Abstract: A compact vortex-stream gas-liquid separator, and a gas-liquid separation system employing it, offers high gas-liquid separation performance with minimal pressure loss. A substantially cylindrical casing (10) is arranged with its axis lying horizontally. The casing has a fluid passage (1) formed therein, has a fluid inlet (2) provided at one end, and has a gas outlet (3) and a liquid outlet (4) provided at the other end so as to constitute as a whole a vortex-stream gas-liquid separator (9). The fluid inlet is arranged along a line tangential to the casing so that the gas-liquid two-phase fluid passes through the fluid passage in the form of a vortex stream. The gas outlet is arranged so as to be coaxial with the casing. This vortex-stream gas-liquid separator and the gas-liquid separation system (30) employing it are used in a clothes dryer or air conditioner to remove water droplets from air.

Abstract: A straightening apparatus is constituted by a diffuser connected to an inflow pipe having a rectangular section to form an enlarged channel, and eight straightening vanes arranged inside the diffuser. The diffuser has a rectangular sectional surface, and is formed to increase its sectional area from a channel inlet to an outlet. Each straightening vane is arranged to set its surface along the flow direction. Instead of completely partitioning the channel by one straightening vane, the straightening vanes are respectively arranged on the upstream and downstream sides in the flow direction at intervals to form an opening portion at the middle portion of the channel without any partition.

Abstract: In order to measure in a non-contact manner a clothing amount of a human being in a state in which the human body is clothed, a camera captures a subject including the human being. An image processing section recognizes a human body from images captured by the camera, and detects an area of the human body in the human body image. A radiation sensor detects a radiation heat quantity of an environment and a radiation heat quantity of a human body plus environment. A clothing amount calculating section obtains a position and an area of the human being in the real space, a surface temperature of the clothes on the human being, a skin temperature of the human being, an environmental temperature and so forth based on information from the image processing section and information from the radiation sensor, and calculates the clothing amount of the human being from the obtained values.