Vortex Cooler (Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Cooler)

thingiverse

This is my rough version of a vortex cooler. When putting compressed air into the inlet tube cold air will exit from one end and hot air will exit from the other. This takes a lot of air. You will probably need at least a 5 gallon air compressor as this requires a large amount of flow at about 90 psi air. With 90psi air the cold exhaust will be about 25 degrees cooler than the input air and the hot side will be about 15 degrees warmer. The temperatures can be adjusted a little by pushing the hot end cap in or pulling it out slightly. Here is a sciencey explanation:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_tube If anyone knows more about how to improve this design I welcome your comments. I made this with no science involved with the design and was happy to have pretty good results. Instructions 1) Print the three parts. 2) Attach the cover to the cold end of the tube using 4 3mm x 6mm screws. (you also may want to superglue it on to make it air tight) 3) Slide the cap onto the hot end of the tube. You will need to almost press the cap against the tube blocking most of the opening. 4) Thread the two small holes on the sides of the tube to a 10-32 thread. 5) thread two push in connectors into the newly threaded holes. (Mcmaster #5779K241) 6) Insert a small length of 1/8" od hard tubing into the newly attached fittings 7) Push the other ends of the 1/8" od tubes into a reducing T-Fitting (McMaster #5779K665) 8) Insert a small length of 1/4" od ard tubing into the larger opening on the T-fitting. 9) Flow 90psi air into the 1/4" tube and adjust the cap until cold air starts to come out the cover end and hot air comes out of the cap end. (note that the cap will appear to almost block the hot end but will allow enough hot air out to cause cooling on the cold end)