Peter L. Peres wrote:

> Uh, a vortex cooler works on different principles than normal expansion,
> no ? It's not a thermodynamic thingy, it exploits the statistical
> distribution of 'local' density in a gas, which also depends on
> 'local' temperature and separates the different 'parts' of the gas by
> centrifugal force, thus obtaining two fluxes, one of hot, and one of cold
> expanded gas. This is very nice but it requires a lot of air and
> mechanical tuning (tuning the air input won't do normally).
> am I wrong ? Has anyone used such a cooler in a power electronics project
> on this list ?

Built one about 35 years ago - Power semiconductors were hard to find at
the
time :) but if memory serves your explanation is correct - It's called a
"Hilsch vortex tube", BTW. For the application mentioned it'd be
interesting
to pencil out the trade-offs: Compressed air is a fairly expensive
commodity,
but Peltier cooling is not particularly efficient, although extremely
reliable
and long-lived (100,000 hours +) in a proper design.
Really depends on the app - The quantity of heat to be pumped is'nt
mentioned
so anybodys guess...

Jack