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We measure inelastic cross sections for atomic thorium (Th) and molecular thorium monoxide (ThO) in collisions with $^3$He at temperatures near 1 K. We determine the Zeeman relaxation cross section for Th ($^3$F$_2$) to be $\sim 2 \times 10^{-17}$~cm$^{-2}$ at 800~mK. We study electronic inelastic processes in Th ($^3$P$_0$) and find no quenching even after $10^6$ collisions at 800~mK. We measure the vibrational quenching cross section for ThO~(X,~$\nu=1$) to be $(7.9 \pm 2.7) \times 10^{-19}$~cm$^{-2}$ at 800~mK. Finally, we observe indirect evidence for ThO (X, $\nu=0$)--$^3$He van der Waals complex formation, and measure the 3-body recombination rate constant to be $\Gamma_3 = (8 \pm 2) \times 10^{-33}$~cm$^6$s$^{-1}$ at 2.4~K. The stability of the ground Th ($^3$F$_2$) state, metastable Th ($^3$P$_0$) state, and vibrational excited ThO (X, $\nu=1$) state provides data on anisotropic interactions in new systems and opens up the possibility for further studies and experiments, including trapping. / Physics

This thesis describes the design, construction, operation, and characterisation of an experimental apparatus that produces a source of internally cold, slow molecules that can be used for studying ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures. The apparatus combines buffer-gas cooling with a bent quadrupole velocity selector to cool both the translational and rotational degrees of freedom of the molecules. A cold cell (6 K) is filled with a buffer gas, such as helium, that exhibits sufficiently high vapour pressure for cryogenic applications. Hot molecules (150 to 300 K) enter the cell and thermalise with the buffer gas through collisions. Molecules are subsequently loaded into an electrostatic quadrupole guide, which acts as a velocity filter; only translationally cold polar molecules are guided around the bend. Using a buffer-gas-cooled source of molecules for electrostatic velocity selection, rather than a 300 K effusive source, yields a rotationally cold sample, with J ≤ 3. This rotational selectivity will enable the dependence of reaction cross sections on the reactant rotational state to be examined. Mass spectrometry is used to characterise cold molecular beams of ND3 and CH3F, while (2+1) REMPI spectra are recorded for the ammonia isotopologues. The peak velocity of guided ND3 is 75.86(0.70) ms-1 for standard conditions in a 6 K helium buffer gas cell (1.0 sccm ND3 flow rate, 0.6 mbar helium inlet pressure, ± 5 kV voltage). This corresponds to a peak kinetic energy of 6.92(0.13) K. (2+1) REMPI spectroscopy of the B1E''(v2'=5) ← X(1) transition enabled the rotational state distribution of guided ammonia molecules to be established. PGOPHER simulations of the experimental spectra suggest a rotational temperature of 10 K for ND3 molecules (from a 6 K helium buffer gas cell). The extent of translational and rotational cooling can be controlled by varying the molecular and buffer gas densities within the cell, by changing the temperature of the buffer gas cell (we can operate at 6 K or 17 K), or by changing the buffer gas. The translational temperature of guided ND3 is similar in a 6 K helium and 17 K neon buffer gas cell (peak kinetic energies of 6.92(0.13) K and 5.90(0.01) K, respectively) because the heavier neon gas has a slightly lower thermal velocity at 17 K than helium does at 6 K. Despite similar translational temperatures, the rotational temperature of guided ND3 is lower for molecules exiting the 6 K helium cell compared to the 17 K neon buffer gas cell (10 K and 15 K, respectively). The 6 K helium and 17 K neon buffer gas cells provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the effect of rotational cooling on branching ratios and reaction rates in low temperature ion-molecule reactions. The buffer gas cell and velocity guide described in this work will be combined with a linear Paul ion trap, to facilitate the study of cold ion-molecule reactions.

An experimental and analytical investigation on a water-coupled microchannel gas cooler was conducted in this study. With a relatively low critical temperature (31.1°C/89.9°F) and pressure (73.7 bar/1070 psi), CO2 is a supercritical fluid on the high side of a vapor compression cycle under warmer ambient conditions. This results in a non-isothermal heat rejection through the component known as the gas cooler. The large temperature glide in the heating of tap water matches well with the supercritical temperature glide of carbon dioxide. Unlike in a condensation process, here the non isothermal heat rejection can be used to advantage in a counterflow gas cooler, in which the water outlet temperature can rise to the desired high value. This minimizes temperature pinch and keeps gas cooler size economical. The focus of this thesis was to develop and experimentally validate a heat transfer model for a water-coupled microchannel gas cooler. The heat exchanger was tested in a small capacity experimental heat pump system. The heat pump system was designed to simulate conditions for heating domestic tap water to a usable temperature. A matrix of test points varying refrigerant inlet temperature, refrigerant mass flow rate, water inlet temperature and water volumetric flow rate were used to characterize the performance of the heat exchanger and validate the model.

Inelastic collision processes driven by anistropic interactions are investigated below 1 K. Three distinct experiments are presented. First, for the atomic species antimony (Sb), rapid relaxation is observed in collisions with \(^4He\). We identify the relatively large spin-orbit coupling as the primary mechanism which distorts the electrostatic potential to introduce significant anisotropy to the ground \(^4S_{3/2}\) state. The collisions are too rapid for the experiment to fix a specific value, but an upper bound is determined, with the elastic-to-inelastic collision ratio \(\gamma \leq 9.1 x 10^2\). In the second experiment, inelastic \(\mathcal{m}_J\)-changing and \(J\)-changing transition rates of aluminum (Al) are measured for collisions with \(^3He\). The experiment employs a clean method using a single pump/probe laser to measure the steady-state magnetic sublevel population resulting from the competition of optical pumping and inelastic collisions. The collision ratio \(\gamma\) is measured for both \(\mathcal{m}_J\)- and \(J\)-changing processes as a function of magnetic field and found to be in agreement with the theoretically calculated dependence, giving support to the theory of suppressed Zeeman relaxation in spherical \(^2P_{1/2}\) states [1]. In the third experiment, very rapid atom-atom relaxation is observed for the trapped lanthanide rare-earth atoms erbium (Er) and thulium (Tm). Both are nominally nonspherical \((L \neq 0)\) atoms that were previously observed to have strongly suppressed electronic interaction anisotropy in collisions with helium \((\gamma > 10^4-10^5, [2,3])\). No suppression is observed in collisions between these atoms \((\gamma \lesssim 10)\), which likely implies that evaporative cooling them in a magnetic trap will be impossible. Taken together, these studies reveal more of the role of electrostatic anisotropy in cold atomic collisions. / Physics

Wildland fire services have successfully integrated compressed air foam systems (CAFS) into their fire suppression arsenal over the last few decades to effectively increase the firefighting ability of water. Many urban fire departments have done the same, but far more still rely on plain water to extinguish Class A fires. Many claims have been made about the advantages and disadvantages of firefighting foams, but only limited research has been conducted on the subject to date. Fire departments need more information, beyond that provided by foam suppliers and CAFS equipment manufacturers, to make an independent decision on whether or not to adopt the technology. This thesis is part of a larger project sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program (grant ID: EMW-2010-FP-01369) to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of compressed air foam systems (CAFS) for use in structural firefighting applications. Large-scale tests comparing water and foam suppression, which includes aspirated foam and CAFS, in a variety of scenarios were performed to measure the ability of the hose streams to reduce the temperature of a hot gas layer within a structure. These temperature reductions were recorded with thermocouples and are analyzed to determine which suppression agent has a superior gas cooling ability.

We cool and study trans-Stilbene, Nile Red and Benzonitrile in a cryogenic (7K) cell filled with low density helium buffer gas. No molecule-helium cluster formation is observed, indicating limited atom-molecule sticking in this system. We place an upper limit of 5% on the population of clustered He-trans-Stilbene, consistent with a measured He-molecule collisional residence time of less than \(1 \mu s\). With several low energy torsional modes, trans-Stilbene is less rigid than any molecule previously buffer gas cooled into the Kelvin regime. We report cooling and gas phase visible spectroscopy of Nile Red, a much larger molecule. Our data suggest that buffer gas cooling will be feasible for a variety of small biological molecules. The same cell is also ideal for studying collisional relaxation cross sections. Measurements of Benzonitrile vibrational state decay results in determination of the vibrational relaxation cross sections of \(\sigma_{22} = 8x10^{-15} cm^2\) and \(\sigma_{21} = 6x10^{-15} cm^2\) for the 22 (v=1) and 21 (v=1) states. For the first time, we directly observe formation of cold molecular dimers in a cryogenic buffer gas cell and determine the dimer formation cross section to be \(\sim10^{-13} cm^2\). / Physics

Today the large scale introduction of biomass gasification is hampered by health, safety and environmental issues which present a major barrier in the deployment of this technology. The condensate in particular resulting from producer gas cooling before use in gas engines is highly toxic and carcinogenic which, if not adequately controlled, can lead to detrimental impacts on human health and the environment. The study was therefore aimed at assessment of pollution levels resulting from biomass gasification organic condensates. The study involved assessing the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and BTEX (i.e. benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) in the condensate deemed toxic and carcinogenic, mention their impact on human health and the environment as well as recommend measures aimed at minimizing pollution levels resulting from biomass gasification.   The gasifier installation at Makerere University was run in downdraft mode using maize cobs as biomass fuel. The producer gas was cooled using a water cooled condenser connected to the exhaust pipe of the gasifier. The condensate was then transferred into sampling bottles made of opaque glass to minimize photochemical reactions in water samples and preserved in a cooler at 2oC to 6oC until the time for analysis to minimize volatilization and bacterial degradation of the hydrocarbons. The capillary gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detector (CGCMSD) was used to analyze the condensate for the selected hydrocarbons. The procedures involved preparation of PAHs and BTEX standard solutions using standard mixtures and internal standards, calibration of the CGCMSD, extraction of the aromatic hydrocarbons using hexane, performing a surrogate analysis to assess percent recoveries and injecting a 2 µl aliquot of the final solution of each test sample in a CGCMSD for analysis. Identification of targeted hydrocarbons was based on the retention time match and mass spectra match against the calibration standards while quantitation was done by use of internal standards.   The average concentration of naphthalene was 204.3 mg/m3, benzene-16.8 mg/m3,toluene-105.5 mg/m3, ethylbenzene-200.9 mg/m3, 1,2-dimethyl benzene-209.5 mg/m3 and 1,3+1,4-dimethyl benzene-790.4 mg/m3. Acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene and anthracene were not detected in the condensate by the CGCMSD due to their concentration levels being below the detection limit of the CGCMSD. The concentrations of naphthalene and xylene were considerably high compared to the recommended permissible exposure limits thus posing risks on both human health and the environment. It is therefore important to treat the condensate before disposal to the environment. On the other hand, the concentrations of benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene were below the permissible exposure limit and therefore for this study, the liquid effluent was considered to meet the regulatory standards. The recommendations aimed at minimizing pollution levels during biomass gasification were also discussed.

Divertors are in-vessel, plasma-facing, components in magnetic-confinement fusion reactors. Their main function is to remove the fusion reaction ash (α-particles), unburned fuel, and eroded particles from the reactor, which adversely affect the quality of the plasma. A significant fraction (~15 %) of the total fusion thermal power is removed by the divertor coolant and must, therefore, be recovered at elevated temperature in order to enhance the overall thermal efficiency. Helium is the leading coolant because of its high thermal conductivity, material compatibility, and suitability as a working fluid for power conversion systems using a closed high temperature Brayton cycle. Peak surface heat fluxes on the order of 10 MW/m^2 are anticipated with surface temperatures in the region of 1,200°C to 1,500°C. Recently, several helium-cooled divertor designs have been proposed, including a modular T-tube design and a modular finger configuration with jet impingement cooling from perforated end caps. Design calculations performed using the FLUENT® CFD software package have shown that these designs can accommodate a peak heat load of 10 MW/m^2. Extremely high heat transfer coefficients (~50,000 W/(m^2 K)) were predicted by these calculations. Since these values of heat transfer coefficient are considered to be outside of the experience base for gas-cooled systems, an experimental investigation has been undertaken to validate the results of the numerical simulations. Attention has been focused on the thermal performance of the T-tube and the finger divertor designs. Experimental and numerical investigations have been performed to support both divertor geometries. Excellent agreement has been obtained between the experimental data and model predictions, thereby confirming the predicted performance of the leading helium-cooled divertor designs for near- and long-term magnetic fusion reactor designs. The results of this investigation provide confidence in the ability of state-of-the-art CFD codes to model gas-cooled high heat flux plasma-facing components such as divertors.