Thermal analysis of a gas centrifuge

The centrifuge separation efficiency is the result of the composition of the centrifuge field to the secondary flow in the axial direction near to the rotor wall. For a given machine, the centrifuge field can not be altered and the effort to augment the separation efficiency should be concentrated on the secondary flow. The secondary flow has a mechanical and a thermal component. The mechanical component is due to the deceleration of the gas at the scoop region. The thermal component is due to the temperature differences at the rotor. This paper presents a thermal model of a centrifuge in order to understand the main heat transfer mechanisms and to establish the boundary conditions for a fluid flow computer code. The heat transfer analysis takes into account conduction at the structure parts of the rotor and shell, radiation with multi-reflections between the rotor and the shell, and convection to the ambient. (author)