The Effect of Orifice Diameter to the Acoustic Signals Captured at the Cold Part of a Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube

In this study, acoustic analysis and thermofluid performance of a Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube (RHVT) is experimentally investigated under different orifice diameters at its cold tube. The orifice diameters used are 2mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm. The inlet pressure (gage) is set at 10 psi, 15 psi, 20 psi and 25 psi for each orifice diameter. The sound produced by the tube is recorded using a microphone located outside the cold tube. The acoustic signal is processed using Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) to obtain the frequency representation. Main frequencies are then extracted to constitute the signature of the signal for that specific configuration. It is observed that different orifice diameters give different signatures. These signatures are then associated with the thermofluid performance of the device to obtain the relation among the parameters.