| Summary: | Vortex tube is a simple device without a moving part which is capable of
separating hot and cold gas streams from a higher pressure inlet gas stream.
The mechanism of energy separation has been investigated by several
scientists and second law approach has emerged as an important tool for
optimizing the vortex tube performance. Here, a thermodynamic model has been
used to investigate vortex tube energy separation. Further, a method has been
proposed for optimizing the vortex tube based on the rate of entropy
generation obtained from experiments. Also, an experimental study has been
carried out to investigate the effects of the hot tube length and cold
orifice diameter on entropy generation within a vortex tube with natural gas
as working fluid. A comparison has been made between air and natural gas as
working fluids. The results show that the longest tube generates lowest
entropy for NG. For air, it is middle tube which generates lowest entropy.
Integration of entropy generation for all available cold mass fractions
unveiled that an optimized value for hot tube length and cold orifice
diameter is exist.
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