Apparatus for irradiating a continuously flowing stream of fluid

Claim 1

An apparatus for uniformly irradiating a flowing fluid, comprising: a housing having a substantially spherical cavity, said housing consisting of two mutually opposing housing blocks each formed of a neutron moderating material, each of said blocks having a planar face and a semispherical concave cavity opening onto said planar face, means for clamping said blocks together with said planar faces opposing one another and with said semispherical cavities centered on and opposing one another so as to form said spherical cavity within said housing, said housing blocks having respective fluid flow inlet and outlet conduits which open onto said spherical cavity at diametrically opposite positions, a first one of said blocks including an annular recess in the planar face of said first block, said annular recess being centered on and surrounding the opening of the semispherical cavity in said first block; and a moderator including a spherical ball integrally connected to an encircling circular support ring by a plurality of support members, said support ring being sized and shaped to cooperably fit in said annular recess of said first housing block, and with said ball having a diameter smaller than the diameter of said spherical cavity of said housing, said support members extending radially outwardly from said ball to said support ring, with said ball, said support members and said support ring all being formed integrally of a neutron moderating material, whereby said moderator and said housing form an annular spherical volume between the ball of said moderator and said housing through which a fluid can be passed, said moderator including an internal bore extending radially from the center of said ball through one of said support members and through said support ring, and with said first housing block including a bore extending from said annular recess to the outside of said housing, said bore of said first housing block and said bore in said moderator being alignable so as to permit a radiation source to be inserted in and removed from the center of said ball of said moderator without interrupting the flow of a fluid passing through said annular spherical volume or breaching the containment of the fluid.

Claim 2

An apparatus for uniformly irradiating a flowing fluid, comprising: a housing having a substantially spherical cavity, said housing consisting of two mutually opposing housing blocks each formed of a neutron moderating material, each of said blocks having a planar face and a semispherical concave cavity opening onto said planar face, means for clamping said blocks together with said planar faces opposing one another and with said semispherical cavities centered on and opposing one another so as to form said spherical cavity within said housing, said housing blocks having respective fluid flow inlet and outlet conduits which open onto said spherical cavity at diametrically opposite positions, a first one of said blocks including an annular recess in the planar face of said first block, said annular recess being centered on and surrounding the opening of the semispherical cavity in said first block; and a moderator including a spherical ball integrally connected to an encircling circular support ring by a plurality of support members, said support ring being sized and shaped to cooperably fit in said annular recess of said first housing block, and with said ball having a diameter smaller than the diameter of said spherical cavity of said housing, said support members extending radially outwardly from said ball to said support ring, with said ball, said support members and said support ring all being formed integrally of a neutron moderating material, whereby said moderator and said housing form an annular spherical volume between the ball of said moderator and said housing through which a fluid can be passed, said moderator including an internal bore extending radially from the center of said ball through one of said support members and through said support ring, and with said first housing block including a bore extending from said annular recess to the outside of said housing, said bore of said first housing block and said bore in said moderator being alignable so as to permit a radiation source to be inserted in and removed from the center of said ball of said moderator without interrupting the flow of a fluid passing through said annular spherical volume or breaching the containment of the fluid.