Method of forming a pellet of condensed gas and a pellet injector for injecting the same into a reactor
First Claim
1. A pellet injector for injecting pellets of condensed gas into a reactor, said pellet injector comprisinga continuous length of a metal tube,a first mass of heat conductive material arranged around a freezing section of said tube length in good thermal contact with the outer surface thereof,second and third masses of heat conductive material arranged on either side of and closely axially spaced from said first mass and in good thermal contact with the outer surface of the tube length,means for introducing a gas into the tube length,cooling means for providing a temperature below the condensing temperature of said gas and being thermally connected to each of said masses so as to condense the gas within the freezing section,means for selectively heating said masses to control the size of the pellet, andmeans for pneumatically expelling a pellet formed in the freezing section from the tube length.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pellet injector for injecting pellets of condensed gas, such as hydrogen, tritium or deuterium, into a reactor comprises an arrangement of pipe guns in a cylindrical arrangement. Each pipe gun which may be made from stainless steel, has a freezing section and three axially spaced metal rings of a heat conductive metal arranged in good thermal contact with the outer surface of the pipe gun at the freezing section thereof. Each of the rings is thermally connected to a cryostat, for example by means of a copper wire. The center ring is cooled to a temperature below the condensing temperature of the gas so as to condense the gas in the freezing section of the pipe gun to form a pellet therein, and the temperature of the adjacent outer rings are maintained at temperatures exceeding the temperature of the center ring so as to obtain a pellet of a desired size. The pellets formed in the pipe guns may be expelled therefrom by a pressurized gas force pulse and injected into a reactor. The pressurized gas force pulse may be provided by using a special solenoid valve.
76 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A pellet injector for injecting pellets of condensed gas into a reactor, said pellet injector comprising
a continuous length of a metal tube, a first mass of heat conductive material arranged around a freezing section of said tube length in good thermal contact with the outer surface thereof, second and third masses of heat conductive material arranged on either side of and closely axially spaced from said first mass and in good thermal contact with the outer surface of the tube length, means for introducing a gas into the tube length, cooling means for providing a temperature below the condensing temperature of said gas and being thermally connected to each of said masses so as to condense the gas within the freezing section, means for selectively heating said masses to control the size of the pellet, and means for pneumatically expelling a pellet formed in the freezing section from the tube length.
Specification