Hmm.. I wonder if this could lead to new chiller technology

[Anonymous]

Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_tube

The vortex tube, also known as the Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, is a heat pump with no moving parts. Pressurized gas is injected into a specially designed chamber. The chamber's internal shape, combined with the pressure, accelerates the gas to a high rate of rotation (over 1,000,000 rpm). The gas is split into two streams, one giving kinetic energy to the other, and resulting in separate flows of hot and cold gases.

The vortex tube was invented in 1930 by French physicist Georges J. Ranque. German physicist Rudolf Hilsch improved the design and published a widely read paper in 1945 on the device.

Vortex tubes have lower efficiency than traditional air conditioning equipment. They are commonly used for inexpensive spot cooling, when compressed gas is available. Commercial models are designed for industrial applications to produce a temperature drop of about 80 °F (45 °C).

Another application is for uranium enrichment. South Africa used vortex tubes in their Helikon Vortex Separation method.

Dave Williams, of Engineers Without Borders, has proposed using vortex tubes to make ice in third-world countries. Although the technique is inefficient, Williams hopes it could yield helpful results in areas where using electricity to create ice is really not an option.

 

[Anonymous]

Catch-22.

Notice that it says there is no moving part, but where is the source of pressurized/compressed air? Yes, a compressor!

You know I have a perfect light source that does not use electricity? It is a mirror! To be fair, it is not as ridiculous as my mirror-light, but you get the idea.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Cheese. Glad that you post here in the topside once a while, keep up the interesting thread, here, that is. I feel I should submit my reply after a day or two... have a tendency to kill off a thread independent of which forum I am in.

 

[Anonymous]

Sallright Robin Goodfellow, I was thinking the same thing...

 

[Anonymous]

but don't some people use some sort of pressurized gas for their reef tanks? What if the outlet of the tank was one of these vortex thingies and then the gas was injected into the skimmer or whatever its used for.


Not real precise in my description there ya know...

 

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if the fluid could be saltwater instead of air, and the compressor instead be a pump. It seems like the compressor's purpose is to give the fluid velocity, not to compress it, per se...

 

[Anonymous]

it'll be more expensive than a chiller, they indicate inefficient as normal refrigeration

 

[Anonymous]

Wonder how much pressure you need and how fast it bleeds off?

Option 1: Use CO2 from a calcium reactor.
Option 2: One of the $30 remote air tanks that towtrucks carry to inflate tires.

Plus option 2 gives you a reason to go buy a nice big air compressor for the garage (or to use the one you have more often )

 

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if the fluid could be saltwater instead of air, and the compressor instead be a pump. It seems like the compressor's purpose is to give the fluid velocity, not to compress it, per se...

The pump will add more heat to the system than this junk engineering can cool off. Again, I just can't think of any good practical use for this, even if it is as efficient as compressor-based refrig. technology. Anyone want to buy this mirror light? The best model I have is JUNK560-S, and it can "produce" 40X the intensity of sun light (light concentrator) without using a single watt of energy.... $600 per square feet, and save your electricity bill...

 

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if the fluid could be saltwater instead of air, and the compressor instead be a pump. It seems like the compressor's purpose is to give the fluid velocity, not to compress it, per se...

The pump will add more heat to the system than this junk engineering can cool off. Again, I just can't think of any good practical use for this, even if it is as efficient as compressor-based refrig. technology. Anyone want to buy this mirror light? The best model I have is JUNK560-S, and it can "produce" 40X the intensity of sun light (light concentrator) without using a single watt of energy.... $600 per square feet, and save your electricity bill...

:lol:

 

[cjsrch]

well if one side ish cold is the other hot? wouldent it even out.? hey here is one that i think may catch on

ben an jerry ( i think) and bose( what even sound people)
made a freezer that runs using sound waves instead of a compressor LOL must suck up electric tho



any who. intresting and thanks for leaving me scratching my head

 

[Anonymous]

>...well if one side ish cold is the other hot? ....

Exactly. Just like a chiller/freezer/refrig make something cold while heats up the other side, there is nothing that can cool off another thing without making something else warmer. Any refrigation technology involve insulation the hot side from the cool side, so they will need to keep the hot air from the cool air.

 

[cjsrch]

duhhhhhhhhhhhhh >< i sounded stupid...........


what i meant is some where some one said do this with water. and if both go back into tank they will be canceled out and youll have same water temp. if not greater.

 

[Anonymous]

It takes energy to cool, so if you add both the hot and cool water (assume you can do this in the first place), the net temperature will be higher than what you started with. In fact, since it is less efficient than compressor-based technology, it is going to be even hotter than a mal-function AC.