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The Design and build of a vortex heat generator

Maziar Arjomandi

Keng Wei Bryan W. Gui, Janice Mun Yee M. Kwok and Phillip Edward E. Lemon

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(Commenced: 01-Jan-2008,Concluded: 30-Nov-2008)

Maziar Arjomandi Keng Wei Bryan W. Gui Janice Mun Yee M. Kwok Phillip Edward E. Lemon

A vortex heat generator seeks to heat water by an unconventional method that involves generating a vortex of fluid within an enclosed chamber. This project aimed to investigate the performance of a vortex heat generator based on a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) through the design, manufacturing and testing of a RHVT with a water flow. RHVTs are typically used with compressed air, where they create two outlet flows, one hotter and one colder, from a single inlet flow. The initial feasibility study for this project found that little research had been conducted into the use of RHVTs with incompressible flows, such as water. The available research suggested that a RHVT could be used to heat water and could possibly provide a viable alternative heating method. This conclusion was also supported by the commercial availability of several devices that were similar to RHVTs and were claimed to have good performance. Cavitation was also found to be the most prospective mechanism to explain the heating from a RHVT so it was investigated in more detail. After the feasibility study, an RHVT was designed based on the available information. The design was based on the design of an air RHVT but included devices designed to promote cavitation in the RHVT. A circulation system and an instrumentation system were also designed allow for the testing of the RHVT. Following the manufacture of these systems, parametric experiments were performed to determine the performance of the RHVT for different configurations of relevant parameters, such as the cavitation device, outlet area and vortex tube length. The parametric experiments found that no configuration of the RHVT design for this project produced a significant temperature difference between the inlet and outlets of the RHVT. Modifications were also made to the cavitation devices based on the results from the initial experiments but these did not change the outcome of the experiments. No conclusion could be made about the link between cavitation and the bulk heating of a water flow in an RHVT. The lack of any measurable heating effect could be attributed to an insufficient flow rate, air trapped in the RHVT or an inadequately designed RHVT. Project Sponsor · One Steel Project Deliverables Presentation Final Report exhibition Poster Image Galleries: Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

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