If I were to tell you that I can take a supply of ordinary compressed air and drop its temperature by 50°F with no moving parts and without any type of refrigerant or electrical connection, you might be scratching your head a bit. That is of course unless you’ve been introduced to the wild world of Vortex Tubes. My favorite product among the EXAIR Product Line, the Vortex Tube, does just that. With an ordinary supply of compressed air as the sole power source, and no moving parts, the Vortex Tube converts that airstream into a hot and cold flow that exits from opposite ends of the tube. No magic, witchcraft, or wizardry involved here. Just physics!
The theory all began in the 19th century with the famous physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell. He suggested that since heat involves the movement of molecules, it could be possible to create a device that could distribute hot and cold air with no moving parts with the help of a “friendly little demon” that would sort and separate the hot and cold molecules of air. Not much was done with regard to this or any further advancement until about 61 years later.
In 1928, a French physics student by the name of George Ranque was conducting some testing on a vortex-type pump he had developed. In this testing, he noticed that warm air was exhausting from one end, while cold air was coming out of the other. He dropped his plans for the pump and begin an attempt to exploit this phenomenon commercially. His business ultimately failed, along with the Vortex Tube theory, until 1945 when a German physicist named Rudolph Hilsch published a scientific paper based on the Vortex Tube.
With so many involved, the tube became known by a variety of different names: “Ranque Vortex Tube”, the “Hilsch Tube”, the “Ranque-Hilsch Tube”, and (my personal favorite) “Maxwell’s Demon”. Over the years, it has gained a reputation as a low cost, reliable, and highly effective method for industrial spot cooling and panel cooling applications. While using the tube as a PC cooler isn’t generally recommended, here’s a great video demonstrating the tube in operation from Linus Tech Tips on YouTube:
So how exactly does this thing work? The truth is no one knows for certain, but there is one commonly accepted theory that explains the phenomenon:
Compressed air is supplied into the tube where it passes through a set of nozzles that are tangent to the internal counterbore. The design of the nozzles force the air to spin in a vortex motion at speeds up to 1,000,000 RPM. The spinning air turns 90° where a valve at one end allows some of the warmed air to escape. What does not escape, heads back down the tube in the inner stream where it loses heat and exhausts through the other end as cold air.
Both streams rotate in the same direction and at the same angular velocity. Due to the principle of conservation of angular momentum, the rotational speed of the inner vortex should increase. However that’s not the case with the Vortex Tube. The best way to illustrate this is in Olympic Figure Skating. As the skater is wider, the spinning motion is much slower. As she decreases her overall radius, the velocity picks up dramatically and she spins much quicker. In a Vortex Tube, the speed of the inner vortex remains the same as it has lost angular momentum. The energy that is lost in this process is given off in the form of heat that has exhausted from the hot side of the tube. This loss of heat allows the inner vortex to be cooled, where it can be ducted and applied for a variety of industrial applications.
This Vortex Tube theory is utilized in basic Vortex Tubes, along with a variety of other products that have additional features specific for your application. EXAIR’s line of Cabinet Coolers, Cold Guns, Adjustable Spot Coolers, Mini Coolers, and Vortex Tubes all operate off of this same principle.
If you’re fascinated by this product and want to give it a try, EXAIR offers an unconditional 30 day guarantee. We have them all in stock and ready to ship as well, same day with an order received by 2:00 ET. Feel free to get in contact with us if you’d like to discuss how a vortex-based product could help you in your processes.
Tyler Daniel, CCASS
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD
