[zapkitty]

Has Google ever supported a non-Google commercial venture in that way?

Focus Fusion is a very public-spirited project, but LPP [em]is[/em] a company.

[zapkitty]

Joeviocoe wrote:

Lerner mentioned that sputtering (causing the deformation of the electrodes and requiring monthly replacement/re-depositing)… would increase again a bit going from Tungsten to Beryllium.

1) But what about electrode vaporization for Beryllium from 2.8 MA of current? Would that undo much of the benefits for going from Copper to Tungsten?

Yes, but while tungsten’s properties of hardness and heat resistance will be very helpful in the next, intermediate, stages of research that same tungsten will become worse than useless as the x-ray flux approaches breakeven conditions.

The x-rays will take out the tungsten. And then tungsten everywhere except where it’s supposed to be.

… but the LPP team intends to use this time with the tungsten to, among other things, learn the best techniques for reducing the runaway electrons that do so much to erode the electrodes.

The plan is that when they finally have to switch to beryllium that what they’ll have learned from working with the tungsten will help them keep the Be erosion to manageable levels.

Joeviocoe wrote: 2) Would Beryllium electrodes cause impurities which reduce yield? (even though the atomic mass is 7 times lighter than copper)

If they can’t keep the erosion levels down then it’ll become a moot point.

Joeviocoe wrote: 3) Would the Beryllium electrodes need a thin surface plating of Tungsten… … Or would that thin surface absorb too much X-Rays and burn up?

Per Lerner it would vaporize and crack the electrode surfaces.

[zapkitty]

mariusz wrote: Another question – is _this_ part of the website functional

Yes, the older parts of the site are still relevant, and can be helpful, but a hasty setup of a “support LPP’s crowdfunding” front page has caused a lot of minor issues.

Even Eric Lerner has pointed out that the new stuff needed to be better integrated with the existing FFS stuff but there was a lot of excitement about the LPP crowdfund… and this all happened as we migrated to a new web host. Been doing catch-up maintenance since then.

mariusz wrote: I did not get any membership subscription confirmation. Do you still accept new members?

Oh yes, we accept new members, and even previously-owned members 🙂

Ben Ferris (benf) and Ignas Galvelis (Breakable) have been handling membership issues so this should be brought to their attention.

[zapkitty]

mariusz wrote:

I will respond to you in the PM .

btw. does the pm feature even works? I’ve sent a msg to you, but my “Sent Folder” is empty 🙂

Mariusz

PMs are working, but if you want to save sent messages you have to check a box saying so while composing each message.

Yeah, it’s not a great UI… fortunately we’ll be migrating to a better setup.

[zapkitty]

benf wrote:
Focus Fusion technology would also be useful for keeping the batteries charged when out and about in his vehicles…

Should we be tweeting Mr. Musk about our crowdfunding effort?

You overlook the fact that the FF units would power the factory and recycling facilities… thus bringing FF’s cost savings to the entire product life cycle.

And that would be huge savings indeed.

As for fusion power, Musk has spoken approvingly of the possibilities of fusion power but he’s only mentioned neutronic fusion in his talks and is designing his facilities for solar because that’s the non-carbon power that we’ve got at the moment.

[zapkitty]

Thanks for the tip!

[zapkitty]

(forum links aren’t working at the moment , so you’ll have to copy and paste links)

This is probably a lot heavier than what you have in mind but over at talk-polywell…

http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5391

… there’s a fusion text that just came up, Fusion Physics, about plasma physics and nuclear fusion:

“This publication is a comprehensive reference for graduate students and an invaluable guide for more experienced researchers.”

http://www-pub.iaea.org/books/IAEABooks/8879/Fusion-Physics

[zapkitty]

FrankOlson wrote: Any thoughts about what’s to be done with the electron beam??

When the plasmoid reaches FF-level operational density the electron beam isn’t expected to make it out of the plasmoid.

Instead it will expend its energy heating the plasmoid further and increasing the fusion rate .

[zapkitty]

Yes, the changes to the site for the crowdfunding effort messed up the code the forum expects to find. I’ll fix it when I get some time.

[zapkitty]

Actually, the redirect was broken when the new crowdfund-oriented front page was pasted on top of the old front page code.

I’ll fix it when I get some time.

[zapkitty]

Francisl wrote: Zapkitty,
How would you like to handle longer articles than are normally posted on these forum pages? Longer articles with pictures or diagrams may become more common as some of the fusion projects make more progress.

Wouldn’t that be the same as what I proposed above?

“…Articles by FFS members.”

[zapkitty]

Actually, industrial process heat will be a great driver of FF sales. A great deal of current industrial energy use is simply to generate heat in the first place.

With a 5 MW FF unit supplying 5 MW electric and 8.4 MW thermal an industrial site has a win/win/win situation… the site gets electrical power, process heat and its overall thermal footprint actually goes *down*

For a residential area the unit can supply residential heating in winter and the heat can even power residential absorption chillers in the summer.

Oh yeah, there’s going to be use for an FF units’ “waste” heat… a *lot* of use.

And where heat is not needed, just the power, the FF unit can be air cooled and distributed widely so as to have minimum impact on its surroundings as well as a much lower overall thermal footprint than fossil fuels.

[zapkitty]

Okay, the forum can find the attachments again.

[zapkitty]

Attachment test

Attached files

[zapkitty]

Test for post-maintenance functionality.

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