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Description
What is a Vortex Tube?
The Vortex tube, also known as the Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, is a mechanical device that divides compressed air into cold and hot streams. The cold stream is an effective, low-cost solution for industrial spot cooling and process cooling applications. Compressed air enters the Vortex Tube and spins at a rate of up to 1,000,000 RPM inside the air chamber. The air travels towards the hot end of the Vortex Tube and once it reaches the end, a small amount is exhausted through a control valve. The remainder of the air is forced back towards the opposite end of the Vortex Tube and it exhausted as cold air. A Vortex Tube can decrease air temperatures by ~115°F (46°C) and raise temperatures by ~200°F (93°C) from the initial air temperature.
What types of Vortex Tubes do we carry?
Streamtek™ offers two models of Vortex Tube: the 7500 and the 7700 Series.
The 7500 Series Vortex Tubes are engineered to provide optimal temperature drop while maintaining strong air flow.
7700 Series Vortex Tubes are engineered to provide the maximum possible temperature drop while sacrificing some airflow. 7700 Series Vortex Tubes should only be used in special applications where the temperature requirement is below -4°F (-20°C).
| Small Vortex Tube | Medium Vortex Tube | Large Vortex Tube | |
| Material | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel/Aluminum | Stainless Steel |
| BTU rating | 145 – 560 BTU/Hr. | 700 – 2800 BTU/Hr. | 3600 – 10800 BTU/Hr. |
| Air consumption | 2 SCFM – 8 SCFM | 10 SCFM – 40 SCFM | 50 SCFM – 150 SCFM |
How does a Vortex Tube work?
(A) Compressed air—typically 80 to 100 PSIG (5.5–6.9 BAR)—enters the Vortex Tube through a standard NPT male inlet and flows tangentially through the generator into the vortex spin chamber.
(B) The airstream, spinning at up to 1,000,000 RPM, travels in one direction along the small “hot end” tube and is then forced back through the center of the outer vortex.
(C) The brass control valve on the hot end allows quick and easy adjustment of the cold fraction (see specifications for details).
(D) As the center column of air travels toward the opposite end, it transfers kinetic energy as heat to the outer airstream and exits the Vortex Tube as cold air.
Vortex tube design and air streams.
The Vortex tube design forces compressed air through a generation chamber, which spins the air at a high rate of speed into a vortex. The high-speed air heats up as it spins along the inner walls of the tube toward the control valve. A percentage of the hot, high-speed air is permitted to exit at the valve, resulting in the separation of hot and cold air streams. The hot air can reach temperatures of 200°F (93°C), while the cold air can reach below -4°F (-20°C).
Vortex Tube Applications Examples
There an many Vortex tube applications to efficiently cool products or tooling for industrial manufacturers. Streamtek™ Vortex Tube products use innovative compressed air technologies to improve productivity, increase equipment efficiency and deliver enclosure and spot cooling, conveying, and blow-off.
Vortex tube applications
- Cooling electronic controls
- Cooling machining operations
- Setting hot melts
- Cooling soldered parts
- Cooling gas samples
- Electronic component cooling
- Cooling heat seals
- Cooling environmental chambers
Vortex tube advantages
- Maintenance free (No moving parts)
- Cools without costly electricity or refrigerants
- Reliable, compact and lightweight
- Low cost application
- Durable – Stainless Steel
- Adjustable temperature
- Instant cold air
History of the Vortex Tube
Georges J. Ranque, a French physicist, designed the vortex tube in 1931. In 1934, Paul Dirac rediscovered it while looking for a mechanism to achieve isotope separation (see Helikon vortex separation procedure). Rudolf Hilsch, a German physicist, modified the concept and published a widely read paper on the device, which he dubbed a Wirbelrohr, in 1947. (literally, whirl pipe). Westley released a comprehensive analysis of the vortex tube in 1954, titled “A bibliography and survey of the vortex tube,” with over 100 sources. Curley and McGree, Kalvinskas, Dobratz, Nash, and Hellyar contributed to the RHVT literature with thorough reviews of the vortex tube and its uses in 1951, 1956, 1964, and 1979. C. Darby Fulton, Jr. received four US patents relating to the creation of the vortex tube between 1952 and 1963. Fulton Cryogenics, a subsidiary of Fulton, began producing the vortex tube in 1961. Hsueh and Swenson revealed that vortex tubes can function with liquids to some extent in a laboratory experiment where free body rotation occurs from the core and a thick boundary layer at the wall. The air is divided, resulting in a colder air stream flowing out of the exhaust, which is intended to chill as if it were a refrigerator. R. T. Balmer used liquid water as the working medium in 1988. When the inlet pressure is high, such as 20-50 bar, it was discovered that the heat energy separation process occurs in incompressible (liquids) vortex flow as well. This separation is only due to heating; there is no longer any cooling because cooling requires the working fluid to be compressible.