Numerical Investigation on the Effect of Injector Nozzles Morphology for Improving Energy Separation in Vortex Tube

In this paper, the effect of helical nozzles morphology on the vortex tube performance is analyzed using simulations and computational fluid dynamics method. The k-epsilon turbulence model is used to solve the flow field equations, also, the model geometry is considered as a fixed structure. The main goal is to achieve the minimum cold outlet temperature and maximum rotational speed in the vortex tube. In this paper, the machine is equipped with three sets of nozzles including 3 straight nozzles, 6 straight nozzles and 3 helical nozzles. The results indicate a lower cold temperature for a vortex tube with 3 helical nozzles than the other two models. Also, this type of nozzle generates a higher rotational speed inside the vortex tube, especially in the vortex chamber.