Tag: Cooling Application

High Temperature Vortex Tube for Sensor Cooling

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Last year I worked with a power company that was having issues with Position Feedback Sensors overheating causing erroneous readings and early failures.  The sensors were located above a steam turbine, and the ambient temperatures reached 128°F with spikes to 140-150°F.  The customer had called in looking for a way to keep the sensors cool, using minimal compressed air, and in a robust package.  After reviewing the details, we recommended the High Temperature Vortex Tube, model HT3210.  While using just 10 SCFM of 100 PSIG compressed air, the HT3210 provides 8 SCFM of cold air at a temperature drop of 54°F from the supply air temperature.  Bathing the sensor with this cool air keeps prevents it from heating up and has eliminated the bad readings and prevented the early failures.

The customer recently implemented the same fix for another set of sensors.

Plant Photo
Power Generation Process, with (3) Position Feedback Sensors
Sensor
Position Feedback Sensor

The High Temperature Vortex Tube is a special Vortex Tube offering from EXAIR that utilizes a brass generator and hi-temp seal for use in ambient temperatures up to 200°F.  Simply supply clean, dry compressed air, and get cold air starting at 50-54°F lower than the supply air temperature.  With sizes ranging from 2 to 150 SCFM, there is a Vortex Tube that will meet most applications.

Vortex tube
High Temperature Vortex Tube

If you have questions about the Vortex Tubes, or would like to talk about any of the EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Video Blog: Medium Vortex Tube Cooling Kit

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EXAIR offers (3) Vortex Tube Cooling Kits, and the video below will provide an overview of the medium size offering, for refrigeration up to 2800 BTU/hr (706 Kcal/hr.)

If you have questions regarding Vortex Tube Cooling Kits or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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EXAIR Application Details Guide

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The EXAIR website is valuable resource for reviewing and getting information about the many Intelligent Compressed Air® Products that we manufacture and sell.  It is a good place to learn more about the products, how they work, calculate air savings, see the many styles and materials of construction and much, much more.

If you have a specific application and would like us to review the process parameters and get our recommendation as to the best way to solve the issue, you can utilize the Application Assistance Worksheet located on the Left Menu Bar on many of the Product Pages.

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Clicking on the Application Assistance Worksheet will provide you with a couple of ways to access the form.  Choosing one of the options will present you with the form below.

ApplicationDetailsGuide

This form has sections regarding Process Description, Part Specifications, Product Movement, and Other for general information.  By filling out this form with as much detail possible, and then online submitting or emailing to applications@exair.com, one of our Application Engineers will review and be in contact with you to further discuss in preparation for presenting a solution for you.

Or – to discuss your processes and how an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product can provide a beneficial service, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our other Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Quick, Cool, and Quiet – The EXAIR Adjustable Spot Cooler

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I recently had the pleasure of assisting a caller with a cooling application. We’ve written before (more than once) about cooling applications & product selection, and I had a very similar conversation with this caller. Since the need was for cooling as quickly as possible to ambient temperature, the caller was keen on talking about Vortex Tubes.

This application entails operators placing small products, by hand, under the cold air flow for rapid cooling.  Now, a Vortex Tube can produce VERY low temperatures…down to -40F…so operator safety had to be addressed.  By keeping the Cold Fraction (the percentage of supply air flow which is directed to the cold end) high, we can also keep the temperature high enough to not present a hazard (i.e., frostbite) but still plenty low enough for effective cooling.

Since sound level was also a concern, we discussed mufflers…with Hot and Cold Mufflers installed on a Medium Vortex Tube (models 3215, 3225, or 3230, which were what we narrowed our discussion to,) a sound level of 81-84 dBA will be produced.  That’s within OSHA’s limits for 8-hour exposure, but isn’t exactly “communication-friendly” for operators that need to talk to each other on a regular basis.

The Model 3825 Adjustable Spot Cooler System incorporates the performance of the three Vortex Tube models that we were talking about into a convenient mag base mounted assembly, fitted with a cold muffler, flexible cold air hose, and additional sound level suppression to 72-74 dBA…which makes a significant difference in areas where operator conversation is critical.

EXAIR's Adjustable Spot Cooler provides cold air, on demand - quiet and easy!
EXAIR’s Adjustable Spot Cooler provides cold air, on demand – quiet and easy!

The temperature control knob allowed them to dial in the optimal cold air flow, keeping the temperature low enough, and flow high enough, for rapid cooling of the parts.

If you’d like to find out just how cool an EXAIR Vortex Tube/Spot Cooling Product can make your application, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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