Cooling Blow Moulded Fuel Tanks

The Problem

Automobile fuel tanks are blow moulded, then clamped to a fixture to prevent distortion during the cooling cycle. The cooling time of over 3 minutes required for each tank created a bottleneck in the production process

The Solution

(2) Model 3250 Vortex Tubes were mounted to the cooling rack and connected to a compressed air line. Cold air produced by the Vortex Tubes was circulated inside the fuel tanks. Cooling time was reduced from three minutes to two minutes for each tank, improving productivity by 33%.

Comment

It’s hard to imagine an application better suited to vortex cooling than this one. The Vortex Tubes’ small size and light weight simplified mounting to the cooling rack. No moving parts assured reliability and maintenance free operation in a hostile environment. Finally, the cold airstream was easily channelled to the fuel tank via the threaded cold air outlet. When the cooling problem includes the need for simplicity, reliability and compact design, a Vortex Tube is very often the best choice.