THE "HILSCH" VORTEX TUBE

The 'vortex tube', also known as the 'Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube', is a heat pump with no moving parts. Pressurized gas is injected into a specially designed chamber. The chamber's internal shape, combined with the pressure, accelerates the gas to a high rate of rotation (over ,!!!,!!! rpm". The gas is split into two streams, one giving kinetic energy to the other, and resulting in separate flows of hot and cold gases. The vorte# tube was invented in $%! by &rench physicist 'eorges (. )an*ue. 'erman physicist )udolf +ilsch improved the design and published a widely read paper in $,- on the device, which he called a 'Wirbelrhre' (literally, vorte# tube". .orte# tubes have lower efficiency than traditional air conditioning e*uipment. They are commonly used for ine#pensive spot cooling, when compressed air is available. /ommercial models are designed for industrial applications to produce a temperature drop of about 0! 1& (,- 1/". 2nother application is for uranium enrichment. 3outh 2frica used vorte# tubes in their +elikon vorte# separation process. 4ave 5illiams, of 6ngineers 5ithout 7orders, has proposed using vorte# tubes to make ice in third8 world countries. 2lthough the techni*ue is inefficient, 5illiams hopes it could yield helpful results in areas where using electricity to create ice is really not an option. .orte# tubes also seem to work with li*uids to some e#tent.

5ith nothing more than a few pieces of plumbing and a source of compressed air, you can build a remarkably simple device for attaining moderately low temperatures. 9t separates high8energy molecules from those of low energy. 'eorge :. 3mith, an engineer of )umson, ;. 9., discusses its theory and construction The $th century 7ritish physicist (ames /lerk <a#well made many deep contributions to physics, and among the most significant was his law of random distribution. /onsidering. the case of a closed bo# containing a gas, <a#well started off by saying that the temperature of the gas was due to the motion of the individual gas molecules within the bo#. 7ut since the bo# was standing still, it stood to reason that the summation of the velocity and direction of the individual gas molecules must come to zero.

9n essence <a#well's law of random distribution says that for every gas molecule headed east at =! miles per hour, there must be another headed west at the same speed. &urthermore, if the heat of the gas indicates that the average velocity of the molecules is =! miles per hour, the number of molecules moving slower than this speed must be e*ualed by the number of molecules moving faster. 2fter a serious analysis of the conse*uences of his law, <a#well permitted himself a touch of humor. +e suggested that there was a statistical probability that> at some time in the future, all the molecules in a bo# of gas or a glass of hot water might be moving in the same direction. This would cause the water to rise out of the glass. ;e#t <a#well suggested that a system of drawing both hot and cold water out of a single pipe might be devised if we could capture a small demon and train him to open and close a tiny valve. The demon would open the valve only when a fast molecule approached it, and close the valve against slow molecules. The water coming out of the valve would thus be hot. To produce a stream of cold water the demon would open the valve only for slow molecules. <a#well's demon would circumvent the law of thermodynamics which says in essence? @Aou can't get something for nothing.@ That is to say, one cannot separate cold water from hot without doing work. Thus when physicists heard that the 'ermans had developed a device which could achieve low temperatures by utilizing <a#well's demon, they were intrigued, though obviously skeptical. :ne physicist investigated the matter at first hand for the B. 3. ;avy. +e discovered that the device was most ingenious, though not *uite as miraculous as had been rumored.

9t consists of a T8shaped assembly of pipe joined by a novel fitting, as depicted in &igure =%,. when compressed air is admitted to the @leg@ of the T, hot air comes out of one arm of the T and cold air out of the other armC :bviously, however, work must be done to compress the air. The origin of the device is obscure. The principle is said to have been discovered by a &renchman who left some early e#perimental models in the path of the 'erman 2rmy when &rance was occupied. These were turned over to a 'erman physicist named )udolf +ilsch, who was working on low temperature refrigerating devices for the 'erman war effort. +ilsch made some improvements on the &renchman's design, but found that it was no more efficient than conventional methods of refrigeration in achieving fairly low temperatures. 3ubse*uently the device became known as the +ilsch tube.

The +ilsch tube may be constructed from a pair of modified nuts and associated parts as shown in &igure =%-. The horizontal arm of the T8shaped fitting contains a specially machined piece, the outside of which fits inside the arm. The inside of the piece, however, has a cross section which is spiral with respect to the outside. 9n the @step@ of the spiral is a small opening which is connected to the leg of the T Thus air admitted to the leg comes out of the opening and spins around the one8turn spiral. The @hot@ pipe is about , inches long and has an inside diameter of half an inch. The far end of this pipe is fitted with a stopcock which can be used to control the pressure in the system Dsee &ig. =%EF.

The @cold@ pipe is about four inches long and also has an inside diameter of half an inch. The end of the pipe which butts up against the spiral piece is fitted with a washer, the central hole of which is about a *uarter of an inch in diameter. 5ashers with larger or smaller holes can also be inserted to adjust the system. Three factors determine the performance of the +ilsch tube> the setting of the stopcock, the pressure at which air is admitted to the nozzle, and the size of the hole in the washer. &or each value of air pressure and washer opening there is a setting of the stopcock which results in a ma#imum difference in the temperature of the hot and cold pipes Dsee &ig. =%GF.

5hen the device is properly adjusted, the hot pipe will deliver air at about !! degrees &ahrenheit and the cold pipe air at about 8G! degrees (a temperature substantially below the freezing point of mercury and approaching that of @dry ice@". 5hen the tube is adjusted for ma#imum temperature on the hot side, air is delivered at about %-! degrees &. 9t must be mentioned, however, that few amateurs have succeeded in achieving these performance e#tremes. <ost report minimums on the order of 8 ! degrees and ma#imums of about H ,! on the first try. 4espite its impressive performance, the efficiency of the +ilsch tube leaves much to be desired. 9ndeed, there is still disagreement as to how it works. 2ccording to one e#planation, the compressed air shoots around the spiral and forms a high8 velocity vorte# of air. <olecules of air at the outside of the vorte# are slowed by friction with the wall of the spiral. 7ecause these slow8moving molecules are subject to the rules of centrifugal force, they tend to fall toward the center of the vorte#. The fast8moving molecules just inside the outer layer of the vorte# transfer some of their energy to this layer by bombarding some of its slow8moving molecules and speeding them up. The net result of this process is the accumulation of slow8moving, low8energy molecules in the center of the whirling mass, and of high8energy, fast8moving molecules around the outside. 9n the thermodynamics of gases the terms @high energy@ and @high velocity@ mean @high temperature.@ 3o the vorte# consists of a core of cold air surrounded by a rim of hot air. The difference between the temperature of the core and that of the rim is increased by a secondary effect which takes advantage of the fact that the temperature of a given *uantity of gas at a given level of thermal energy is higher when the gas is confined in a small space than in a large one> accordingly when gas is allowed to e#pand, its temperature drops. 9n the case of the +ilsch tube the action of centrifugal force compresses the hot rim of gas into a compact mass which can escape only by flowing along the inner wall of the @hot@ pipe in a compressed state, because its flow into the cold tube is blocked by the rim of the washer. The amount of the compression is determined by the adjustment of the stopcock at the end of the hot pipe. 9n contrast, the relatively cold inner core of the vorte#, which is also considerably above atmospheric pressure, flows through the hole in the washer and drops to still lower temperature as it e#pands to atmospheric pressure obtaining inside the cold pipe. 2pparently the inefficiency of the +ilsch tube as a refrigerating device has barred its commercial application. ;onetheless amateurs who would like to have a means of attaining relatively low temperatures, and who do not have access to a supply of dry ice, may find the tube useful. when properly made it will deliver a blast of air =! times colder than air which has been chilled by permitting it simply to e#pand through a .enturi tube from a high8pressure source. Thus the +ilsch tube could be used to *uick8 freeze tissues for microscopy, or to chill photomultiplier tubes. 7ut *uite apart from the tube's potential application, what could be more fun than to trap <a#well's demon and make him e#plain in detail how he manages to blow hot and cold at the same timeI 9ncidentally, this is not a project for the person who goes in for commercially made apparatus. 3o far as 9 can discover +ilsch tubes are not to be found on the market. Aou must make your own. ;or is it a project for the e#perimenter who makes a speciality of building apparatus from detailed specifications and drawings. The dimensions shown in the accompanying figures are only appro#imate. /ertainly they are not optimum values. 7ut if you enjoy e#ploration, the device poses

many *uestions. 5hat would be the effect, for e#ample, of substituting a divergent nozzle for the straight one used by +ilschI 5hy not create the vorte# by impeller vanes, such as those employed in the stator of turbinesI 5ould a spiral chamber in the shape of a torus improve the efficiencyI 5hat ratio should the diameter of the pipes bear to the vorte# chamber and to each otherI 5hy not make the spiral of plastic, or even plastic woodI :ne can also imagine a spiral bent of a strip of brass and soldered into a conventional pipe coupling. 4oubtless other and far more clever alternatives will occur to the dyed8in8the8wool tinkerer.

Introduction The Hilsch vortex tube experiment is an interesting project to complete because it appears to violate natures laws while undergoing an entirely natural process. The setup is simple: compressed air enters into part of the midsection of a specially shaped tube, travels down the tubes length, and exits at both ends. What is strange about the instrument is that at one end, the temperature of the air is hotter than the inlet air temperature while at the other, the temperature is lower. With no moving parts in the tube to perform wor and a separation of air temperatures at the outlet streams, it seems as though the laws of thermodynamics are being violated. !n other words, one can obtain something "colder or hotter air# for nothing "no power source or mechanisms in the tube#. The ability to separate air into two streams of different temperatures is highly applicable to many areas of chemical engineering, particularly for refrigeration purposes. $oreover, to separate air efficiently without using any moving parts or power sources would be a brea through for the air conditioning industry as well as any other area that would re%uire heating or cooling of compressed air. &nother interesting application of the tube would be in cases where maintenance of e%uipment is difficult, costly, or unsafe, as is the case with nuclear reactors. 'ince the vortex tube re%uires no maintenance due to its lac of moving parts and can perform the aforementioned separations, why then is it not used more widely in industry( With help from the laws of thermodynamics as well as $axwells law of random distribution, one can see some that the tube in fact actually follows the laws of thermodynamics and also has several drawbac s that significantly hinder its use in industry. )or the experiment, the researcher must study the flow rates, temperatures, and pressures of the air inlet and outlet streams. )or a more detailed explanation of the experimental setup and to see figures of the device itself, please see the Theory and *%uipment sections of the report. The measurements will be used to calculate overall efficiency and cooling capacities of the device under different conditions such as different inlet pressures, different split ratios for the outlet streams, etc. &naly+ing this information will help show that the tube does indeed follow the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and will also provide insight into

why the device is not used widely in industry. The ,rocedures, -esults, .iscussions, and 'ample /alculations sections will provide more detail about data analysis and experimental procedures leading to final results. The primary objective for this experiment was to determine the effects of varying split ratios and inlet pressure on outlet temperature and flow distributions. This objective was most important since it helped verify that the device does not violate the laws of thermodynamics but actually conforms to them. !t also proved critical in showing why the device is not heavily used in the refrigeration industry, which was a major objective in the experiment. .etermining the effects of changes in split ratios and inlet pressure were also useful in the final objective which was to ma e recommendations for future development of the device to hopefully ma e it more useable in the future. Theory The theory of the Hilsch vortex tube, also nown as the -an%ue0Hilsch vortex tube dates bac to the 1234s where )rench physicist 5eorge -an%ue invented an early prototype. &round 1267 when the 5erman army occupied most of )rance, -udolf Hilsch, a 5erman physicist improved -an%ues design to created a better version of the tube. The tube was named after the inventors, but most often is attributed to Hilsch, who made the more notable version "-eference 7#. The device itself is illustrated below in )igure 1, below. &s you can see it is a fairly simple piece of e%uipment with only a few parts.

)igure 1: 'chematic of the Hilsch 8ortex Tube "ref: http:99www.visi.com9:darus9hilsch9#

!n the middle section of the tube is the inlet for the compressed air. ;ote that the inlet is much closer to the cold outlet than the hot outlet. There is a very important aspect of the tube related to this feature which will be discussed shortly. )rom )igure 1, one can see the middle part which says <spiral chamber in this part.= &n enlarged cross0sectional depiction of that spiral chamber is shown on the next page in )igure >. This spiral chamber is the essential component of the tube because it is the source of the hot and cold separation of the gas. How it wor s is based primarily on the physics of rotational motion and on $axwells law of random distribution.

)igure >: 8ortex !nterior "ref: http:99www.answers.com9topic9maxwell0bolt+mann0distribution# )igure 3: ?olt+mann .istributions "ref: http:99www.answers.com9topic9maxwell0bolt+mann0distribution# $ is the axwells law states basis of the inetic theory of gases, which in turn helps explain fundamental properties of gases such as diffusion and pressure. @sually the law refers to velocity, but can also be applied to molecular momentum. !n this particular case, we are focusing on velocities of all the molecules in the spiral chamber. )rom the law scientists can create what are nown as $axwell0?olt+mann distribution functions, which have importance in physics and chemistry "-eference 6#. &n example of one such distribution function is shown in )igure 3 above. An the )igure, the x0axis represents molecular velocities and the y0axis shows the fraction of molecules moving at that speed. !n this figure we see three different graphs showing the velocity distribution under three different conditions listed &B1, &B>, and &B3. !n example &B>, the majority of molecules are moving at about >.7 units of velocity, say meters per second for instance. This majority is only 34C, which implies that many of the molecules are moving as different speeds "-eference 6#. )or this tube, the distribution profile is much different because of the shape of the spiral tube itself. What is nown though, is that as compressed air enters into the spiral chamber, it immediately desires to diffuse based on this diffusion function. The velocity of all molecules in the tube will have both a +0 component and a DEcomponent, where + is the direction along the tube axis and D is the angular direction

about the axis itself. The majority of molecules will diffuse in such a way to create a gas vortex within the tube which expands as the molecules diffuse down the tube. Feeping in mind basic laws of angular motion from physics, we now that molecules spiraling down the tube far from the tubes +0axis will have a higher velocity. !n other words, the molecules rotating about the tube axis are moving faster as they travel down the tube. 'ince the velocity of these molecules near the tube wall is higher than the initial velocity as the gas entered the tube, these molecules have higher inetic energy. ;ote that the change in inetic energy must have come from somewhereG the only logical possibility is that internal molecular energy was converted to inetic energy because there are no power sources or other wor being done on the compressed air. &lso note that somewhere upstream, wor had to be done on the air to compress it, which is critical in showing that the tube does not violate any thermodynamic laws. The first law of thermodynamics states that the increase of internal energy of a thermodynamic system is e%ual to the amount of heat energy added to the system minus the wor done on the system by its surroundings "-eference 1#. $athematically, this law is

@ B H E W,
or, written in differential form,

*%uation 1

d@ B dH E dW.

*%uation >

!n the e%uations, @ refers to internal energy of the system, H refers to heat of the system, and W refers to the wor done on the system by its surroundings. &pplying e%uation 1 to the vortex tube, the thermodynamic law reduces to e%uation 3 below

d@ B dH

*%uation 3

since no wor is done on the system. This means that any change in internal energy is related to a change in heat of the system "-eference 1#.

The first law applies as the gas enters the tube because as it begins to spin and create the vortex, since no wor is done on the system, internal energy must be converted to inetic energy and hence a temperature drop occurs in all molecules as internal energy also drops. )igure 6 below shows an estimated schematic of how the air moves within the tube. )igure 6: &ir )low Within the 8ortex Tube "ref: http:99en.wi
ipedia.org9wi i9HilschIvortexItube#

Ance the initial internal energy drop occurs and the gas begins diffusing in the forced vortex pattern shown in )igure 6, inetic energies of the molecules begin to change. &s the molecules diffuse towards the tube wall, their inetic energy must be high because they re%uire more energy to rotate around in the DEdirection where the radius of rotation is maximum than molecules close to the center, where the radius is +ero "-eference 3#. There is also a pressure gradient from diffusion in the radial direction that helps propel inetic energy to the molecules at the tube walls. &s a result of this pressure gradient, the overall energy " inetic and potential# of molecules at the tube walls will be higher than the molecules at the tube axis "-eference 3#. Joo ing bac at )igure 1 for a moment, one can now understand why the cold outlet valve is much closer to the inlet than the hot outlet valve. &s the molecules travel down the tube, the molecules begin slow in both the +0 and DEdirections. This slowing is a reduction in the axial convection of the vortex as it moves down the tube. !n other words, the molecules diffusion rate slows down as the gas fills more space and relieves pressure, causing a slower propagation of the molecules down the line. &s this happens, less inetic energy is used and converted bac to internal energy, which in turn increases the temperature of the gas. 'ince the original radial pressure gradient caused a flow of inetic energy towards the outer molecules, they have more inetic energy to convert bac to internal energy and hence have higher temperature. This conversion of

the inetic energy separation into a thermal energy separation is nown as viscous dissipation of inetic energy "-eference 3#. The reason the cold outlet is close to the inlet as a result of the desire to reduce the effects of viscous dissipation of inetic energy. The outlet must be close to the inlet because the further away it gets, the more viscous dissipation will occur and hence the higher the gas temperature will be. The reason the cold outlet is not directly next to the inlet is to give the system space to utili+e the radial pressure gradient and to transfer inetic energy to the molecules at the tube wall. The outlet then is logically positioned to remove gas from the center of the tube "-eference 3#. The hot outlet is positioned further from the inlet than the cold outlet is for similar reasons. !nstead of getting the air out %uic ly to eep it cold, the scientist lets it travel farther down the tube, warming up by prolonged viscous dissipation of inetic energy. &s the gas travels down the tube, axial convection also decreases, reducing the gradient of temperature and pressure down the tube to ma e a more unified stream. ?y the time the stream reaches the outlet, nearly all of it is the same temperature and has a higher temperature than the inlet due to the increase inetic energy it had initially. The outlet is drawn from the tube walls though to obtain the molecules with maximum high temperature. Ather than the theory behind how the vortex tube wor s, there are two other major theories that drive this experiment. The first and second laws of thermodynamics will hopefully hold the ey to explaining why the tube is not miraculously producing something from nothing. The first and second laws give rise to the *nthalpy and *ntropy balances respectively. These balances are two e%uations that show how the thermodynamic variables of enthalpy "H# and entropy "'# are maintained and conserved in the system. *nthalpy can be considered to be the amount of heat energy, in whatever form, a substance or system contains. This includes internal energy, wor done on the system, etc. *ntropy is a measure of randomness in a system, or in other words the amount of energy that is not free to do wor . The two balances will hopefully prove that the system is not getting a Temperature change for free.