Higher-pressure, room-temperature air is fed to a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, which splits the air into two streams at lower pressure. Hot air exits the left side and cold air exits the right side. The fraction of the air that goes to the cold side (or hot side) affects how cold the low temperature side is (or how hot the high-temperature side is). Sliders change the feed pressure and the fraction of gas that flows out of the hot end. Zoom with the scroll wheel. Drag mouse to move image.

This digital experiment was created in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at University of Colorado Boulder for LearnChemE.com by Neil Hendren under the direction of Professor John L. Falconer. It is based on a Mathematica simulation by Adam J. Johnston, Neil Hendren, and Rachael L. Baumann. It was prepared with financial support from the National Science Foundation (DUE 2336987 and 2336988) in collaboration with Washington State University. Address any questions or comments to LearnChemE@gmail.com.