Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Cooling Tube

churchjw

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I saw a cold air gun at a tool show some time back being used to cool plastic chips during cutting. I finally cot around to looking into these things and found a few DIY sites for them. The best one I found was http://ottobelden.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-home-made-ranque-hilsch-vortex.html

So over the Easter break I decided to build one to see how it went and surprise it worked.

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I didn't do pictures during the build since I had no idea if it would work. But I followed the layout from the website so you can see whats inside for there. The shop today was 72 F measured by my multimeter.

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The cold end measured at 11 degrees F. I got it down to 7 degrees at one point.

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The hot end was 97 degrees F and got up to 104 degrees. I have a large compressor and this puts a load on it. About the same as a cool mist system does. I tried the cold gun on the mill and cut some lexan at high rpm. I saw a marked chip improvement while running the cold air.

I think the guy underestimated the cost. All total from Lowes it was about $30.00. I had some of the parts but that was the real cost.

Kind of a cool project. Has anyone else used or made one of these?

Jeff

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I use one at work from time to time, for cooling on the lathe when working on parts that are hot glued to a face plate. Was always curious on how it worked.
Thanks for the posting.
 
I bought two real ones for $0.25. They spin the air molecules and separate
the hot one from the cold ones. Cold ones are heaver so the hot ones get spun
to the outside.
 
I have no sound from mine other than the sound of an air gun.
It sure does us up some air...
 
This is fascinating! I need to build one of these. Is there a practical use? If not, I need to build 2 of these...
Robert
 
This is fascinating! I need to build one of these. Is there a practical use? If not, I need to build 2 of these...
Robert
They are used often in scientific labs to heat and cool things, and also for automotive troubleshooting. Many of them are made and sold every year. I am no sure, but I think I remember being told that it is difficult to make them so the vortex is stable and starts every time. That was about 1985. I was told to buy one, not try to make one if I wanted it to work well. That could be bad or outdated information, but I would check it out before trying to make one.
 
They are great for use on a surface grinder. keeps he part cold with out the mess. I also use mine for cooling parts down on the lathe before I make the final pass,
 
I got two factory ones from a pawn shop years ago for a quarter. They had no idea what they was....
 
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