# Vortex Tube: Any Practical Use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370 "2005-09-13T01:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/1 "2005-09-13T01:17:57Z")
Why doesn’t the vortex tube replace the need for a refriegerant compressor? Does the vortex tube have any practical applications? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/2 "2005-09-13T01:48:57Z")
The immediate glib answer is it doesn’t replace compressors because it requires a source of compressed air (or other gas), ie. a compressor somewhere, either in real time or to produce a tank of compressed air. I imagine by the time you factor in the energy used to compress the air, standard refrigeration units are more efficient. The Wikipedia article confirms this, actually: > **[Vortex tube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_tube)** > > The vortex tube, also known as the Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, is a mechanical device that separates a compressed gas into hot and cold streams. The gas emerging from the hot end can reach temperatures of 200 °C (392 °F), and the gas emerging from the cold end can reach −50 °C (−58 °F). It has no moving parts. > Pressurised gas is injected tangentially into a swirl chamber and accelerated to a high rate of rotation. Due to the conical nozzle at the end of the tube, only the outer shell of the compr... > [@](#): > > Vortex tubes have lower efficiency than traditional air conditioning equipment. They are commonly used for inexpensive spot cooling, when compressed gas is available. Commercial models are designed for industrial applications to produce a temperature drop of about 80 °F (45 °C). > > Another application is for uranium enrichment. South Africa used vortex tubes in their Helikon Vortex Separation method. > > Dave Williams, of Engineers Without Borders, has proposed using vortex tubes to make ice in third-world countries. Although the technique is inefficient, Williams hopes it could yield helpful results in areas where using electricity to create ice is really not an option. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/3 "2005-09-13T03:03:00Z")
Vortex tubes are common in industrial use. There are a lot of places where really nasty things are being manufactured and something that requires only air is definately a good thing. They are downright cheap to operate if you’ve already got compressed air in the area too, so sometimes they are put in just for cost reasons. Vortex tubes aren’t going to replace compressors because they are really freaking loud and annoying. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/4 "2005-09-13T11:30:52Z")
In Frederick Pohl’s novel **The Merchant’s War** they use BIG vortex tubes to help terraform Venus. It seems like not a good idea to me – you need huge compressors for all that air, you’re throwuing away precious atmosphere into space (they vent the “hot” side off the planet), and if there’s one thing those tubes don’t need, it’s to become even LOUDER. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/5 "2005-09-13T12:36:54Z")
If they’re the things I’m thinking of… A mechanic friend from a few years back bought one and used it as a “choke tester.” I assume he still uses it as such, on the rare occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vortex-tube-any-practical-use/321370/6 "2005-09-13T21:00:29Z")
I think they aren’t used for large applications like air conditioning because their efficiency is poor (they need lots of energy). They’re used for small, point-cooling applications because they are convenient. The same might be said for peltier effect devices. However the two devices are convenient in different ways. Vortex tubes need nothing but compressed air, and throw their cooling effect towards an object without requiring any attachment, so they’re convenient for cooling a part while you machine it, for example. Peltier effect heat pumps seem to conduct heat from cold objects into warm ones, so for example a heat-sensitive radiation sensor mounted in a vacuum can be kept at -100 F this way for an instrument that uses only electrical power.