“Go for it!” LMU grad shares his fusion story

Posted by DerekShannon on Sep 07, 2010 at 04:12 AM
Tools: Print | | (1) Comments

FFS: What got you interested in fusion?
Brandon:The original focus of my college education was electrical engineering, and during the summer of my junior year, I sat down and thought seriously about how I wanted to apply my degree.  Part of the the Jesuit ideals that we were taught at LMU included being “men and women for others,” and I wanted to apply my engineering degree towards something that would benefit the world.  Being an electrical engineering student, the topic of alternative energy seemed a logical and interesting choice, and during my research, the topic of fusion came up.  I thought fusion seemed like a cool and innovative approach to energy generation, and I had always been interested in the physics concepts behind my EE studies.  With this in mind, I restructured my education to add an engineering physics degree (and take one more year of school).  During my last year, I became aware of the online community building Farnsworth fusors (fusor.net), and endeavored to build one of my own.

FFS:What did people think when you told them you were building a fusion reactor?
Brandon: I think the most common question that I received was how big of an explosion it would make if it blew up.  Most people seemed to think it was cool, but were also a bit scared of the “nuclear” part of the whole deal.  I think it is a shame that many people (myself included before I started doing this research) have such a negative perception of anything “nuclear.”  Hopefully, as more “non-weapon” fusion research is conducted, the public perception of nuclear technology will become more positive.

FFS:What resources did it take?
Brandon: Surprisingly very little.  The largest expense would have been the vacuum pump, which I got for free by scavenging it from an old electron microscope that the school was throwing away.  The chamber itself cost maybe $50 in materials (two steel mixing bowls, a rubber gasket, and a cylinder of aluminum that we machined to make the vacuum flange and viewport) but did require the use of expensive tools such as a lathe and a drill press to fabricate.  I think if someone had access to a machine shop they could build a rig similar to ours for under $2000 total (including the cost of the vacuum pump).

FFS: What are the next steps for new students taking on the project, to get the machine up to measurable fusion?
Brandon: Well, we don’t know exactly why we did not measure neutrons, but the next step is to construct a more robust, smaller vacuum chamber and to make a power supply that can put out around 40kV instead of our current supply which maxes out at 20kV.

FFS: Will you be pursuing fusion science as a career?
Brandon: This semester I will be taking graduate classes at MIT and preparing to apply for the PhD program next year.  Assuming I make it, I would definitely like to work on fusion.  I am interested in an project at MIT called the Levitated Dipole Experiment, which is actually based on studies of naturally occurring plasma in space around planetary magnetospheres.  After grad school I hope to find a job either in the public or private sector doing fusion research.

FFS: Any advice?
Brandon: For anyone interested in fusion I would say to go for it!  There is plenty of information available in books and online, at all levels of education, to get started.  On the forum that I regularly search for fusor-related information (fusor.net), there are high school students that have reported building their own fusors, so it really is possible for anyone with the proper motivation and work ethic to succeed.

Thanks to Brandon for his interview and work towards fusion, and best wishes in grad school.  There’s a lot more great information about the LMU Fusor Experiment at the project’s blog, so be sure to check it out, especially video of the fusor in action!

Here’s a tamer intro to the fusor in a more quiescent mood this September 3rd at the Low Temperature Physics Lab.  And no, just because the lab is low temp doesn’t mean this has anything to do with that chilly kind of fusion—As you will see at Brandon’s site, a fusor gets things nice and hot!

Share your fusion story or fusor experience in the comments!  What lessons can focus and Farnsworth fusioneers learn from one another?

[Ed. note: Comments on a prematurely published draft of this entry were cleared.]