Abstract
<jats:p>Vortex tube is a simple non-conventional cooling device having no moving parts, which is compact and simple to produce both cold and hot air from the source of compressed air without effecting the environment. When high pressure air is tangentially injected, a strong vortex flow will be created which will split into two air streams: hot escapes through outer periphery at one end, cold escapes through core at the other end. The main factor that affects the performance of vortex tubes is nozzle and orifice. In this work the performance of vortex tube is investigated with different diameters of orifice and a modified nozzle: providing with different levels of internal taper towards the hot end at various pressure and mass flow. The modified nozzle provided with taper boost up the desired flow pattern, makes the air to travel towards hot end without disturbing the next coming air at the inlet. The experimental investigations were carried out based upon maximum temperature drop. It is observed that effect of nozzle design is more important than orifice in getting higher temperature drops. The experimental results indicated that these modifications could remarkably improve the performance of vortex tube. In this work the best combination of modified nozzle and orifice with suitable conditions is suggested for better performance of vortex tube.</jats:p>