Focus Fusion Society volunteer will perform thermal analysis of reactor design
(0) CommentsA graduate engineering student at the University of Rhode Island, Andrew Marchesseault, has volunteered to help Focus Fusion Society perform a more detailed thermal flow analysis of a focus fusion reactor design.
Removal of waste heat from all parts of the reactor is a key parameter in determining the economics of focus fusion. Simply put, the more heat that can be removed, the more power each unit can generate, and therefore the lower the cost of energy. Mr. Marchesseault, working with Eric Lerner, will be looking not only at the heat removal from the electrodes, but also from the energy conversion devices and the important problem of heat loss from the background plasma by UV radiation. The background, dilute, plasma in the vacuum chamber (much less dense and hot than the plasma in the plasmoid) must be maintained in an ionized state to prevent the boron from plating out. Such a plasma will emit UV radiation, leading to energy loss and heating of the vacuum chamber. While LPP performed preliminary analysis of all these heat flows, a much more detailed analysis, which will be made publicly available by Focus Fusion Society, will be very desirable.
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