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What is the difference between the Cold Gun and the Adjustable Spot Cooler?What is a Vortex Tube?Can I connect the output of a Vortex Tube to an Air Amplifier?What is the difference between the Model 3825 and Model 3925 Adjustable Spot Cooler Systems?How does a Vortex Tube work?What is the difference between the Vortex Tube and other cold air products like the Cold Gun?What does the Vortex Tube Performance Chart tell me?I have a Vortex Tube, but the air coming out is not very cold. Why?How will warm compressed air affect a Vortex Tube?Can I put backpressure on the cold exhaust of a Vortex Tube?How do I know what Cold Fraction my Vortex Tube is set to?Which Vortex Tube do I use?How are Vortex Tubes rated?How do I know which Vortex Tube I have?How long have Vortex Tubes been around?Can I use a Vortex Tube to cool my electrical enclosure instead of a Cabinet Cooler?Can I connect the output of a Vortex Tube to an Air Knife?Can I connect the output of a Vortex Tube to an Air Amplifier or Air Knife?Can I put cold air from a Vortex Tube into the Super Air Wipe?
Features
How the Mini Cooler Works |
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The Mini Cooler incorporates a vortex tube to convert a small amount of compressed air into two low pressure streams, one moving within the other in opposite directions. The two airstreams exchange heat, producing cold air from one end of the tube and hot air from the other. A flexible hose directs the cold airstream at the surface to be cooled. |
Features
Features
Mini Cooler Standards and Certifications


EXAIR Mini Coolers comply with OSHA's Safety Requirements, the EU General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC) and meet the noise limitation requirements of the EU Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC). All sound level measurements are taken at 3 feet away.

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Options
Mini cooler Systems
Two systems are available:
Model 3808 Mini Cooler System (one cold outlet) includes Mini Cooler, Mini Single Point Hose Kit, Swivel Magnetic Base and Manual Drain Filter Seperator with Mounting Bracket.
Model 3308 Mini Cooler System (two cold outlets) includes Mini Cooler, Mini Dual Point Hose Kit, Swivel Magnetic Base and Manual Drain Filter Separator with Mounting Bracket.
Options
Accessories |
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| Model | Description |
| 5904 | Mini Cooler Single Point Hose Kit (Included with 3808) |
| 5905 | Mini Cooler Dual Point Hose Kit (Included with 3308) |
| 9003 | Manual Drain Filter Separator, 1/4 NPT (Included with 3808) |
| 9012 | Manual Shutoff Valve, 1/4 NPT |
| 9027 | Oil Removal Filter, 1/4 NPT, 24 SCFM (680 SLPM) |
A Phenomenon of Physics
The vortex tube was invented quite by accident in 1928. George Ranque, a French physics student, was experimenting with a vortex-type pump he had developed when he noticed warm air exhausting from one end, and cold air from the other. Ranque soon forgot about his pump and started a small firm to exploit the commercial potential for this strange device that produced hot and cold air with no moving parts. However, it soon failed and the vortex tube slipped into obscurity until 1945 when Rudolph Hilsch, a German physicist, published a widely read scientific paper on the device.
Much earlier, the great nineteenth century physicist, James Clerk Maxwell, postulated that since heat involves the movement of molecules, we might someday be able to get hot and cold air from the same device with the help of a “friendly little demon” who would sort out and separate the hot and cold molecules of air.
Thus, the vortex tube has been variously known as the “Ranque Vortex Tube”, the “Hilsch Tube”, the “Ranque-Hilsch Tube”, and “Maxwell’s Demon”. By any name, it has in recent years gained acceptance as a simple, reliable and low cost answer to a wide variety of industrial spot cooling problems.
A vortex tube uses compressed air as a power source, has no moving parts, and produces hot air from one end and cold air from the other. The volume and temperature of these two airstreams are adjustable with a valve built into the hot air exhaust. Temperatures as low as -50°F (-46°C) and as high as +260°F (+127°C) are possible.
Theories abound regarding the dynamics of a vortex tube. Here is one widely accepted explanation of the phenomenon:
Compressed air is supplied to the vortex tube and passes through nozzles that are tangent to an internal counterbore. These nozzles set the air in a vortex motion. This spinning stream of air turns 90° and passes down the hot tube in the form of a spinning shell, similar to a tornado. A valve at one end of the tube allows some of the warmed air to escape. What does not escape, heads back down the tube as a second vortex inside the low-pressure area of the larger vortex. This inner vortex loses heat and exhausts through the other end as cold air.
While one airstream moves up the tube and the other down it, both rotate in the same direction at the same angular velocity. That is, a particle in the inner stream completes one rotation in the same amount of time as a particle in the outer stream. However, because of the principle of conservation of angular momentum, the rotational speed of the smaller vortex might be expected to increase. (The conservation principle is demonstrated by spinning skaters who can slow or speed up their spin by extending or drawing in their arms.) But in the vortex tube, the speed of the inner vortex remains the same. Angular momentum has been lost from the inner vortex. The energy that is lost shows up as heat in the outer vortex. Thus the outer vortex becomes warm, and the inner vortex is cooled.
- Use our Application Assistance Worksheet to submit information about your application. When you submit this information, we will respond with our recommendation for the EXAIR product best suited for the application. Please complete the Application Assistance Worksheet and click submit or print the completed .pdf file and fax it to us at (513) 671-3363. For immediate help, call our Application Engineering Department at 1 800-903-9247.
Images
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Model 3808 Mini Cooler System, One Cold Outlet -
Model 3308 includes the two outlet hose kit -
This Mini Cooler keeps a small, dry machining process cool. -
Model 3708 Mini Cooler (only)
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