It was 23 °F (minus 5 °C) when I walked out the door this morning, and it was a shock to my system. The primary reason for that shock was the heat (generated from my house’s furnace) that maintains a comfortable temperature inside my home. Relief from that cold came when the internal combustion of gasoline that powers my car’s engine provided heat to the coils that the cabin fan passes air through on its way to the vents that maintain a comfortable temperature inside my car. Heat is a good thing this time of the year.
Heat, however, isn’t always a good thing. Just a few short months ago, I walked out of the building here at quitting time and the 100 °F (37.8 °C) temperature similarly shocked my system. The reason for that was I had just walked out of a comfortably air-conditioned building…and relief came when my car’s trusty air conditioning system started blowing refrigerated air from the same vents that heated air comes out of during these winter months.
Heat from processes like machining, welding, soldering, brazing, electrical losses, rotating or reciprocating equipment, etc., causes problems as well, and it’s not simply a matter of comfort. Removing heat from these processes is critical to sustained operation. Sometimes, a great amount of heat has to be removed. Power plants that generate electricity, for example, have massive pumps that send thousands of gallons of water per minute through huge heat exchangers that condense steam from turbines so that it can be boiled again to keep those turbines spinning.
On the other end of that spectrum are equipment like industrial sewing needles, lens grinders, skitters or small cutting tools, and soldering guns, just to name a few. These can all be successfully addressed with a focused stream of cold air…just like you get from an EXAIR Mini Cooler.
The Mini Cooler uses the Vortex Tube phenomenon to generate cold air from compressed air, with no moving parts, on demand. Since it’s a physical phenomenon, as opposed to a direct transfer of heat, the Mini Cooler is generating cold air at rated flow & temperature as soon as you open the supply of compressed air to it. You can turn it on & off as often, or as seldom, as needed. There are no moving parts to wear or electrical components to burn out. With a compressed air consumption of only 8 SCFM @100psig, even fairly small compressors (as low as 3HP for some) can operate a Mini Cooler continuously.
If an application requires a higher rate of cooling, other Vortex Tube operated products are available from stock:
If you’re not sure which Cooling Product fits your needs, EXAIR Application Engineers are standing by to help specify the right one for you…give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer
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