Best Vortex Tube

Back Pressure

A low back pressure of up to 2 PSIG (0.1 BAR) will not affect the performance of the Streamtek™ Vortex Tube. However, any back pressure above this level will result in a performance reduction.

7500 Series Vortex Tube Specifications

The 7500 series Vortex Tubes are used in most industrial applications such as: electrical control panel cooling, tool cooling, and parts cooling. These Vortex Tubes optimize airflow and temperature drop to produce maximum cooling power or Btu/hr. (Kcal/hr.).

7700 Series Vortex Tube Specifications

The 7700 series Vortex Tubes are used in applications that require extreme cold temperatures such as circuit board testing, and lab sample cooling. These Vortex Tubes provide the lowest cold air temperatures, but at a low cold airflow (when less than a 50% cold fraction is used). The 7700 services Vortex Tubes should only be used when temperatures are below 0° (-18°C).

Vortex Tube Specifications

Actual Vortex Tube Performance

The cold fraction is the “percentage flow” of airflow at the cold end. So a 60% cold fraction means 60% of airflow comes out cold end and 40% goes out the hot end.

The above table is for the 7500 Series (10-15 SCFM) Medium sized Vortex Tubes. The performance can significantly change for higher flow designs. With that said, it’s not generally important to get such “low” temperatures and in most applications, the Vortex Tube is “preset” to produce a specific temperature drop.

The cold fraction table above is ONLY for the Streamtek™ 7500 Series Generators, or as some competitors like to call (‘H’ Generators). The 7700 Series Vortex Tube (‘C’ Generators), produce very cold temperatures but with a lower cold end flow. The 7700 Generators are not designed for high BTU/Hr (or watt) cooling effect.

Temperature drops and the cold end airflow vary inversely as the “cold fraction” changes. The cooling effect is a balance and combination of both outlet flow and temperature drop. Colder temperatures do NOT always mean the absolute highest cooling effect will be produced.

(A) Compressed air, normally 80 to 100 PSIG (5.5 – 6.9 BAR) enters the Vortex Tube through a standard NPTM inlet and tangentially through a generator into the vortex spin chamber.

(B) This air stream spinning at up to 1,000,000 RPM travels in one direction along the small (hot end) tube and then is forced back through the center of this outer vortex.

(C) The brass control valve on the hot end allows for quick n’ easy adjustment of the “cold fraction”; see specifications for what this means.

(D) As the center column travels towards the opposite end, it gives off kinetic energy in the form of heat to the outside stream of air and exits the vortex tube as cold air.

Application Examples from our Customers!

Vortex Tube Keeps Module Cold
Application: Cooling
A local laboratory is performing various tests on the mechanical properties of select materials. Most of these materials are needed to be cooled to -2 Celsius. The customer ultimately choose a Model 7530 (Stainless Steel Air Conveyor) for their cooling requirements. The customer now no longer has to use costly liquid C02 to cool their material and chambers! The Vortex Tube will produce just under 2100 Btu/hr of cooling capacity within the test enclosures.

Keeping Camera Lens Clear and Cool
Application: Cooling
A customer in Asia had multiple Boroscope lenses that needed to be kept cool and clear while being inserted into a 1150 Fahrenheit boiler porthole. After successfully using multiple competitive products, they decided to go with the more affordable Streamtek™ Model 7508 ‘One-Piece Stainless Steel Vortex Tube moving forward. That’s right! The Streamtek™ Vortex Tube is a one-piece unit with no welded weak point where the cold end meets the smaller diameter hot end tube.

Cooling a Motor
Application: Cooling
An industry leading company manufactures electrically powered blower motors. Many of their customers had no choice but to enclose these blowers in enclosures in order to protect the costly blower from external elements. By installing Model 7515 (Stainless Steel Vortex Tube) directly inside the housing of the motor, heat build-up was quickly reduced and thus eliminated downtime due to past motor failure.

Cooling Turn Rolls
Application: Cooling
In today’s hot rolling mills, realizing the promised longevity of high speed steel rolls depends on one’s ability to successfully implement a system to keep their rolls cool. If these rolls are not kept cool, the ability to maintain product shape and eliminate surface defects is quickly compromised. Rick (our customer) naturally came to Streamtek™ for an affordable solution that wouldn’t break the bank. We were able to put together a system to blow refrigerated air through the inside of the customers turn rolls with our low cost Model 7530-A Vortex Tube.

Speeding up Cycle Time
Application: Cooling
A manufacturer in Mexico produces molded plastic pedals for bicycles and needed help in finding a solution to cool their molded parts down so they could increase cycle times. Since this customer was unable to provide our application engineer with accurate answers to our questions when trying to determine how much cooling is needed, we were able to provide him with Streamtek™ Model VTMD-KIT (Medium Stainless Steel Vortex Tube Cooling Kit). By using the cooling kit, he was able to optimize the cold air temperatures and adjust the air demand delivered by the Vortex Tube.

Cooling an Garage Door Seal
Application: Cooling
Before exterior garage door seals can be coated with a color that will match the garage door and its trim, the initial extrusion must be cool. Our Model 7540 (Stainless Steel Vortex Tube) can speed this cooling process up! Need a more affordable solution? Take a look at our equivalent 7540-A (Anodized Aluminum Vortex Tube).

Chilling a Mandrel for Jewelry Crafting
Application: Cooling
A ring mandrel is easily one of the most useful tools for sizing, crafting and re-shaping jewelry. Each of these mandrels is designed for one or more special applications in jewelry crafting. By blowing chilled air, with a Model 7525 Vortex Tube onto the mandrel, thermal expansion of the mandrel was eliminated even as temperatures rose throughout the day.

Cooling Petrochemical Gas Samples
Application: Cooling
A petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia needed to ensure the dew point of their sampled gas was kept constant, which in turn will keep the water vapor proportion also constant. One of our many experienced application engineers (Doug) was quick to recommend a small Model 7704 Vortex Tube to cool down the gas samples before analyzing reports. Our client was able to remove the costly AC system that was currently in-place and as an added perk, the system is now much more portable due to the small size and durability of the Streamtek™ vortex tube.

Using Cold Airflow to Cool Whipped Butter Closures
Application: Cooling
Tom (our customer) is currently using a 96 cavity mold to manufacture containers for his whipped butter. The US Standards for Whipped Butter is very strict! Unfortunately during the mold process, the pivot points of the enclosure started to wrap very slightly causing a rejection rate of just over 3%. By using a Model 7515 Vortex Tube placed at each pivot point, Tom was able to eliminate the 3% reject rate. Yet another satisfied Streamtek™ customer!

Cooling Copper Wire on Heat Set Tubing
Application: Cooling
There are many types of Heat Set Tubing in the market today. All the different sizes, lengths, diameters, wall thickness, etc. can make one go bonkers. A heat set tubing manufacturer out of Taiwan contacted us with a unique problem! He was having a great deal of difficulty cooling the tube fast enough due to the heat that was being kept by the flexible copper wire that passed through the ID of the tube. After talking with our very knowledgeable Application Engineer (Jay), the Taiwan manufacturer decided to purchase (4) Model 7530 Vortex Tubes to push the cold airflow through the ID of the Heat Set tubing. Production was increased and cooling time was cut by close to 40%!

Transportation Spot-Welding
Application: Cooling
Spot Welding operations can be cooled with a low-cost affordable Streamtek™ Vortex Tube. Improve the appearance of your products and virtually eliminate secondary smooth operations. Need to easily point the cold airflow? Then combine a Model TC0SHK (Single Point Hose Kit) with your Vortex Tube.

Single Point Threaded – Metalworking
Application: Cooling
CNC Machinists know first-hand how heat build-up in threading operations will shorten tool life and cause a rough thread. This equates to increase downtime in: changing tools, lost productivity and higher overall cost in tools. By using a Streamtek™ Vortex Tube Model 7515, clean and dry sub-zero cooling will eliminate tool micro cracking, premature failure and will increase speed.

Dimensions

• NO Cheap Plastic parts here! Both the Generator and Control Valve are solid Brass. You choose between a Stainless Steel and Aluminum Vortex Tube.
• Small and lightweight – portable.
• Easily adjust temperatures with a simple flat-head screwdriver.