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Keywords
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Numerical simulation, Vortex tube, Vortex-chamber radius, Pressure drop, Cooling efficiency.
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Abstract
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Vortex-chamber is a main part of vortex tube which the pressured gas is injected into this part tangentially.
An appropriate design of vortex-chamber geometry leads to better efficiency and good vortex tube
performance. In this study, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is created on basis of an
experimental model and is a three-dimensional (3D) steady compressible model that utilizes the k-ε turbulent
model. In this paper the effect of changing radius of vortex-chamber (R*) on vortex tube performance has
been studied for different value of R* and the optimized radius of vortex-chamber has been determined.
According to numerical results the cold temperature difference has increased when we take into account the
effect of the radius of vortex-chamber in range of 5.7-11 mm and when the radius of vortex chamber has
located in range of 11-13 mm, the cold temperature difference has decreased. The highest ΔTc is 46.77 K for
R*=11 mm at a cold mass fraction of 0.3, higher than basic model around 6.3% at the same cold flow
fraction. Finally, the results obtained, particularly the temperature values, are compared with some available
experimental data, which show good agreement.
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