About March 2013 report

[vlad]

Which gas or gas mix is currently being used in the experiments on FoFu-1?

I couldn’t find any mention on this in the report…

[Breakable]

Deuterium.
The proton boron I don’t think is feasible with their current budget.

[ikanreed]

Breakable wrote: Deuterium.
The proton boron I don’t think is feasible with their current budget.

It’s certainly not the fuel that’s expensive(at least not comparatively). What needs to change that costs so much?

[Lerner]

Our plan is to stick with D , which is easy to use, until we have the machine functioning at maximum yield, and then switch to pB11. Not there yet. Patience, friends!

[vlad]

Thank you, Breakable

Ikanreed, maybe the reason is not in the cost of “fuel” itself, but in the cost of additional devices required. Or maybe in the orders of magnitude higher yield of radiation which would make the experiments more sophisticated ?

P.S. Oops Dr.Lerner answered just while I was writing my message 🙂 and as far as I understand him – he proved my idea
Thanks alot!

[zapkitty]

Lerner wrote: Our plan is to stick with D , which is easy to use, until we have the machine functioning at maximum yield, and then switch to pB11. Not there yet. Patience, friends!

When you do get set to try pB11 are you going to switch to the smaller electrodes you’ve discussed previously? Or will you first try it with the core size you’re using now?

I know you’re currently getting hot enough temps theoretically but I don’t know how much more margin you’d want for those kinds of tests…

[Tulse]

Since the system is currently using deuterium, is it expected that the current path would actually produce theoretical breakeven with that fuel? I know the energy of the D-D reaction can’t actually be captured with a focus fusion device, which isn’t designed to generate usable energy from neutronic reactions, but is the intent to demonstrate that the reaction itself is putting out more energy than input? That in itself would be a huge breakthrough, and should be far easier to achieve with D-D than pB11. Or am I missing something?

[Joeviocoe]

Lerner wrote: Our plan is to stick with D , which is easy to use, until we have the machine functioning at maximum yield, and then switch to pB11. Not there yet. Patience, friends!

Has anyone every successfully Fused Boron and Hydrogen ions in a device, that was not a linear atom smasher??

[Lerner]

yes, it was done on a very small scale with a femtosecond laser.

[vlad]

Is it possible to achieve breakeven with D-He3 fusion on FoFu-1 or similar DPF device?

[asymmetric_implosion]

D+3He is a little easier to access than p+11B but you are likely to produce a number of neutrons from D+D. 3He is in short supply so not a good long term choice as it is derived from tritium or some lunar digging. p+11B works best above 600 keV.

Attached fig shows the cross sections for the fusion contenders.

Attached files

[vlad]

asymmetric_implosion wrote: D+3He is a little easier to access than p+11B but you are likely to produce a number of neutrons from D+D. 3He is in short supply so not a good long term choice as it is derived from tritium or some lunar digging. p+11B works best above 600 keV.

Attached fig shows the cross sections for the fusion contenders.

Yes you’re right and I understand all these issues

But if someone achieves breakeven on DPF – it would become the BREAKEVEN in capital letters no matter which aneutronic fuel he uses.
And a magic wand that brings funding too 🙂

[asymmetric_implosion]

D+3He might be an easier path than p+11B at first but you could not claim an aneutronic success. My gut feeling is something like half your yield with very large error bars would be from D+D. One could argue that breakeven in itself is a big deal and it is. My opinion is a pinch device has reasonable odds of making it to breakeven first but it won’t be a PF. LPP is working toward or may have recently reached a 1 J fusion yield. With something like 50 kJ stored in the capacitor bank the Q is 5E-4. An experiment at Sandia using Z is my bet right now. They have better funding and more resources in terms of people. They also see an opportunity as NIF is pushed to the back burner. The MAGLIF experiment that will continue this year is quietly demonstrating some of the key technologies needed for their concept to work with D-T. I suspect when they fire fully loaded shots with D-D instead of D-T, they will reach a Q~0.1 very quickly. If their theory holds it will not be easy but a path forward to fusion will open up. Sandia has done a pretty good job of keeping the results low key and focused on science milestones as well as managing expectations with the funding agencies. NIF grossly over-promised and now they are paying for it.

[vlad]

asymmetric_implosion wrote: D+3He might be an easier path than p+11B at first but you could not claim an aneutronic success. My gut feeling is something like half your yield with very large error bars would be from D+D.

well I think the exact part of D-D reactions in D-3He mix depends on device work temperature, doesn’t it?
according to your graph (cross section vs ion energy) at say 200kEv the cross section of D-D is an order of magnitude more than for D-3He

asymmetric_implosion wrote: LPP is working toward or may have recently reached a 1 J fusion yield. With something like 50 kJ stored in the capacitor bank the Q is 5E-4.

well… yes
to be exact….. this is not an absolutely “honest” calculation
According to LPP significant part of this 50kJ can be returned back to the capacitor bank.
Most part can be returned very easily (like in capacitor – inductor ring), some part – with photo-voltaic effect transformation from X-rays. (I don’t remember exact numbers though..)
So to achieve breakeven DPF device should not generate full capacitor bank energy in each pinch, it is enough if it generates a bit more than energy losses

and yes – even in this case at 1J their Q would be no more than say 1E-3

nevertheless.. I followed their work during last three years, and knowing their history and results…. after they achieve 1J I would seriously think on buying some LPP actions.
Unfortunately as far as I know it’s impossible since I’m not an American citizen or registered investor, just a private person

[Francisl]

asymmetric_implosion wrote: One could argue that breakeven in itself is a big deal and it is. My opinion is a pinch device has reasonable odds of making it to breakeven first but it won’t be a PF.

An experiment at Sandia using Z is my bet right now.

Is the information gained from one device applicable to the other one since they are both pinch devices?

[Author]

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