Vortex Tubes

Vortex Tubes turns factory compressed air into two airstreams, one very cold and one hot, using no moving parts. Simple and low-cost, a Vortex Tube can produce:

Temperatures from -40 °F (-40 C) to +250 °F (+110 C) Up to 2500 Btu/H (630 Kcal/H) refrigeration Air flow rates up to 35 SCFM (990 SLPM) Two sizes available

You just set the cold temperature output with the handy control knob and your thermometer. No tools are required.
Assuming your compressed air input pressure and temperature remain constant, a Vortex tube will hold output temperatures ±1 °F (±0.6 C).

The User Friendly Vortex Tubes - Precision Stainless Steel

for the price of the "other guys'" aluminum tubes, plus no-tools temperature control. Starting with corrosion-resistant, food-grade stainless steel as the principal material of construction, ARTX designers have optimized every aspect of Vortex Tubes design for convenience, dependable performance, and long-lasting industrial service.
Vortex Tubes are as good looking as it is functional. No cheap aluminum or plated brass parts. It's precision machined, assembled and tested.

Our unique temperature control knob lets you adjust the cold air discharge without tools.

A simple, interchangeable part - the stationary generator - allows our Vortex Tubes to deliver four different air flows - 10, 15, 25, 35 SCFM (280, 420, 700, 990 SLPM) - each with two ranges of cooling performance (high or low).

Manufactured to exacting tolerances, Vortex Tubes are produced under strict quality control to ensure years of reliable, maintenance-free operation.

Putting Vortex Tubes To Work:

Tech Sales Co., offers Vortex Tubes in several ready-to-use packaged systems for common industrial applications. Packaged systems include the Model 60040 Air Gun and the Control Cooler - all described on subsequent pages.
We also offer an Application Development Kit for the OEM or system designer who needs Vortex Tubes for studies and design verification. By switching one interchangeable part supplied with the kit, you can produce the full range of air flows and cold fractions the tube is capable of. The Application Development Kit includes instructions, five-micron filter, and cold end muffler.

Lastly, you can purchase Vortex Tubes alone, or with various supporting components, for OEM and user-designed systems.

What are Vortex Tubes?

Vortex Tubes are your answer for instant cold air, where and when you need it, using nothing but compressed air as a power source. There's no maintenance, no mess, no explosion hazard, no electricity, no moving parts - just clean, cold air for industrial or laboratory spot cooling.

The Application Development Kit includes vortex generators for 10, 15, 25, and 35 SCFM (280, 420, 700, and 990 SLPM) flow rates. It's capable of producing up to 2500 Btu/H (630 Kcal/H), and temperatures to -40 °F
(-40 C).

What You Can Do with Vortex Tubes

• Cool manufacturing processes: machining plastics or metals, woodworking, soldering, adhesive application, heat sealing, sewing needles, mold tooling and many others
• In the laboratory, cool and dehumidify gas samples, cool environmental chambers
• "Temperature cycle" electronic components, instruments, switches, thermostats
• Air condition electronic control enclosures: CNC cabinets, industrial PCs, PLCs, motor controls
• Generate hot air to +250°F (+110 C), without a spark or explosion hazard to soften plastic, melt glues, seal packaging
• Cool workers wearing protective gear

Convenient, Save, Easy To Use

• No moving parts, portable, lightweight, low cost
• Uses no electricity, freon or chemicals; just filtered, factory compressed air
• No spark hazard, RF/EMI interference
• Instant on/off, easy to control, cools without waste
• No residue to clean up, no part washing needed
• Reliable, maintenance-free, durable stainless steel construction
• Input air flows of 10, 15, 25, and 35 SCFM (280, 420, 700, 990 SLPM); up to 2500 Btu/H (630 Kcal/H) cooling capacity

How Does a Vortex Tube work?

How can you get cold air and hot air from one compressed-air stream? Lots of people have tried to explain it, including the French physicist who invented the Vortex Tube in the 1930's, Georges Ranque. Many different theories have been put forward. If you'd like to see the latest thermodynamic background on Vortex Tubes, call for our free technical bulletin.
Vortex Tubes behave in a very predictable and controllable way. When compressed air is released into the tube through the vortex generator, you get hot air out of one end of the tube and cold air out the other. A small valve in the hot end, adjustable with the handy control knob, lets you adjust the volume and temperature of air released from the cold end.

The vortex generator - an interchangeable, stationary part - regulates the volume of compressed air, allowing you to alter the air flows and temperature ranges you can produce with the tube.

Cold Fraction an Important Term For Understanding Vortex Tube Performance

"Cold Fraction" is the percentage of input compressed air that's released through the cold end of the tube. As a rule of thumb, the less cold air you release, the colder the air will be. You adjust the cold fraction with the control knob.
Cold fraction is also a function of the type of vortex generator that's in the tube, i.e., a "high cold fraction" or "low cold fraction" generator.

Most industrial process applications use a high cold fraction (above 50%). A high cold fraction tube can easily give you cold outputs 50-90°F (28-50°C) BELOW your compressed air temperature.

High cold fractions give you a greater air flow, but they don't give the lowest possible temperatures. The high cold fraction combination of airflow and cold temperature produces the maximum refrigeration capacity, or greatest Btu/H (Kcal/H).

A low cold fraction (below 50%) means a smaller volume of air coming out that's very cold (down to -40°F/-40°C). In short, the less air you release, the colder the air.

Just remember, your maximum Btu/H (Kcal/H) capacity (also called maximum cooling or refrigeration) occurs with a high cold fraction tube.

Two Tubes, Eight Levels of Performance

ARTX's modular design vortex tube gives you eight ranges of performance from a single tube, simply by changing the one-piece vortex generator. Both high and low cold-fraction generators are available for 10, 15, 25 and 35 SCFM (280, 420, 700, 990 SLPM) input flows. You can purchase vortex generators individually or in a kit that includes all sizes.
Other accessories include hot- and cold-end mufflers, air filters, regulators, thermostats and solenoid valves.

Transportation - Spot Welding

	Cooling this spot welding operation with a Stainless Steel Vortex Tube virtually eliminates secondary smoothing operations and greatly improves the appearance of the product.

Foundry Operations

	Cold air from a Stainless Steel Vortex Tube is piped into a foundry worker's's protective suit. The Stainless Steel Vortex Tube has a large control know, allowing the cold air to be adjusted while wearing gloves.

Metal Fabricating - Tapping

	Tapping brass clips is completed without messy liquid coolants using 0 °F (-18 C) air from a Stainless Steel Vortex Tube to cool the tap. The brass does not have a chance to gum up, the cut is cleaner, and secondary operations are eliminated.

Plastics - Slitting

	Cutting wheels on this slitter can work at top speed - and stay sharper longer - when cold air from Stainless Steel Vortex Tubes eliminates the frictional heat buildup Trim edge is cleaner, too.

Metalworking - Single-Point Threading

	Heat buildup in this single-point threading operation can shorten tool life and produce a rough thread. Clean, dry, sub-zero air coolant allows increased speed while eliminating tool microcracking and premature failure.