6th September update: Yield 1/10 of expected @ 1MA, but might be fixed.

[Brian H]

Rezwan wrote:

Did something bad happen?
…

Why, that’s today! Congratulations! Or…maybe not today.

Do you, MTd2, take Tomorrow to be your lawfully wedded…

😆 :cheese: 😆
Good one! Wery witty, ‘Wan!

[MTd2]

Hmm, I’m back… But the update was not done!

Is anything bad going on???

[zapkitty]

MTd2 wrote: Hmm, I’m back… But the update was not done!

Is anything bad going on???

None Compost Mentos.

[MTd2]

I googled for that and it asked me if I meant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_compos_mentis

I am not confused, see:

https://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/article/lppx_updates_-_september/

[Tulse]

I think it is safe to say that, when there is something to report, it will be reported. Research generally can’t adhere to a rigid schedule.

[MTd2]

But the report said there was something already to be reported.

[Aeronaut]

MTd2 wrote: But the report said there was something already to be reported.

They’re going to need to know that the machine reliably fires all 12 caps within the required timeframe before anything else is going to matter in the big picture of repeatability. There are also newer sensors in the diagnostic suite which must be calibrated in order to cross-check results several different ways. Only then will the new frontiers of 2 to 3 MA, HMFE and or pB-11 become a reasonable series of experiments.

[MTd2]

You mean that they are going to redo tests to post it again? I thought even though only 10 fired, it was enough to know that the plasmoid was not small enough and needed more fine tuning.

[Aeronaut]

The machine was designed for 12 caps and switches, laid out to deliver the power to the anode symmetrically. This means that if even 1 switch is out of spec, it should be balanced by unhooking the counterpart directly across from it. Thinking of it as a 12 cylinder race car, are you planning to race without your machine working precisely as designed? While it can be done, you know it’s going to cost more than it should.

[MTd2]

I don’t understand car analogies very well, although I have a car. But from what I got of the linked LPP website, the problem was finding the ideal angular momentum of the converging filaments.

So, what I really want to know if finding such angular momentum is turning out so troublesome that might lead focusfusion completely impractical for generating energy, and this is the cause for the delayed news.

[vansig]

MTd2 wrote: I don’t understand car analogies very well, although I have a car. But from what I got of the linked LPP website, the problem was finding the ideal angular momentum of the converging filaments.

So, what I really want to know if finding such angular momentum is turning out so troublesome that might lead focusfusion completely impractical for generating energy, and this is the cause for the delayed news.

no. finding that sweet spot, the right amount of angular momentum, will be the easy part.

afaik, the current activities are focused on getting switches firing precisely in sync, and preparing for decaborane fuel.

[MTd2]

It might be an easy issue for you, but I cannot see a reason of why the filaments would not enter in a chaotic convergence around the supposed sweet spot. Have you ever twisted a string so much that the twists starts twisting around themselves? It soon becoms a chaotic mass. So, how can you assure me that a chaotic state won’t dominate around the equilibrium point? Chaos would ensue, and a lot of energy would be lost. Fiding an equilibrium point doesn’t seem a trivial question at all, at least for me.

[AaronB]

The equilibrium question is very important. To understand how this works, you have to understand that charged particles like to follow magnetic lines. If there is no external magnetic field to guide the ions and electrons, they converge in a chaotic mess when the filaments combine, losing energy in the process. The axial field coil creates a curved path that the electrons and ions can follow in a smooth way, creating a nice whirlpool effect. If too little external magnetic field is applied, the filaments will crash into each other (as you describe) and lose energy. If too much external magnetic field is applied, the whirlpool created will be so strong that the filaments will just circle around without combining. The sweet spot is the amount of magnetic field that will allow a gentle transition without the chaos. I’ve done the string-twisting experiment also, and if you’ve done it, you know that if you pull the string tighter, the twists come undone under higher tension. That’s what the magnetic field does. It provides that tension as well as a guide for the charged particles.

The next monthly report isn’t too far away, so you’ll get an update on our latest progress soon enough.

[MTd2]

AaronB wrote: To understand how this works, you have to understand that charged particles like to follow magnetic lines. If there is no external magnetic field to guide the ions and electrons, they converge in a chaotic mess when the filaments combine, losing energy in the process. .

The LPP site says that the intensity of that magnetic field has the magnitude of earth’s, which is 0.5 gauss. The converging filaments is like an infinite solenoid. But the one inside the solenoid, near the equilibrium point, goes up to 1.2 billion gauss, that is 9 orders of magnitude higher and any bending of the solenoid would create a non-zero radial, whose projection on the perpendicular could locally disturb the guiding magnetic field. In this case, there would be chaos.

I still don’t see a solution for that.

[Aeronaut]

MTd2 wrote:

To understand how this works, you have to understand that charged particles like to follow magnetic lines. If there is no external magnetic field to guide the ions and electrons, they converge in a chaotic mess when the filaments combine, losing energy in the process. .

The LPP site says that the intensity of that magnetic field has the magnitude of earth’s, which is 0.5 gauss. The converging filaments is like an infinite solenoid. But the one inside the solenoid, near the equilibrium point, goes up to 1.2 billion gauss, that is 9 orders of magnitude higher and any bending of the solenoid would create a non-zero radial, whose projection on the perpendicular could locally disturb the guiding magnetic field. In this case, there would be chaos.

I still don’t see a solution for that.

The 12GG field is the fuel and energy containment field, which would be produced by any DPF designed to be operated in the 2MA to 3MA input current range. The angular momentum coil is an entirely separate coil, hence the much lower strength. It can be likened to rifling a gun’s barrel to impart a stabilizing spin.

[Author]

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