Mylar and First Shot update
(6) CommentsAs noted on twitter (follow us on twitter!) the first shots are not taking place today for a number of reasons, including a decision to order different mylar sheets.
After working with the mylar insulation sheets, The LPP team developed a better way of installing it that required a different span of sheet. Awaiting the larger sheets (as well as general construction progress) has resulted in a re-estimation for the date of the first shots.
Expectations for the first shots now place it closer to October 2.
Mylar
The purpose of mylar insulation sheets is to electrically insulate the ground buss from the upper hot buss plate. The buss plate forms the transmission line that delivers the power from the capacitors to the central dense plasma focus load.
Ten layers of mylar sheets will thus go on top of the ground buss plates, over the capacitors.
The sheets come in different sizes. As insulating material, the danger of using several sheets side by side is that the current can find a way through the seams where the sheets join together. Sheets have to be layered on each other in a staggered fashion to effectively render the seams non-conductive.
A solution to the “seam” problem is to get a single, continuous sheet with no seams to cover the entire structure. Such a sheet would be too big, and difficult to cut down to size. The sheets LPP has are smaller and required a lot of layering, which was manageable. But after some discussion, the team decided a better way to work with the mylar would be to get large 6’ sheets to cover the “cross” in the center of the structure, and use the rest of the sheets to cover each of the four extensions.
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For a more in depth discussion, start a thread in the forums.Thanks for the update.
I wonder if there are safety precautions so there would be no accident with a person being in the room when a shot is taken.
Since the fuel will be deuterium in a vacuum, it seems unlikely anyone will be in the room. Wouldn’t want a body full of light water, like a human, to interfere with the neutron flux, anyhow.
The safety precaution is that no one will be in the room when they fire the shots. Ever.
But how can we be sure no one will be in the room? The room is very small, so, before every shot, Murali will look inside and make sure no stray human being has wandered in. Then, after he gives the all clear, shots will be fired.
In the event that someone sneaks in, and dances around behind the capacitors to avoid being seen, and is thus in the room when the shots are fired, this fool risks X-ray and neutron radiation and electrocution.
Hence the reminder that no one will ever be IN the room when shots are fired.
He would have a hard time dancing around behind the capacitors or anywhere else, unless he/she is REALLY good at holding his/her breath, and is highly heat-resistant. And decaborane is a really nasty poison when in gaseous form. “Acute exposures to decaborane cause loss of coordination, convulsions, weakness, tremors, and hyperexcitability. Decaborane’s primary effects are on the kidneys and liver. ... The ability of decaborane to penetrate the skin is particularly notable, as is its toxicity to the central nervous system ...”
So the lack of co-ordination and convulsions mitigate against successful hide-and-seek concealment.
My bad! I was confused about the cell; it’s of course not flooded with decaborane. Just the device housing (I guess).
When is the first shot scheduled now? We’re 4 days past the revised estimate of Oct. 2.
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