Simulation of vortex tube using natural gas as working fluid with application in city gas stations

Abstract

The work has been done on a 3D model of vortex tube and the governing equations have been solved using ANSYS– FLUENTTM software. Simulations were performed using density based solver and k-ε turbulence model. After validating some results of present study with available data, the effects of geometrical parameters and air/natural gas flow in a vortex tube with 6 and 2 tangential nozzles was examined. The performance of vortex tube with 6 nozzles was better when compared with 2 nozzles which is in satisfactory agreement with previous experiments, so we only show the results for the 6 nozzles vortex tube. There is a little difference between air and natural gas as a working fluid. We found that the temperature difference between hot and cold ends for air flow was little more than natural gas. Based on the results obtained in this work it is concluded that vortex process based on pressurized natural gas can be used in C.G.S as a heat exchanger for high efficiency operation and energy saving purposes.