[Ivy Matt]

News from the Talk Polywell forums: Dr. Park will be giving a talk titled “Polywell Fusion – Electric Fusion in a Magnetic Cusp” at UCLA on Friday, December 5th. See here for details.

[Ivy Matt]

I have seen various reasons given for why “it won’t work”. For one thing, it’s my understanding that the prevailing view of the DPF is still that it achieves fusion primarily through the ion beam colliding with colder gas in the vacuum chamber. There are still unknowns, but in this case I think LPP has sufficiently demonstrated that the plasmoid is the primary source of fusion reactions. Losses due to bremsstrahlung (X-radiation produced by high-energy electrons decelerating in the presence of ions) is a reason given for why aneutronic fusion in general will never be an efficient energy source. Eric Lerner has a hypothesis that under certain conditions the DPF can achieve gigagauss magnetic field strengths, greatly reducing energy transfer from the ions to the electrons, in turn reducing bremsstrahlung. See here for Lerner’s argument of why FF-1 [em]will[/em] work.

Those are the main arguments I’ve seen for why the physics won’t work out. I can’t think of any others off hand. I’ve also seen arguments questioning whether the engineering will work out, especially with regard to conversion of the ion beam or X-rays to electricity, and also the rate of anode erosion.

Francisl wrote: How can that hypothesis be tested?

FF-1 needs to be run under the requisite conditions, with hydrogen-boron fuel and smaller, beryllium electrodes. That’s what we’re all waiting for.

[Ivy Matt]

There is already a thread on the Lockheed reactor project in this forum. I made a new post in it that may answer your questions.

[Ivy Matt]

Aviation Week has more details on the Skunkworks project:

http://aviationweek.com/technology/skunk-works-reveals-compact-fusion-reactor-details

Overall, McGuire says the Lockheed design “takes the good parts of a lot of designs.” It includes the high beta configuration, the use of magnetic field lines arranged into linear ring “cusps” to confine the plasma and “the engineering simplicity of an axisymmetric mirror,” he says. The “axisymmetric mirror” is created by positioning zones of high magnetic field near each end of the vessel so that they reflect a significant fraction of plasma particles escaping along the axis of the CFR. “We also have a recirculation that is very similar to a Polywell concept,” he adds, referring to another promising avenue of fusion power research. A Polywell fusion reactor uses electromagnets to generate a magnetic field that traps electrons, creating a negative voltage, which then attract positive ions. The resulting acceleration of the ions toward the negative center results in a collision and fusion.

The plan is to produce a test reactor each year for the next five years, culminating in an ignition prototype, followed by another five years of development to produce a 23×43 foot, 100-MW production reactor. The fuel used will be DT at first, although aneutronic fuels may be possible with this design.

[Ivy Matt]

I saw this recently on the Talk Polywell forums:

http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/09/02/tungsten-checks-smit-röntgen-unveils-3d-tungsten-printing-technology/

With such useful properties, a number of firms and institutions have begun researching the ability to 3D print objects made from the metal, including ExOne, which partnered with rp+m to develop Tungsten additive manufacturing and CVMR Corporation, which is working to make its own industrial machines to print with Tungsten powders. Philips-owned Smit Röntgen, previously a manufacturer of medical imaging parts, has just broken into the 3D printing industry with their proprietary laser melting process for additively manufacturing Tungsten components.

For LPP’s purposes I believe 3D printing, at least in its present state, doesn’t come close to the precision required for the electrodes. However, I decided to post this here just in case it could be useful.

[Ivy Matt]

Apparently they already have:

https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/TeamingPartners.aspx?foaid=d38ed10b-10ff-4f63-9ff6-4797f53f2c90

[Ivy Matt]

The X-ray collector is described briefly in the patent, and a cross-section thereof depicted in Figure 10, but LPP has not actually constructed one (as far as I am aware) and will not likely do so until after it has demonstrated the feasibility of fusion energy production. Claims about the efficiency of the X-ray collector are based on other labs’ work.

Note: although some depictions of a Focus Fusion reactor show a spherical X-ray collector, which has been dubbed the “onion”, a cylindrical X-ray collector will likely be more practical to produce.

[Ivy Matt]

Helion Energy has received $1.5 million in funding from YCombinator and Mithril Capital:

http://www.helionenergy.com/?p=1386

[Ivy Matt]

Helion Energy has updated their website: http://www.helionenergy.com/

Of particular interest is that the folks at Helion think they can achieve conditions sufficient for D+3He fusion, with the 3He coming from the products of the D+D reaction. (Apparently they’re planning to separate and store the tritium until it decays to 3He.)

With the tritium separated, much of the fusion energy is released as charged particles, which push against the magnetic field that was used to compress the fusion fuel, thereby generating electricity by direct conversion.

They have achieved ion temperatures of 5 keV with their latest prototype.

Their plan is to develop truck-sized 50-MW reactors that can produce electricity for less than 4 cents per kilowatt/hour.

[Ivy Matt]

Here’s another source in English: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201407050013.aspx

Though the self-made “Fusor” has proven a hit online, it hasn’t been tested to verify it actually does anything. And applied sciences department head Lin Chih-ming made a point of clarifying that it is not in fact a fusion reactor, but rather a deuterium plasma machine.

Well, it evidently ionizes deuterium. And there’s no point in using deuterium gas unless you’re aiming for fusion. So it seems to me that Chen was aiming for fusion. Of course, it’s entirely possible he didn’t achieve it, and perhaps won’t achieve it with his $500 fusor. But if nobody found evidence of fusion, I don’t suppose the AEC will have any kind of a case against him. I mean, they don’t ban plasma globes, or neon or fluorescent lights in Taiwan, do they?

[Ivy Matt]

LPP has instruments to detect neutrons, X-rays, and the current from the ion beam. I imagine the measurement of current from the ion beam (using a set of Rogowski coils) will be the all-important measurement. For more on LPP’s instruments (at least as of 2011), see here: https://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C72

[Ivy Matt]

Eric Lerner gave a Google Tech Talk in 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhKB-VxJWpg

In 2013 LPP and several other fusion research companies participated in a Google Solve for X event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h0y4jwn7DM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDzZwVtMxg8

However, Google has not invested any money in LPP, as far as I am aware.

[Ivy Matt]

I’m not sure I see what the big deal is. It seems she made an observation, formed a hypothesis, and made a prediction. Her prediction failed to bear out, so she modified her hypothesis based on another observation, and is making tentative predictions based on that. I suppose the (mildly) interesting thing will be to see what she does if this set of predictions fails. Then, again, I’m not exactly sure what she was predicting. Was she predicting that something would happen in the June 11-14 timeframe and/or July 6? If that’s the case, she’s likely to be right. Was she predicting an earthquake in that timeframe? Again, she’s likely to be right. Was she predicting a devastating, headline-grabbing earthquake? In that case, probably not. Anyway, I’m not sure I see the correlation between earthquakes and the orbit of an unobserved planet and/or the magnetic field of a companion star. Even assuming we accept the existence of such things, and the idea that they cause earthquakes, why would they cause earthquakes on certain days and not on others? If she has an actual hypothesis, I think she could do a much better job of stating what it is. Of course, the clearer the hypothesis, the easier it is to falsify.

[Ivy Matt]

A few notes from Dr. Park’s talk at UW-Madison can be found here.

[Ivy Matt]

NBC News has an article on the latest EMC2 results:

For years, EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. has had to conduct its research into what’s known as Polywell fusion outside public view because the Navy wanted it that way. Now the Navy is phasing out its funding, and EMC2 Fusion is planning a three-year, $30 million commercial research program to see if its unorthodox approach can provide a fast track to cheap nuclear fusion power.

EMC2 is looking for private investment now. The way I read the article, if they get the funding they need, they’ll attempt to achieve net gain around 2017. They don’t rule out aneutronic fusion, but if their investors want them to go for DD or even DT first, that’s what they’ll go for.

[Author]

Posts