It is found from numerical analysis that a strong influence is exerted on the separative efficiency of centrifuges by the thermal convection arising from the temperature difference prevailing between the end plates of a centrifuge drum-known as "Ekman suction". The numerical method previously developed by Nakayama & Torii is used to compute the distributions of concentration resulting from considerations of both thermal convection and forced flow.
The effect of Ekman suction is represented by the parameter λ
E(≡(a
2√Eρ
sVΔT)/(16lρDT
0)), different values of which were adopted in the calculations, as were other parameters such as λ(≡G
F/(4πlρD), G
F: feed rate) for the forced flow and θ representing the cut. The separative efficiency of an exemplified counter-flow type centrifuge is found to reach 58%, when λ
E ?? 0.7, λ ?? 1.0 and θ ?? 0.3, with a product port radius γ
P=0.5.
It is also shown that the thermal convection in the Stewartson layer near the side wall of a centrifuge drum affects the separative efficiency to relatively small but not negligible extent.
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