The Experimental Investigation On Light Hydrocarbon Condensate Recovery By Vortex Tube Refrigeration

Vortex tubes have received great attention from the scientists since invention because of its extensive application and mysterious energy separation mechanism, but the research of vortex tube is not satisfying, such as the energy separation efficiency of the vortex tube is low and there is no theory so perfect which gives the satisfactory explanation of the vortex phenomena. In this paper, systemic study is carried out on the improvement of the vortex tube and the development of that for industrial use. As a result, the performance of vortex tube was remarkably improved which establishes foundation for commercial application. The design method and technical details on the vortex tube are expounded in this paper. The designs of the nozzle intakes by equal Ma grads, the inlet part by equal velocity and the design of vortex brake were proposed which are proved reasonable and efficiency by experimental results. The performances of vortex tube were greatly improved by these modified designs and have exceeded the vortex tube developed by USA in terms of its cooling capacity. The vortex tubes of small size are developed and the experimental investigation is carried out using compressed air as working fluid. The effect of the nozzle, the vortex brake, the plug and the main tube length on the performances of the vortex tubes were analyzed and the optimization structure parameters are obtained. Big size vortex tubes with various intakes and main tube lengths are designed and fabricated. The experiments using the air with high pressure and big mass flow rate as medium were carried out and the energy separation performances of big size vortex tubes under various pressures, pressure ratios of inlet and outlet of the vortex tube, intakes and main tube lengths are obtained. The energy separation phenomena of the vortex tubes are simulated numerically by using Fluent6.0. Some new phenomena were discovered and the limits of the existing theories were analyzed. A new explanation for energy separation mechanism was proposed. According to the explanation, the energy separation is the results of the...