The Focus Fusion Society Forums Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Experiment (LPPX) How's the new tungsten cathode working out?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 51 total)
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  • #1661
    Andrew Palfreyman
    Participant

    Has it seen current yet and is it behaving?

    #13588
    Lerner
    Participant

    Another two or three weeks to first firing–making sure everything is put together right.

    #13605
    Andrew Palfreyman
    Participant

    Let us hope that there are no hot spots, no spallations to pollute the plasma and that plasma density increases by the predicted factor. Indeed, let’s hope to beat expectations.

    #13609
    Andrew Palfreyman
    Participant

    So sorry to hear about the cathode assembly troubles. Deepest sympathies.

    #13610
    Tim1
    Participant

    Andrew Palfreyman wrote: So sorry to hear about the cathode assembly troubles. Deepest sympathies.

    For those of you who don’t get the newsletter. (Maybe only investors?) The cathode had a lower strength than expected and developed (micro?) cracks. It sounds like they have a fix, so it doesn’t sound like a real setback.

    I am a bit confused about the information contained in the newsletter. I think I saw it posted on nextbigfuture.com the day the newsletter was emailed once. Should it be embargoed until it is posted on the LPPF site, or should it be available immediately after it is sent?

    #13611
    Tim1
    Participant

    Since a beryllium cathode is in the works, what will we learn from the tungsten cathode that we won’t know from the beryllium cathode? (And anode.)

    #13612
    Tim1
    Participant

    Most of the information from the newsletter has been posted at:
    http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/04/lpp-fusions-tungsten-cathode-already.html

    #13613
    Ivy Matt
    Participant

    I believe the newsletter is sent to investors, FFS members, and IndieGoGo contributors. It used to be that investors got the newsletter a few days before FFS members, and before the news items were posted on the LPP website, but that practice seems to have changed, perhaps since the crowdfunding campaign. A link to the newsletter has been posted on the LPPX Twitter feed, so I imagine it’s fair game.

    #13614
    Tulse
    Participant

    I am super impressed at how forthcoming LPP was about the cathode cracking problems — the newsletter is very clear both about what the issue was, where things went wrong, and what they’re doing to fix it. I can’t think of any other company that would be willing to say “our president and chief scientist made an error that caused a sizeable problem”. I really do appreciate the enormous amount of transparency that LPP has always provided, and the fact that the company seems free of the PR and spin that so many other startups have.

    #13615
    Andrew Palfreyman
    Participant

    Hear hear!

    #13616
    Earl of Plasma
    Participant

    When will the first shot with the new tungsten cathode take place.

    #13620
    Andrew Palfreyman
    Participant

    All quiet for 2 weeks. Hopefully progress is positive…

    #13622
    Lerner
    Participant

    Steady progress towards firing. Taking it slow but accurate.

    #13624
    meemoe_uk
    Participant

    I recall focus fusion lectures stating that smaller is the way to go ( with the example of the tokamak as a fusion reactor that is too big ). In this sense, this big new cathode is a step backwards.

    why is the new cathode so big?

    #13631
    Lerner
    Participant

    Fiber-epoxy reinforcement of tungsten cathode completed! Next comes adding steel brace

    By the way, this cathode is not larger in the dimension that counts–the inner radius of the vanes. It is larger just because we have moved the current contacts outside the vacuum chamber to create a monolithic part, so that there is no arcing between pieces.

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