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US 3,998,610 AGranted
Rotating concentric homogeneous turbulence centrifuge
AssigneeCominco Ltd.
InventorWilliam Cumming Leith
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AssigneeCominco Ltd.
InventorWilliam Cumming Leith
Estimating the term…
A gas centrifuge and method for the separation of isotopic gaseous mixtures, particularly for the enrichment of uranium by the evaporative, concurrent-flow and countercurrent-flow principles using Taylor circular Couette motion. Gaseous isotopes either alone or mixed with a carrier gas, more particularly uranium isotopes in mixture with uranium hexafluoride carrier gas, are fed to a rotor assembly of a gas centrifuge which comprises two concentric cylinders which may be rotated at the same or at different angular velocities and in the same or opposite directions to create centrifugal forces sufficient to diffuse the heavier fraction of the gas mixture to the periphery of the assembly and the lighter fraction towards the axial portion of the assembly. The rotor comprises an inner, perforate, rotatable cylinder and an outer, continuous, smooth-walled, rotatable cylinder concentric with the inner cylinder and defining an annulus therebetween.
A method for separating and enriching mixtures of gases based on differences between the molecular weights of gases in said mixture in a gas centrifuge having an inner, perforate, rotatable cylinder and an outer, continuous, smooth-walled, rotatable cylinder concentric with said inner cylinder defining an annulus therebetween, the radius of the inner cylinder being in the range of from about 0.70 to about 0.95 of the radius of the outer cylinder;
A gas centrifuge for separating and enriching mixtures of gases based on differences between the molecular weights of gases in said mixture comprising, in combination, an enclosure having a shaft mounted therein for introducing said gas mixture axially into said enclosure, a rotor assembly arranged coaxially around said shaft comprising an outer, imperforate, cylindrical wall and an inner, perforated cylindrical wall coaxial with said shaft, closure means at each end of said cylindrical walls for capping said cylinders whereby an annulus is defined between said cylinders, means for rotating said cylinders at peripheral velocities in the range of from about 80 to about 600 meters per second whereby a mixture of gases introduced axially into said centrifuge is separated into a lighter fraction and a heavier fraction, the radius of the inner cylinder being in the range from about 0.70 to about 0.95 of the radius of the outer cylinder, and means for discharging separated gases from the periphery of the annulus and from the inner portion of the annulus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.