Hydraulic Characteristics of Ranque-Hilsch Energy Separators

The hydraulic characteristics of an intensely swirling flow in the energy separation chambers in Ranque-Hilsch vortex tubes are investigated analytically and experimentally. Computer codes are developed and realized numerically for the calculation of the aggregate coefficient of hydraulic drag under conditions of swirling flow in an axisymmetric channel of a vortex tube. The results are treated in the form of criteria equations for the calculation of coefficients of hydraulic drag as functions of the basic process and geometric parameters of the vortex tube. The vortex tube hydraulics are studied experimentally, and the results of calculations performed using our procedure are compared with the data of numerical calculation using the commercially available CFX-TASCFlow package and with experimental data. Adequate agreement is observed between the experimentally obtained and numerical calculation results.