Experimental investigation of the effects of length to diameter ratio and nozzle number on the performance of counter flow Ranque–Hilsch vortex tubes

In this experimental study, performance of counter flow type Ranque-Hilsch vortex tubes (RHVT), with a length to diameter ratio of 10, 15 and 18, were investigated with 2, 4, 6 nozzles. The measure of performance was chosen as the difference between the temperatures of hot output stream and cold output stream. The performances of RHVTs were experimentally tested by making use of velocity and temperature measurements of the input and output streams. It was determined that the difference between the temperatures of these streams, changed between 9 and 56 K. When all the results were assessed, it was concluded that the best performance was obtained when the ratio of vortex tube’s length to the diameter was 15 and the nozzle number was at least four, and the inlet pressure was as high as possible. Desired performance could be obtained by controlling the rate of the hot output stream.