Numerical Simulations of Cryogenic Hydrogen Cooling in Vortex Tubes with Smooth Transitions

Konstantin I. Matveev and Jacob Leachman
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Konstantin I. Matveev: School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2920, USA
Jacob Leachman: School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2920, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Improving efficiency of hydrogen cooling in cryogenic conditions is important for the wider applications of hydrogen energy systems. The approach investigated in this study is based on a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) that generates temperature separation in a working fluid. The simplicity of RHVT is also a valuable characteristic for cryogenic systems. In the present work, novel shapes of RHVT are computationally investigated with the goal to raise efficiency of the cooling process. Specifically, a smooth transition is arranged between a vortex chamber, where compressed gas is injected, and the main tube with two exit ports at the tube ends. Flow simulations have been carried out using STAR-CCM+ software with the real-gas Redlich-Kwong model for hydrogen at temperatures near 70 K. It is determined that a vortex tube with a smooth transition of moderate size manifests about 7% improvement of the cooling efficiency when compared vortex tubes that use traditional vortex chambers with stepped transitions and a no-chamber setup with direct gas injection.

Keywords: hydrogen systems; cryogenics; vortex tubes; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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