part of the peripheral flow turns back and moves
towards the cold exit. A cold core is formed near the injection due to the pressure gradient of
the forced vortex, and the temperature drops due to the decreased pressure of the working
fluid in this cold core. The flow behaviour in the cold part of a vortex tube can be seen in
Figure 2, which shows the inwards turn back of the inner flow and the cold core. This
explanation for the cooling effect is then validated in the following sections.

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3.3 Estimation of the temperature drop

The temperature drop in a vortex tube is estimated based on the measured velocity profiles.
The flow near the injection of a vortex tube performs as a forced vortex and the pressure
distribution can be expressed as:

Where, = pressure gradient in the radial direction, ρ = local density of the flow,
ω = angular velocity, and r = radial location.

Using the state equation:

The pressure gradient is written as:

For the adiabatic process, the relationship between the temperature and pressure of the
control volume is:

Substituting the relationship into the pressure gradient, it becomes:

Integrate the equation and substitute peripheral properties, including density, static pressure
and temperature at the inlet as ρin , pin and Tin respectively. The radius of the vortex tube and
the heat capacity ratio of the fluid are Rt and γ, respectively.
The difference between the peripheral temperature and local temperature, which is also
known as the temperature drop in a vortex tube, can be derived as:

14
As the geometrical parameters of the vortex tube vary, the flow at different temperatures in
the vortex tube, mix and escape as the cold stream at a higher temperature than the minimum
temperature calculated by this equation.
Due to the different experimental conditions, a non-dimensionalized value of the temperature
drop ratio (ε) was calculated using the relationship between the actual temperature drop and
the calculated maximum value using the above-mentioned method and is defined as:

3.4 Geometrical effects on the tube performance

The effects of the geometrical parameters on vortex tube performance have been investigated
by many researchers, using both experimental and numerical methods. It has been reported
that when different geometrical parameters were selected for testing a vortex tube, such as
length and diameter of the tube, shape and size of the inlet nozzle, cold and hot exits, and
structure of the tube, the temperatures of the generated cold and hot streams varied. However,
there has not been an explanation that can be used to explain all the effects of the variable
parameters on the tube performance. Therefore, based on the explanation proposed in this
study, the geometrical effects are discussed in this paper.

3.4.1 Tube Length

The effects of tube length, tube diameter and ratio of tube length over tube diameter were
summarized. It was reported that the length of the tube should be longer than a critical length
to achieve significant temperature separation within the vortex tube. When the vortex tube is
shorter than the critical value, the separating vorticities between the cold core and multi
circulation region became weaker or even disappear, and the cold flow will subsequently mix
with the hot flow from the multi-circulation region. Hence, the temperature separation in a
very short vortex tube will not be significant.

15
 Figure 3.1 Tube Length

When the length of a vortex tube approximates or is longer than the critical length, the
separation of the cold region and the multi-circulation region, i.e., the hot region, is ensured
by the tube length and provides a better performance of the temperature separation. The
critical length is different for the vortex tube with different tube diameter.

Figure 3.2 The rate of heat and work transfer per unit length along the control surface separating the hot and cold control volumes

3.4.2 Ratio of tube length over diameter

It has been reported that the ratio of tube length over diameter needs to be greater than 20 in
order to have significant temperature separation in a vortex tube and this finding agrees with

16
the current study. Once the ratio is greater than 45, it was reported that there is no further
effect on the performance of the vortex tube.

This is likely due to the fact that the cold core region and the multi-circulation region have
been fully separated when the ratio of length over diameter is 45. Therefore, it does not
apparent that further lengthening of the vortex tube has any influence on the tube
performance.

The ratio of length over diameter maintained in this experiment is 30.165 (490/16)

3.4.3 Vortex angle

It has been reported that vortex angle had negative effects on the magnitude of the
temperature differential achieved. Based on the proposed explanation, vortex angle leads to a
decrease of the tangential velocity and an increase in the axial velocity. Since both the
temperature drop and temperature rise are caused by the strong swirling flow, the decrease of
the tangential velocity is the reason for the reduction of temperature separation in a vortex
tube with a vortex angle generator installed.

Figure 3.3 Heating efficiency of the vortex tube versus vortex angle.

17
 Figure 3.4 Cooling efficiency of the vortex tube versus vortex angle.

3.4.4 Inlet nozzle

The strong swirling flow, which is the reason for the temperature separation in the vortex
tube, is generated by the injected high speed fluid through the inlet nozzle. Therefore, the
inlet nozzle, which exhibits good characteristics in generating the swirling flow, is the
primary component in generating the two streams which result in large temperature
difference within the vortex tube. The dimension of inlet nozzle cannot exceed a critical
value, in order to generate the strong swirling flow.

Figure 3.5 Arrangements of inlet nozzles of a vortex tube with 2, 3, 4 and 6 nozzles.

18
3.5 AIR MOVEMENT IN VORTEX TUBE
High pressure air enters into inlet enters the annular space around the generator. It then enters
into the nozzle where it loses part of its pressure as it expands and increases the velocity. The
nozzle is aimed so that the air is injected tangentially at the circumference of the vortex
generation chamber. All of air leaves the vortex generation chamber and goes into the hot
tube. It makes these choices because the opening to the hot tube is always larger than the
opening to the cold tube. Centrifugal force keeps the air near the wall of the hot tube as it
moves towards the valve at the end. By the time the air reaches the valve it has a pressure
somewhat less than the exit pressure at the nozzle, but more than atmospheric. It is always
true that the pressure just behind the control valve is higher than the cold outlet pressure.

3.6 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE SEPRATION

The air in the hot tube has a complex movement. An outer ring of air is moving toward the
hot end of the tube and an inner core of air is moving toward the cold end. Both streams of air
are rotating in the same direction. More importantly, both streams of air are rotating at the
same angular velocity. This is because intense turbulence at the boundary between the two
streams and throughout both streams locks them into a single mass as far as rotational
movement is concerned. The inner stream is a "forced vortex" which is distinguished from a
"free vortex" in that its rotational movement is controlled by some outside influence other
than the conservation of angular momentum. In this case, the outer hot stream forces the
inner (cold) stream to rotate at a constant angular velocity. In a simple whirlpool a free vortex
is formed. As the water moves inward, its rotational speed increases to conserve angular
momentum. Linear velocity of any particle in the vortex is inversely proportional to its
radius. Thus, in moving from a radius of one unit to a centre point at a radius of 1/2 unit, a
particle doubles its linear (tangential) speed in a free vortex. In a forced vortex with constant
angular velocity, the linear speed decreases by half as a particle moves from a radius of 1 unit
to a centre point at a radius of 1/2 unit. In the situation above, particles enter the centre with
four times the linear velocity in a free vortex compared with a forced vortex. Kinetic energy
is proportional to the square of linear velocity, thus the particles leaving the centre of the
forced vortex have 1/1 6th the kinetic energy of those leaving the centre of the free vortex in
this example. In other words the air in the vortex tube has a complex movement. An outer
ring of air is moving towards the hot end and an inner core of air is moving towards cold end.

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Both streams of air are rotating in the same direction. More importantly, both streams of air
are rotating with same angular velocity. This is because of intense turbulence at the boundary
between the two streams and throughout both streams locks them into a single mass so far as
rotational movement is concerned. Now a proper term for inner stream would be “forced
vortex”. This is distinguished from a “free vortex” in that its rotational movement is
controlled by some outside influence other than the conservation of angular momentum. In
this case the outer hot stream forces the inner (cold) to rotate at a constant angular velocity.
This is why hot end temperatures increase as cold fractions increase, and cold end
temperatures decrease as cold fractions decrease.

3.7 VORTEX TUBE PERFORMANCE

In the vortex tube air that rotates around an axis (like a tornado) is called a vortex. Vortex
Tube creates cold air and hot air by forcing compressed air through a generation chamber
which spins the air centrifugally along the inner walls of the Tube at a high rate of speed (10,
00,000 RPM) toward the control valve. A percentage of the hot, high-speed air is permitted to
exit at the control valve. The remainder of the (now slower) air stream is forced to counter
flow up through the center of the high-speed air stream, giving up heat, through the center of
the generation chamber finally exiting through the opposite end as extremely cold air. Vortex
Tubes generate temperatures down to 40°C below inlet air temperature. A control valve
located in the hot exhaust end can be used to adjust the temperature drop and rise for Vortex
Tube.

3.8 THERMO DYNAMICAL ANALYSIS OF VORTEX TUBE

The cold flow mass ratio (cold mass fraction) is the most important parameter used for
Indicating the vortex tube performance of RHVT. The cold mass fraction is the ratio of mass
of cold air that is released through the cold end of the tube to the total mass of the input
compressed air. It is represented as follows:

Where, mc represents the mass flow rate of the cold stream released, mi represents the inlet
or total mass flow rate of the pressurized air at the inlet.

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Therefore, E varies in the range of 0-1.Cold air temperature difference or temperature
reduction is defined as the difference between inlet flow temperature and cold air
temperature:

Where Ti is the inlet flow temperature and Tc is the cold air temperature. Similarly, hot air
temperature difference is defined as:

And the expansion been isentropic from inlet of the nozzle to the exit pressure and the air to
behave like an ideal gas, isentropic efficiency is given by

For Isentropic expansion the exit temperature

Where, po is the exit pressure of the cold air i.e. atmospheric pressure (pa) at outlet.

Since cooling and heating streams are obtained simultaneously the heating effect produced by
the vortex tube is give as:

Since RHVT can be used as a cooler and heater simultaneously hence both the effect that
Cooling effect and heating effects are considered. The COP of the system is calculated
accordingly. The coefficient of performance of refrigerator is defined as the ratio of
refrigerating effect produced by the system to the work done on the system. In the
conventional vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system work input or power is the
work of compression or the compressor work. But, the vortex refrigeration systems are used
where compressed air or gas is available. Making analogy to the VCR system, the work of
compression from the exit/atmos. i.e. from pe to pi by a reversible isothermal process, the
COP of the system is given as:

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In the above relation the pressure drop in the supply pipe has been neglected and the pressure
at the exit of the cold and the hot air in the vortex tube are assumed to be atmospheric.

3.9 EFFICIENCIES OF THE VORTEX TUBE

The various efficiencies of Vortex tube:
1. Thermal efficiencies: The RHVT can be used not only as a cooler, but also as a heater. So
the definition of the efficiency should consider both effects. For different applications,
different efficiencies are used. The coefficient of performance (COP) of a cooler is normally
defined as the cooling power Qc gained by the system divided by the work power P input. So
the COP of the cooler, denoted by COP is expressed as:

Here the cooling power can be calculated according to the cooling capacity of the cold
exhaust gas (e.g. the heat necessary to heat up the cold exhaust gas from the cold exhaust
temperature to the applied temperature to the applied temperature. Here Tin is chosen.)

2. Carnot Efficiency: The Carnot COP is the maximum efficiency for all heat engines. So, it
is also the maximum for the RHVT system. The COPs for Carnot cycles are:

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 4Design and Fabrication
4.1 MATERIAL AND DESIGN

Vortex tube generally using three materials for its construction namely:
 Stainless Steel
 Aluminium
 Plastic

It depends on its function to use for cooling purpose or for heating. Generally it is made up of
stainless steel because of its high thermal conductivity and better corrosion resistance but
because of its heavy weight it lags behind the aluminum. On the other hand aluminum is also
used for constructing vortex tube because it may have good thermal conductivity and light
weight. Plastic is used where the weight required is very less and the hot fluid temperature is
also very less because it may not have high thermal conductivity as compared to the other
two.

The Design of vortex tube is not very much complicated because it may not require any
moving parts. The design of vortex tube depend on its requirement just like the place where it
is used either it is used in vehicles or in mines. But the design aspect is important because we
may require more and more cooling so for that we may need to change the ratio of length to
diameter because of changing that we may acquire cool air according to our need.

We have used Stainless Steel for tubes in this project. Some small parts are made of Mild
Steel.

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4.2 Specification

 Cold Outlet: Material – Stainless Steel & Mild Steel

Diameter – 10 mm

 Inlet Hub: Material – Mild Steel

Small Diameter – 10 mm ; Big Diameter – 19 mm

 Main Tube: Material – Stainless Steel

Diameter – 16 mm ; Length – 470 mm

 Hot Outlet: Material – Stainless Steel

Diameter – 22 mm; Length – 102 mm

 Hot End Valve: Material for Head – Mild Steel

Material for Rod – Nickel Plated Mild Steel
Small Diameter – 10 mm ; Big Diameter – 17.5 mm;
Length – 77 mm

 Tube Thickness: 3 mm

4.3 Design of Vortex Tube

The design are done in Solid Works 2017. All dimensions used for design are calculated and
analyzed from analytical data.

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4.3.1 Cold Outlet

Figure 4.1 Cold Outlet (with dimension)

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4.3.2 Inlet Hub

Figure 4.2 Inlet Hub (with dimension)

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4.3.3 Main Tube

Figure 4.3 Main Tube (with dimension)

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4.3.4 Hot Outlet

Figure 4.4 Hot Outlet (with dimension)

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4.3.5 Hot End Valve

Figure 4.5 Hot End Valve (with dimension)

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4.3.6 Vortex Tube (3D-view & Sectional view)

Figure 4.6 Vortex Tube (3D-view & Sectional view)

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4.3.7 Vortex Tube (Experimental Setup)

Figure 4.7 Vortex Tube (Experimental Setup)

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 5CONCLUSION
In this work an attempt is made to focus on the flow behavior inside a counter-flow vortex
tube aiming to locate the dominant reason for the temperature separation in a vortex tube.
Variable geometrical parameters have been tested in the experiment, and their effects on the
temperature separation in the vortex tube are discussed. The inner stream is having a forced
vortex flow and the outer stream is having free vortex flow. In a vortex flow as the radius is
decreasing the linear velocity of the fluid also decreases hence kinetic energy decreases and
this decrease in kinetic energy is converted in heat which is dominant reason for the
temperature separation in a vortex tube. We have observed the performance variation by
changing working parameters at inlet such as temperature and pressure and found out as is
decreasing we obtain colder air. We had determined that we are getting colder air when we
used smaller size of hot end pipe.

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 6References
 Hilsch R (1947) the Use of Expansion of Gases in a Centrifugal Field as a Cooling
Process. Review of Scientific Instruments 18 (2), 108 – 13 .
 N.F. Aljuwayhel, G.F. Nellis, S.A. Klein, Parametric and internal study of the vortex
tube using a CFD model, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive,
Madison, WI 53706, USA
 M. KUROSAKA, Acoustic streaming in swirling flow and the Ranque-Hilsch
(vortex-tube) effect
 Xue, Y., Arjomandi, M., Kelso, R., The working principle of a vortex tube,
International Journal of Refrigeration (2013), doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2013.04.016.
 Mahesh Kumar Dhangar, Manujendrasharma, Mangu Singh Chouhan, Designing
Aspects of a Vortex Tube Cooling System, Department Of Mechanical Engineering,
MIT Mandsaur
 Rahim Shamsoddini, Alireza Hossein Nezhad, Numerical analysis of the effects of
nozzles number on the flow and power of cooling of a vortex tube
 K. Dincer , S. Tasdemir , S. Baskaya , B.Z. Uysal , Modeling of the effects of length
to diameter ratio and nozzle number on the performance of counter flow Ranque–
Hilsch vortex tubes using artificial neural networks
 Yunpeng Xue , Maziar Arjomandi, The effect of vortex angle on the efficiency of the
Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube

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