The resistance of a rotating diffuser to a gas flow

Abstract

We examine the distribution of gas pressure in the case of convection diffusion in porous materials in the presence of centrifugal forces.Evaporation centrifuges [1] make use, for example, of stepwise stages to intensify the effect of gas separation; similar stages are employed in a vibrating centrifuge [2], and with the thermosiphon method [3]. The authors of this article propose the filling of a centrifuge with a porous materiaI, We will demonstrate that the combined action of the centrifugal force and the forces of diffusion can be used for the mutual intensification of their effects on the gas-pressure difference and, consequently, on the separative power.Let a gas rotate at a certain angular velocity co in a cylinder filled with a porous mass. The gas will enter at a certain pressure through the outside wall of the cylinder ina radial direction, white the gas is removed in the direction of the axis. The pressure differences near the outside wall and the axis of the cylinder are such that the flow within the porous rotating diffuser can be regarded as laminar. The dimensions of the pores of the diffuser are greater than the mean free path of the gas molecules.