The enrichment of the neon isotopes in a thermoacoustic device is demonstrated. Because the thermal diffusion ratio of neon is small, an apparatus longer than a wavelength was necessary in order to easily observe the separation. The device was modular and extensible, so that arbitrarily large separations could in principle be obtained. The acoustic duct was a series of multiple, identical quarter-wavelength modules with side-branch drivers. In this way, waveforms close to that of a traveling wave were maintained in the duct, despite the high acoustic attenuation caused by the duct’s small diameter and large length. The concentrations of the isotopes were measured at one end of the duct using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. For the operating frequency of 227 Hz, the maximum separation gradient obtained was 0.43%/m, and mole fluxes at zero gradient as high as 3 nmol/s were observed. Effects of turbulence, though not observed, are also discussed, and the scaling properties of this method are compared with those of traditional mixture-separation methods.
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April 16 2004
Thermoacoustic enrichment of the isotopes of neon
D. A. Geller;
D. A. Geller
Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
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G. W. Swift
G. W. Swift
Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
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J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115, 2059–2070 (2004)
Article history
Received:
October 30 2003
Accepted:
January 28 2004
Citation
D. A. Geller, G. W. Swift; Thermoacoustic enrichment of the isotopes of neon. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 May 2004; 115 (5): 2059–2070. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1687831
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