ITW Vortec Personal Air Conditioners
Personal Cooling Vests Keep Workers Comfortable and Safe in Extreme Temperatures

Uncomfortably hot working conditions in foundries and other challenging environments can affect productivity and worker safety. ITW Vortec's Personal Air Conditioners (PAC's), also commonly refered to as personal cooling vests) use filtered compressed air to keep workers comfortable in extremely hot or cold areas. PACs use vortex tube technology and Vortec's Diffuse-Air Vest to distribute cooled or heated air over the upper body.

With no moving parts, a vortex tube produces cold and hot air by forcing a simple heat exchange. Compressed air enters a generation chamber in the tube and is forced to spin in a tight, high speed circular path (1,000,000 RPM) or vortex. Like a tornado, the spinning air follows a centrifugal path along the tube's inner walls toward a control valve (hot exhaust). A percentage of the high speed air exits as hot air out the hot exhaust of the tube, but the remainder of the (now slower) air stream is forced to counter flow back up through the center of the high speed air stream, giving up heat and exiting as cold air.

The small vortex tube, worn on a supplied belt, is connected to ITW Vortec's Diffuse-Air Vest which has hundreds of tiny holes on its inner lining to provide continuous cooled air delivery. The heating or cooling vest can be worn under protective outer clothing and allows full range of motion with no airflow restrictions. Both large and extra-large Pearsonal heating or cooling vests are available, each featuring a collar that can be unfolded to deliver tempered air flow to the neck and face. Temperature is easily adjusted to 60oF below the inlet temperature.

ITW Vortec manufactures a complete line of innovative compressed air products that increase equipment and worker efficiency, improve manufacturing productivity, and eliminate more costly methods for spot and enclosure cooling, blowoff and conveying of materials.