Reply To: Peak Oil from Truth Out

[asymmetric_implosion]

Your protocol moves into a realm of unexplored territory. Understanding the unknown is the heart of science and I believe experimental work is the key. However, enthusiasm must be tempered by technology; specifically, technology that is in reach. A comment that I’ve heard passed around for years in science is that cutting edge work is funded to attempt one miracle. Your protocol has at least two miracles in it. The first is the operating pressure. I think it is possible to build an experiment to test the pressure component at a few shots per day. The cost is the real issue. To drive a plasma at 50 atm, you would need a substantial capacitor bank. The electrodes could be designed but pressure seals that can operate from 0.03 atm to 50 atm are daunting. I don’t know if the technology exists. If someone knows of such a technology I would love to know about it. It would fix some of my problems in other projects.

The second miracle is operating the pulse power at the repetition rate you are implying. If I take your words in the most favorable way for the pulse power, it is a daunting pulse power system. If one starts with the assumption that you want to fire a pulse as soon as the gas in the pressure chamber is back in equilibrium after the previous shot (~1ms). A capacitor bank can be charged in 1 ms with the correct supply. It is not common but possible. The energy in the bank at a minimum would be the LPP bank or ~60 kJ. Charging the bank then takes an average power of 60 MW (average home is 20 kW so you need the equivalent power of 3000 homes). OK, still not impossible but I don’t want to pay for that electrical substation. Charging and discharging a capacitor bank of this magnitude at 1 kHz has never been attempted. The capacitors exist as do the switches but again cost is significant at $7000 per switch (100+ switches) and $300 per cap (>200 caps).

I will try to muster my enthusiasm, but the key questions are what is the budget for such an experiment and where is the money coming from? Just off the top of my head you are talking about $1M just to reproduce the LPP system. The high pressure testing would probably cost another $1-2M/yr in people/overhead for likely two years to build the experiment and test it. A materials budget of $500K/yr would probably be essential after the pulse power and other essential components are in place.

The high repetition rate system could cost 10-100X the FF-1 system in hardware. To run the experiments would probably cost $3M/yr or more in qualified people with overhead to answer the questions. If you envision the experiments on the smaller scale it could cost less, but I can’t see a program of less than $5M over 5 yrs to get the answers you are seeking. The potential pitfall for the PF is that at small scale you are unlikely to form a plasmoid.

If you consider these comments unenthusiastic, please understand that the money is likely the limiting factor. Given the current government funding climate, it is hard to imagine them investing in such an experiment. Private investors are clearly interested (LPP is an example), but this project starts off requiring more funding than LPP has now to complete their first stage. There are a number of serious technical challenges that need to be addressed. None of these are impossible but the return on investment might be poor and the technical challenges might mask the answer you desire.

If a funding stream has yet to be identified, time should be taken to identify a likely customer before sweating out the technical details. I have yet to encounter an investor or gov’t techie with a checkbook that needs >25% of the technical details in the first discussion. Big picture ideas are generally enough before a proposal (gov’t) or business plan (investor). If you are seeking a nights and weekend kind of commitment of people, it might be possible without funding just to fill in some technical details, but a serious set of experiments is out of reach. Most university PF devices fire a few shots per hour at most and privately held machines are harder to access without money.

If you tell me that money is no problem, more technical details can be worked out and a team of solid individuals could be identified to attempt such an experiment. I can provide a list of folks that are active in the community with the skills that you need.