Air Amplification and Vortex Tube

Compressed air amplification draws in atmospheric air and mixes it with compressed air to amplify air flow. Vortex Tubes create freezing air from compressed air. But can you combine the cold air with the amplified air efficiently and effectively?

Compressed air amplification draws in atmospheric air and mixes it with compressed air to amplify airflow. Vortex Tubes create freezing air from compressed air. But can you combine the cold air with the amplified air efficiently and effectively? This video explains. Nex Flow Air Products Corp. are specialists in compressed air for blow-off, drying, moving, and cooling.

Vortex tube technology and air amplification technology are entirely different things.   A vortex tube takes compressed air and within the device, compressed air separates and spins.  It exits one end cold and the other end hot.  While the hot air has no use generally, the cold air has many uses for spot cooling in open spaces or in cooling enclosures.   An air (flow) amplifier entrains surrounding air with a small amount of compressed air, converting energy normally lost as pressure drop and noise into a powerful “amplified” stream of air.

The question sometimes arises of combining the vortex tube’s cold air with the air amplifier.

If the cold air from the vortex tube is piped into the compressed air inlet of the air amplifier, the amplifier will not work because the pressure from the vortex tube is close to atmospheric.  In fact, the back pressure from the air amplifier will push all the cold air back through the vortex tube and stop working, pushing the compressed air out of the hot side of the vortex tube.

If the cold air from the vortex tube is directed into the center of the air amplifier which entrains the surrounding air, the cold air “may” have some effect but will be minimal.  This is because the entrained air will be 5 to 10 or more times that of the air from the vortex tube.   Assuming adiabatic mixing, the air from the air amplifier will not be cooled significantly.

Video url : https://youtu.be/rERF4hFwmwg