Determination of the optimal parameters of a cascade of gas centrifuges

Conclusions

The necessary relations which make it possible to implement the numerical-analytical method for determining the optimal parameters of a cascade of centrifuges were obtained. The fundamental distinction from conventional calculations of ideal cascades lies in the fact that high coefficients of utilization of the separation power with strictly fixed external parameters of the cascade are guaranteed.

The method can be extended to other formulations of the problem in which the total number of centrifuges appears as a separate component of the target function. Moreover, it can be used for optimizing a real cascade with losses. Since the losses are small, it is sufficient to make several calculations. The first calculation is performed with the formulas presented for estimating N_i and C_i and the corresponding losses q_i of matter and of isotopes q_ui (i=l,...n). The next calculations are performed iteratively according to the prescribed values of q_i and q_ui. In these variants, the expressions for the transit fluxes τ_i′,τ_ui′ are corrected each time. Similar variations of calculations are also possible in other situations, for example, in the case when the number of centrifuges in the steps is small. The possibility of making such changes is due to the flatness of the target function — the target function increases very little when the parameters deviate from strictly best values.

This work was supported by a grant from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (Goskonvuz) for 1996–1997.