F-18 is a short-lived radioisotope commonly used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This radionuclide is typically produced through the O-18(p,n)F-18 reaction by proton bombardment of O-18-enriched water. Thermosyphon batch targets have been proposed as a means to increase F-18 production due to their enhanced heat rejection capabilities. These boiling targets have been operated with up to 3.2 kW of beam power with manageable O-18 enriched water volumes. The purpose of this research project has been to develop computational methods which can be used to design new targets with enhanced production capabilities. The computational methods developed in this work were used to design a low power thermosyphon production target for the Duke Medical Center cyclotron. This design was modeled to be range thick, and operate within the desired margins for beam powers in excess of 1 kW, the operating limit of the Duke cyclotron. A sensitivity analysis of the computational methods was performed which indicated the model is most sensitive to the boiling and condensing heat transfer coefficients. Even with a high uncertainty in these coefficients, the target should still operate well within the desired margins.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-11092006-180341 |
| Date | 06 December 2006 |
| Creators | Peeples, Johanna Louise |
| Contributors | Dr. J.M. Doster, Dr. M. Bourham, Dr. T. Gerig, Dr. B. Wieland |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11092006-180341/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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