Theoretical and experimental modeling of the cooling of uranium hexafluoride vapor desublimation tanks

Abstract

A physical and mathematical model has been developed for the cooling of a block of receiver tanks for uranium hexafluoride desublimation with cold air supplied to heat exchangers by a VKhM-0.54/0.6 air cooler. Calculations have been carried out for the most heat-intensive operating regime of the receiver tank block, in which four tanks are cold and operate in the product desublimation mode, two tanks are being cooled after the evaporation of the product, and six tanks are reserved, being maintained in the cooled state. Experimental data are presented for the cooling of the vapor desublimation tank section using the VKhM- 0.54/0.6 air cooler. The mathematical model of the gas dynamic processes of cold air flow in the pipeline and tank walls–air heat transfer is used to calculate the cooling of the six tanks with a cold air stream from the VKhM-0.54/0.6 cooler. A good quantitative fit between the calculated data and experimental measurements has been attained. The performance parameters of the VKhM-0.54/0.6 air cooler can ensure uranium hexafluoride recovery from the gas mixtures arriving from the collector of the condensation–evaporation apparatus and purification of the product.