performance testing of vortex tubes with variable parameters by ijripublishers

International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Thermal Engineering (IJRITE) PERFORMANCE TESTING OF VORTEX TUBES WITH VARIABLE PARAMETERS

Ch Pavan Kumar1, S Raja Sekhar2. 1 Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakinada Institute of Technology & Science, Divili, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2 Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakinada Institute of Technology & Science, Divili, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Abstract Conventional refrigeration system is a type of refrigeration systems which are costly; noisy, harmful gases released from a machine based on application of this type of system and it is required more maintenance. So, we need to go for unconventional refrigeration systems like vortex tube refrigeration system, which produce less vibrations and which require less maintenance and which are noiseless. It is required for our mechanical engineers to look for enhancing the performance of such vortex tubes. So as a part of my project work, I have chosen various sizes of vortex tubes and test their performances for finding out optimum performance. We will be testing the performance of vortex tubes with different ‘l/d’ ratios and different cold fractions, with different pressures and different nozzle sizes.

*Corresponding Author: Ch Pavan Kumar, Research Scholar,Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakinada Institute of Technology & Science, Divili, Andhra Pradesh, India. Email: pawan.ch9@gmail.com Year of publication: 2016 Review Type: peer reviewed Volume: III, Issue : I Citation:Ch Pavan Kumar, Research Scholar "Performance Testing of Vortex Tubes With Variable Parameters" International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET) (2016) 78-83

INTRODUCTION Vortex tube is a simple device which can be used to separate the energy into two streams namely hot stream and cold stream. Energy separation effect means the separation of flow into two regions of low and high, the total temperature is referred as temperature separation effect or energy separation effect. In conventional refrigeration systems the refrigerants like Freon and Ammonia is used for heating the surroundings and for cooling inside rooms in winter and summer seasons respectively. This kind of systems causes for defiencies such as design complexity, high labor cost, presence of green house gases and toxic substances. The alternative ways of cooling and heat flow generation can be done by Ranque –Hilsch effect. In general most of the industries are using conventional refrigeration systems, Even though those are better in its performance, but in the safety point of view it is necessary to choose better alternatives as well as thought of performance of the system. In order to avoid or reduce these deficiencies unconventional refrigeration systems called vortex tube refrigerating system plays a major role.

Vortex tubes are categorized into two i.) Uni-axial or parallel flow ii.) Counter flow. In the case of Uni axial flows both cold and hot streams of a gas or air can passed in the same direction, whether in the case of counter flow both cold and hot streams of a gas or air can passed in opposite direction to each other. In comparison of both the case counter flow vortex tube is more effective than the Uni-axial flow, because the energy separation in this case is more due to the separation takes place by the cold stream gas can cover the each and every position of the hot stream. Refrigeration and air conditioning have traditionally used the concept of operation of the thermodynamic cycle vapor compression, either for cooling chambers chilled or frozen, either to ambient air conditioning, or even other applications. And this requires basic components such as refrigerant, heat exchangers and compressors. However, this technology represents problems regarding to environmental damage caused by refrigerants and the increasing global consumption of electrical energy. The usual CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), proven toxic to the ozone layer, have been replaced by modern gases HFCs (hydro fluorocarbon) in countries signatory to the Montreal Protocol in 1987. However, this change was not, in fact, the solution to environmental problems since these gases may be about a hundred times more powerful than carbon dioxide in terms of potential for trapping heat, exacerbating the greenhouse effect. An alternative to the currently used HFCs would be the blends (mixtures) which have less Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and lower value of Global Warming Potential (GWP), but show a reduction in energy efficiency around 15%, and consequently, a higher consumption of electricity. According to the International Institute of Refrigeration, cooling systems demand about 15% of the world's electricity (IRR Guides, 2003). The development of technological alternatives to conventional cooling can reduce the impacts caused by the use of these systems. It is known that from the apex of the Brazilian energy crisis in 1973 and later in 2001, the airconditionings have been described as "villains" when it comes to electricity conservation. And to supply most of the consumption in common residences or industries, for 78

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example, (something like 20% or even 25%), these devices are usually linked during the day when the demand is higher, as well as the cost. This device has been applied in different sectors in the fields of engineering, e.g., cooling parts of machinery and electronic control cabinets to cool food, dehumidifying gas samples and other applications. To better understand how this process works, it is very important to analyze some elements relevant to the nature of the flow inside the fluid. LITERATURE REVIEW: • The energetic analyses and comparison of three natural refrigerants like ammonia, propane and isobutene based on vapor compression refrigeration combined with vortex tube gives the improvement in COP. [1] • As the performance of vortex tube is very low and in order to improve the performance 3 types of modifications can be done such as adding some parts called diffuser, vortex generator near the inlet and cooling jacket provided for hot tube. [2] • Experimental analysis includes variation in inlet properties like air inlet pressure focused of vortex tube focused on temperature variation in the cold out stream and in cooling capacity when cold mass fraction varies with insulation and without insulation. [3] • Based on the constructional design, it can be evaluated by computational domain. The compressible and turbulent flow of dry air was numerically solved a commercial CFD package based on Finite Volume Method. The turbulence was tackled with standard k-ε model into Reynolds Average Navier Stokes approach. By optimizing the degrees of freedom of ratio between diameter of cold outlet and diameter of vortex tube for several inlet stagnation pressures. [4]

The spiral flow passes through the periphery of the hot tube through its inner diameter; the temperature of the air in the central part of hot tube is separated by the spiral flow of compressed gas. Then the temperature of air in the central part of hot tube is decreases and leaves out through the end of cold tube. Adjusting the conical control valve at hot exit which is possible to vary the fraction of the incoming flow that leaves through the cold end. The cold gas is collected from the cold end and we can supply it to the surroundings for reducing the temperature or we can used for cold surroundings by increasing the temperature by which the hot gas stream is exposed to that surroundings. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS: In the construction of vortex tube the following parameters plays a vital role in the performance of Vortex Tube. Those parameters are core diameter of the hot chamber, cold chamber, nozzle, thickness of the tube, area of cross section of air inlet and outlet, inlet diameter of the nozzle and its orifice. Here we are going to maintain the nozzle inlet having sufficient dimensions i.e.; its maximum diameter must be equivalent to the core diameter of the receiver outlet. It is observed that in the case, if the nozzle inlet dimensions are more than the receiver outlet then the velocity of flow of gas is going to increase because it acts as a divergent nozzle. So, in our design the nozzle inlet must be equivalent to receiver outlet or less than the receiver outlet i.e.; 3.8mm, 4.7mm, 5.1mm, 2.5mm diameter, rectangular inlet having 4mm length× 2.5mm width, 3mm length×1.82 width. Core diameter of receiver outlet is 6 mm. Diagrammatic representation of different Nozzles : The pictorial views of nozzles mentioned below can be drawn in 3D modeling using Autodesk software product. The other views some of are fabricated parts which can be done with the help of lathe, drilling machine, etc;

• Double circuit vortex tube make possible in increasing of thermodynamic energy separation characteristics. The main difference of double circuit vortex tube and classical separating vortex tube is an existence of additional of gas inlet near the hot outlet. [5] • To achieve good efficiency of vortex tube, by varying the ratio of diameter of cold orifice and VT inlet diameter and length of the vortex tube to its inlet diameter gives optimum performance of vortex tube. [6] • The above mentioned literature says that improvements in the performance of vortex tube by using gases like ammonia, propane etc; providing cooling jackets, insulation, additional gas inlets at hot exit, varying orifice diameters etc; As in the part of my project work we are concentrated mainly on coefficient of performance of vortex tube at steady and unsteady state conditions with different combinations of inlet pressure and diameter of nozzle inlets.

Cross sectional view of the vortex chamber and nozzle

WORKING PRINCIPLE: The vortex tube is a mechanical device which splits a compressed high pressure gas stream into cold and hot low pressure streams without any chemical reactions or external energy separation effect. When the high pressure gas enters into the vortex chamber passes through the nozzle having inlet tangential to the inner bore of it, then the gas expands through the nozzle and achieves high angular velocity causing a spiral flow in the tube.

Proposed Vortex Chamber

International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

Length of the nozzle

40 mm

Outer diameter of the nozzle

35 mm

Bore diameter of the nozzle

12.5mm

Inlet (‘L’ mm× ‘B’ mm)

4×2.5

Length of the nozzle

41 mm

Inlet (‘L’ mm× ‘B’ mm)

3×1.82

Outer diameter of the nozzle

35mm

Depth of the seating inlet orifice

5.9mm

Bore diameter of the nozzle

12.5mm

Nozzle with inlet dia 2.5mm

Length of the nozzle

40mm

Inlet diameter of the nozzle

2.5mm

Outer diameter of the nozzle

35mm

Depth of the seating inlet orifice

5.9mm

Bore diameter of the nozzle

12.5mm

3D model of nozzle with 4 inlets

Fabricated vortex tube.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP:

Sectional view of Nozzle with 4 inlets

2D view of nozzle with 4 inlets

The experimental set up consist of an two stage reciprocating air compressor (TS03HN) with an allowable pressure range of 10 kg/cm2, vortex tube and temperature sensor, analog pressure gauge at inlet and cold outlet.

International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

• A control valve at the compressor receiver exit controls the flow of air to the inlet of the vortex chamber. • The inlet pressure can be measured by using pressure gauge. • Thermo couples (K type-which are corrosive resistant) are used to measure the temperatures of the air at inlet, at cold end, at hot end and at ambient condition. • The compressor was initially run for about 20 minutes to get the stable compressed air in the tank at a pressure of 10 bar.The temperatures of the air at cold and hot end are the main important parameters that determine the performance of the vortex tube. In this experiment compressed air collected from the receiver of compressor is send to the vortex tube through pressure regulator, It regulates the flow that which we can select the required amount of pressure, here in this experiment set up we considered 2 types of experiments. They are steady state and unsteady state. In the steady state condition pressure is maintained constant and taking readings at different dimensions of nozzles and as well as different hot tubes. In unsteady state pressure varies from high value to the low value and taking readings with an average pressure at different dimensions of nozzles and as well as hot tubes. Here the temperature of inlet air, hot end air and cold end air is measured with the help of thermo couples. Pressure is regulated by the regulator valve. Air flow in the vortex tube is regulated with the help of conical valve. Formulae: To calculate the Coefficient of Performance, cold mass fraction, hot mass fraction • Area = Π/4*D² • Discharge (q) =A*V • Mass flow rate (m) = q* ρ • Cooling effect (q) = mCpΔT • Work done by compressor (W) = ( n*3600)/( t*1600) kW • Actual COP = actual cooling effect in vortex tube/Work done by air compressor = Q/W •Mass flow rate at hot outlet mh= ah*vh •Mass flow rate at cold outlet mc= ac*vc ah -area under which air leaves through hot outlet ac -area under which air leaves through cold outlet vh – velocity of air leaves through hot outlet vc – velocity of air leaves through cold outlet • Mass flow rate at inlet mi= mc+mh • Cold mass fraction = mc/mi • Hot mass fraction = mh/mi • Temperature difference (ΔT) = ( Tc-Ti ) or ( Th-Ti ) • Time for total number of revolutions (t) • Total number of revolution of energy meter (n) • Velocity of air(V)= root of 2p/ρ

OBSERVATIONS: Type of condition

Steady flow

unsteady flow

Inlet Dia ‘mm’

2.5

3×1.8

4×2.5

2.5

3×1.8

4×2.5

Bore Dia ‘mm’

12.5

Inlet temp in oC

Length of the pipe in ‘mm’ No. Of Blinks in energy meter

210 178

189

Time in ‘sec’

178

175

100

Pressure drop in bar

2.8

3.5

4.5

Out

1.3

1.8

1.6

3.5

2.5

3.1

3.6

Temp at HOT END in oC

Temp at COLD END in oC

The pressure drop mentioned in the above table is constant pressure in the case of steady flow and it is taken average pressure range between 6 bar to 1 bar in the case of unsteady flow. ADVANTAGES OF VORTEX TUBE: 1) In this, compressed air is treated as refrigerant, if any leakage takes place it doesn’t react with other external gases, therefore chance of explosion or chance of polluting the environment is very much less. 2) Vortex tube is simple in design and it avoids control systems. 3) There are no moving parts in vortex tube. 4) It is light in weight and requires less space. 5) Initial cost is low and its working expenses are also less, where compressed air is readily available. 6) Maintenance is simple and skilled labors doesn’t required. APPLICATIONS: 1) Vortex tubes are extremely small and as it produce hot as well as cold air. Its application must be useful for industries. 2) Temperature as low as –150C can be obtained without any difficulty, so it is very much useful in industries for spot cooling of electronic components. 3) It is commonly used in mining because air is used as refrigerant in this system, so there is less chance of explosive and toxic gases covered in mining area. RESULTS: Condition

Bore Dia (mm)

No.of inlets

Inlet Dia (mm)

Length of the pipe (mm)

Cop at cold end

Cop at hot end

Steady state

12.5

2.5

210

5.93

0.20

Unsteady state

12.5

2.5

210

4.47

0.22

Steady state

3×1.8

210

8.5

0.86

Unsteady state

3×1.8

210

9.50

0.57

Steady state

12.5

4×2.5

210

7.24

0.69

Unsteady state

12.5

4×2.5

210

3.68

1.14

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GRAPHS:

University, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.

The following graph represents the comparison of COP of vortex tube for steady and unsteady flow.

• CONSTRUCTAL DESIGN OF A VORTEX TUBE FOR SEVERAL INLET STAGNATION PRESSURESC. H. Marquesa, L. A. Isoldia, E. D. dos Santosa, and L. A. O. Rochab-aUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande FURG, Escola de Engenharia, Av. Itália, km 8, CEP: 96201-090, CP 474, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil, bUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul UFRGS, Department de Engenharia Mechanical, UFRGS, Rua Sarmento Leite, 425, CEP: 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. • Mathematical simulation of Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube heat and power performances -A.V. Khait, A.S. Noskov, V.N. Alekhin, A.V. Lovtsov Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. • EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION THE EFFECTS OF ORIFICE DIAMETER AND TUBE LENGTH ON A VORTEX TUBE PERFORMANCE - Mahyar Kargaran*1 and Mahmood Farzaneh -Gord2 1Department of mechanical Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney Australia 2Deparmentent of mechanical Engineering, Shahrood of Technology, Shahrood ,Iran. • A Review on Experimental and CFD Analysis of Ranque Hilsch Vortex tube, Manisha. V. Makode Government College of Engineering, Amravati. • NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON FLOW BEHAVIOR AND ENERGY SEPARATION IN A MICRO-SCALE VORTEX TUBE -by Nader RAHBAR a*, Mohsen TAHERIAN a, Mostafa SHATERI a, Mohammad Sadegh VALIPOUR b a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Semnan, Iran b School of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.

CONCLUSION: Energy separation will be increased with decreasing the internal diameter of the hot chamber. If it is any possibility in increase the length of the hot chamber, the passage of air takes time to escape from hot exit mean while it may possible for more temperature exchange from core to the periphery of the tube. This results in more energy separation. C.O.P. of the system will be increased by increasing number of inlets for the nozzle. Consistency at higher pressures will results in increase of refrigeration effect. Energy separation between the cold stream and hot stream inside the hot chamber will be effected by the sharpness of the point at the end of conical valve. REFERENCES: • Performance Analysis of Natural-Refrigerants-Based Vortex Tube Expansion Refrigeration Cycles Jahar Sarkar * Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (B.H.U.), Varanasi, UP-221005, India. • A Review of the Effect of Modification in Internal Parts on the Performance of CounterFlow Vortex Tube -B.D.Wankhade Amravati, India- Dr.R.B.Yarasu Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of engineering, Amravati, India. • Experimental Evaluation of the Energy Performance of an Air Vortex Tube when the Inlet Parameters are Varied.E. Torrella1, J. Patiño2, D. Sánchez2, R. Llopis2 and R. Cabello*, 2 -1Department of Applied Thermodynamics, Camino de Vera, 14. Polytechnic University of Valencia, E-46022 Valencia, Spain 2Department of Mechanical Engineering and Construction, Campus de Riu Sec. Jaume I

• NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON COOLING PERFORMANCE OF RANQUE-HILSCH VORTEX TUBE by Hassan POURARIA1*, Warn-Gyu PARK1 1School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea. • LOCALIZED COOLING BY VORTEX TUBE POWERED BY SOLAR PV-- Oseas Carlos da Silva Jardel Queiroz Juvêncio Maria Eugênia Vieira da Silva Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, José Augusto Fontenele Magalhães Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará,. • Effect of orifice and pressure of counter flow vortex tube J. Prabakaran1 and S. Vaidyanathan2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram-608001, Tamilnadu, India. •A Review of Computational Studies of Temperature Separation Mechanism in Vortex Tube --H.R. Thakare, Y.R. Patil and A.D. Parekh. •Modification and experimental research on vortex tube Y.T. Wua,*, Y. Dinga, Y.B. Jia, C.F. Maa, M.C. GebaKey Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion of Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100022, China institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China. •Experimental Investigation and Optimization of Vortex Tube with Regard to Nozzle Diameter Jay Kumar D. Golhar Government Polytechnic Yavatmal, India B.R. Rathod 82

International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

Government Polytechnic Yavatmal, India A.N. Pawar, PhD. Government Polytechnic Amravati, India.

AUTHORS

• An Experimental Modeling and Investigation of Change in Working Parameters on the Performance of Vortex Tube --Suraj S Raut*, Dnyaneshwar N Gharge, Chetan D Bhimate, Mahesh A. Raut, S.A. Upalkar and P.P. Patunkar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sinhgad Institute of Technology and Science, Pune, India. • An Experimental Performance Study of Vortex Tube Refrigeration System --Shankar Ram T. Department Of Industrial Refrigeration and Cryogenics T. K. M. College of Engineering Karicode, Kollam, Kerala -Anish Raj K. Department Of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College Cheruthuruthy, Thrissur, Kerala.

Ch Pavan Kumar Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakinada Institute of Technology & Science, Divili, Andhra Pradesh, India.

• Effect of Changing Cone Valve Diameter on the performance of Uni-Flow Vortex Tube-Dr.Ing.Ramzi Raphael Ibraheem Barwari Assistant professor Mechanical Engineering Department College of engineering university of Salahaddin Erbil- Iraq. • Performance Improvement of Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube by Using Conical Hot Tube -R.Madhu Kumar*1, V.Nageswar Reddy2, B. Dinesh Babu3 1, 2, 3 Mechanical Engineering Department, R.G.M. College of Engineering & Technology, Nandyal, Kurnool, A.P, India. •AIR COOLING IN AUTOMOBILES USING VORTEX TUBE REFRIGERATION SYSTEM--B.SREENIVASA KUMAR REDDY B.Tech., M.Tech(R&A/C) JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapur – 515002, Andhra Pradesh, India. Prof. K.GOVINDARAJULU M.Tech., Ph.D., F.I.E., M.I.S.T.E., C.E. Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, Director of Evaluation, JNTUniversity, Anantapur. Andhra Pradesh, India.

S Raja Sekhar Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakinada Institute of Technology & Science, Divili, Andhra Pradesh, India.

• Modeling, Optimization & Manufacturing of Vortex Tube and Application A. M. Dalavi, Mahesh Jadhav, Yasin Shaikh, Avinash Patil (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Symbiosis Institute of Technology, India). • Performance Analysis of a Vortex Tube by using Compressed Air --Ratnesh Sahu, Rohit Bhadoria, Deepak Patel. • The Application Of Vortex Tubes to Refrigeration Cycles G. F. Nellis University of Wisconsin-Madison S. A. Klein University of Wisconsin-Madison. •ESTABLISHING EMPIRICAL RELATION TO PREDICT TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE OF VORTEX TUBE USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY --PRABAKARAN J.1,*, AIDYANATHAN S.2 , KANAGARAJAN D.3 1, 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, 3Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608002 India.