Chemical Engineering Lab I 2nd Year of Drexel University

1. THE HILSCH VORTEX TUBE
EXPERIMENT
Diego Paranhos
Ashley Penna
Nipun Bisht
CHE 332 – Summer 2008

2. Objectives
 History and Background
 Theory and Equations
 Equipment and Procedure
 Data and Results
 Significance

3. What is it?

4. Construction

5. Fluid Flow within Vortex Tube

6. Cross Sectional of Vortex Tube

7. History
 Discovered by Frenchman, Georges J. Ranque
 Turned over to German physicist, Rudolf Hilsch
 Hilsch made improvements on the design, but
found that it was no more efficient than
conventional methods of refrigeration in
achieving fairly low temperatures
 Became known as the Hilsch Vortex Tube

9. Material Balance

10. Theoretical Equations
 Enthalpy
 ΔH = mhCp(Th-Tref) + mcCp(Tc-Tref)
 Entropy
 ΔSoverall = mhΔSh + mcΔSc
 ΔS = Cp*ln(T/Tref) – R*ln(P/Pref)
 Cooling Capacity
 CC = |mcCp(Tc-Tin)|

11. Equipment
 House Air  5 Thermocouples
 Pressure control  Digital Readout – ºC
valve  Flow control valve
 2 pressure indicators  Electronic flow meter
 In psig  % SLM
 U-tube manometer  Model: FMA-78P2
 In mmHg  Rotameter
 Hilsch Vortex Tube  SCFM

12. Laboratory Station

13. Flow Schematic

14. Procedure (Part 1)
 Pressure control valve set to 30 psig
 Hot air stream valve fully open
 Record:
 Inlet and hot air flow from meter
 Cold air flow from rotameter
 All temperatures from digital recorder
 Inlet and hot air pressure from pressure
indicator
 Cold air pressure from U-tube manometer

15.  Use hot air flow to obtain 4 more desired
flow rates
 Holding pressure constant, use the hot air
flow control valve to change the flow rate, in
turn, changing the split ratio
 Record previous data at all 5 flow rates

16. Data (Part 1 @ P = 30 psig)
Input Stream Hot Stream Cold Stream
Pressure (psig) 22 Pressure (psig) 4 Pressure (mm Hg) 3.3
Flow rate (%) 34.1 Flow rate (%) 38.3 Flow rate (SCFM) 1
Temperature (°C) 22.3 Temperature (°C) 45 Temperature (°C) -16.4
Pressure (psig) 22 Pressure (psig) 5 Pressure (psig) 4.7
Flow rate (%) 33.8 Flow rate (%) 28.6 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.2
Temperature (°C) 22.4 Temperature (°C) 51.1 Temperature (°C) -15.9
Pressure (psig) 22 Pressure (psig) 5 Pressure (mm Hg) 6.35
Flow rate (%) 33.5 Flow rate (%) 19.2 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.4
Temperature (°C) 22.4 Temperature (°C) 59.3 Temperature (°C) -13.5
Pressure (psig) 22 Pressure (psig) 6 Pressure (mm Hg) 8.5
Flow rate (%) 33.1 Flow rate (%) 9.6 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.6
Temperature (°C) 22.3 Temperature (°C) 71 Temperature (°C) -10.3
Pressure (psig) 22 Pressure (psig) 7 Pressure (mm Hg) 10.4
Flow rate (%) 32.7 Flow rate (%) 0.4 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.7
Temperature (°C) 22.2 Temperature (°C) 79.8 Temperature (°C) -5.8

17.  Use hot air flow to obtain 4 more desired
flow rates
 Holding pressure constant, use the hot air
flow control valve to change the flow rate, in
turn, changing the split ratio
 Record previous data at all 5 flow rates
 Repeat procedure at Pin = 40 and 50
psig

18. Data (Part 1 @ P = 40 psig)
Input Stream Hot Stream Cold Stream
Pressure (psig) 30 Pressure (psig) 6 Pressure (mm Hg) 5.2
Flow rate (%) 44.2 Flow rate (%) 53.3 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.25
Temperature (°C) 24.2 Temperature (°C) 49.8 Temperature (°C) -21.9
Pressure (psig) 30 Pressure (psig) 7 Pressure (mm Hg) 8
Flow rate (%) 43 Flow rate (%) 39.6 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.6
Temperature (°C) 22.5 Temperature (°C) 60.8 Temperature (°C) -21.2
Pressure (psig) 30 Pressure (psig) 8 Pressure (mm Hg) 10.8
Flow rate (%) 42.2 Flow rate (%) 26.7 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.9
Temperature (°C) 22.5 Temperature (°C) 71.8 Temperature (°C) -18.7
Pressure (psig) 30.3 Pressure (psig) 9 Pressure (mm Hg) 14.9
Flow rate (%) 42 Flow rate (%) 13.3 Flow rate (SCFM) 2.2
Temperature (°C) 22.4 Temperature (°C) 86.1 Temperature (°C) -13.7
Pressure (psig) 31 Pressure (psig) 10 Pressure (mm Hg) 18.1
Flow rate (%) 41.7 Flow rate (%) 0.5 Flow rate (SCFM) 2.4
Temperature (°C) 23 Temperature (°C) 103.6 Temperature (°C) -6.2

19. Data (Part 1 @ P = 50 psig)
Input Stream Hot Stream Cold Stream
Pressure (psig) 37.5 Pressure (psig) 7.5 Pressure (mm Hg) 7.6
Flow rate (%) 52.5 Flow rate (%) 64.2 Flow rate (SCFM) 1.5
Temperature (°C) 22.2 Temperature (°C) 52.3 Temperature (°C) -27.2
Pressure (psig) 38 Pressure (psig) 9 Pressure (mm Hg) 12.2
Flow rate (%) 52 Flow rate (%) 49 Flow rate (SCFM) 2
Temperature (°C) 21.3 Temperature (°C) 68.4 Temperature (°C) -24.9
Pressure (psig) 38 Pressure (psig) 11 Pressure (mm Hg) 16.8
Flow rate (%) 51.2 Flow rate (%) 31.4 Flow rate (SCFM) 2.25
Temperature (°C) 20.8 Temperature (°C) 84.5 Temperature (°C) -22.5
Pressure (psig) 38.5 Pressure (psig) 12 Pressure (mm Hg) 21.6
Flow rate (%) 50.5 Flow rate (%) 15.7 Flow rate (SCFM) 2.75
Temperature (°C) 20.7 Temperature (°C) 103.5 Temperature (°C) -15.9
Pressure (psig) 38.8 Pressure (psig) 13 Pressure (mm Hg) 26.6
Flow rate (%) 50 Flow rate (%) 0.7 Flow rate (SCFM) 3
Temperature (°C) 20.8 Temperature (°C) 121.8 Temperature (°C) -10.6

20. Procedure (Part 2)
 Set hot air flow control valve to desired
position
 Recommended 50-50 split ratio
 Adjust pressure control valve to ~50psig
 Record data
 Repeat for Pin = 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, and
20 psig

21. Data (Part 2)
Fin Pin Tin Fh Ph Th Fc Pc Tc
SLM psig ºC SLM psig ºC SCFM psig ºC
105.6 49 19.8 52 9 66.6 2 12.3 -26
98 45 19.9 45.2 8 62.6 1.8 10.2 -25.7
86.2 40 19.9 40 6.9 60.3 1.6 8.3 -23.1
76.4 35 19.7 33 6 55.8 1.4 6.7 -21.3
66.6 30 19.8 27.7 5 53.6 1.2 5.3 -19.2
58.4 25 19.7 21 3 47.2 1.05 4.6 -13.9
48 20 19.8 14.8 1 44.6 0.85 2.9 -11.8

22. Outlet Temperature Difference
vs. Split Ratio

23. Temperature Difference vs.
Supply Pressure

24. Cooling Capacity vs.
Split Ratio

25. Cooling Capacity vs.
Supply Pressure

26. Enthalpy vs. Split Ratio

27. Entropy vs. Split Ratio

28. Conclusions
 1st Law of Thermodynamics
 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
 Temperature Difference vs. Split Ratio and
Supply Pressure
 Cooling Capacity

29. References
 http://www.visi.com/~darus/hilsch/
 http://www.airtxinternational.com/how_vortex_tubes_work.php
 http://alexandria.tue.nl/extra2/200513271.pdf
 http://www.exair.com/en-US/Primary%20Navigation/Products/Vortex%20T

30. Questions?

31. Thank you