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http://dx.doi.org/10.6112/kscfe.2015.20.4.007

A PARAMETRIC STUDY OF CONICAL FRUSTUM GEOMETRY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF COOLING PERFORMANCE OF VORTEX TUBE  

Koo, H.B. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University)
Park, J.Y. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University)
Sohn, D.Y. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University)
Choi, Y.H. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University)
Publication Information
Journal of computational fluids engineering / v.20, no.4, 2015 , pp. 7-13 More about this Journal
Abstract
Vortex tube is a thermal static device that separates compressed air into hot and cold streams. In general, the cooling efficiency of vortex tubes is lower than that of traditional air conditioning equipment and vortex tubes are mainly used for industrial spot cooling applications because of their quick responses. In this study, conical frustums are employed in the nozzle chamber to improve the cooling performance. Conical frustums can be used to decrease the ineffective mass fraction that directly passes through the cold exit without energy separation. The shape optimization of conical frustums has been performed using full factorial design. It is found that the height of frustums has the largest main effects on the cooling performance. Computational results show that the cooling performance can be increased by about 10% within the considered range of the design parameters. This is because the ineffective mass fraction toward the cold exit is decreased by about 20%.
Keywords
Vortex Tube; Energy Separation; Conical Frustum; Design of Experiment; Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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