[zapkitty]

Rezwan wrote:

Speaking of wish lists and stocking stuffers…

Of the things that need doing in addition to finishing LPPX-1… how many of those could be done or at least investigation started by interested third parties (presumably by using existing equipment and sources) without needing to wait on LPPX-1?

I like where this is going. I hear reports of a Japanese endeavor and the Iranians. There’s a big DPF in Las Vegas. To coordinate something like a multi-lab collaboration would take some doing, but may turn out to be necessary.

Well… how many useful things could be investigated without using a DPF at all?

I’m thinking of existent facilities and labs who might take an interest in various aspects of FF without needing to (or wanting to) recreate LPPX-1.

Are there alternative x-ray sources in the energy range of those produced by FF… even if not at the fluix levels of FF?

Alpha sources with the same caveats?

FF-level capacitors are certainly available, but would FF-level switches also be required for proper research into that area?

Don’t quite get electrode work without a DPF but I’m not a clever type…

That’s the sort of thing I was thinking of.

[zapkitty]

Speaking of wish lists and stocking stuffers…

Of the things that need doing in addition to finishing LPPX-1… how many of those could be done or at least investigation started by interested third parties (presumably by using existing equipment and sources) without needing to wait on LPPX-1?

[zapkitty]

AaronB wrote:

Or we could just use the whole $5M to keep plugging along.

After much thought and deliberation, and since I sunburn easily, I’m going to have to choose the latter.

See if I’ve got the current financial upshot correct: $5 mil should enable finishing LPPX-1 and should bridge the gap and then some to the following stages, right?

[zapkitty]

Breakable wrote:

Reduced shielding? Even if you reduce the frequency of the pulses the amount of prompt radiation from each pulse will stay the same and thus the required shielding will also be the same.

I think radiation dose can be calculated by Dose=Time*Intensity. So if you reduce frequency, you reduce the time.

But that changes one of the primary tenets of FF – its plug and play capability.

It moves you from the literal and metaphorical safe zone of “less than background radiation” to the slippery slope of “an acceptable dose in excess of background radiation”… and that slope, the concept of what is an “acceptable dose of radiation,” has always moved downwards as we gather more data on what a given dose of radiation actually does.

And as I’ve said before: given the reaming the American people has received from our lords and masters… and with the worst of that yet to come… now would not be a good time to rely on the rhetoric of “suck it up.”

[zapkitty]

Breakable wrote:
Still I believe FF units could be made much cheaper if their capacity factor would be reduced to about 5 kw, by reducing the frequency and getting rid of most cooling, shielding…

Reduced shielding? Even if you reduce the frequency of the pulses the amount of prompt radiation from each pulse will stay the same and thus the required shielding will also be the same.

As for your basic concept… eventually you’ll get to the point where smaller doesn’t give you a cheaper power source… but where that point will turn out to be is an interesting question…

[zapkitty]

Lerner wrote: Once mass-production is begun ( which costs more initially in investment) costs per unit should drop to about $300,000 for a 5 MW generator.

… as opposed to 10 times that or more for a used 5MW gas turbine genset that would cost far more to run…

[zapkitty]

rashidas wrote: Let’s use the proposed $5 million dollar donation as a starting point. Would this amount be enough to build and run a 10 MW power plant – either base load or peaking?

Whoa… 🙂

As FF still needs a variety of components validated first, I think such money should be split between getting LPPX-1 through its testing regime and simultaneously funding at least the following items which I’ve put in what I imagine is the descending order of difficulty/expense:

X-ray direct conversion “onion”
Electrode erosion quantification and mitigation.
Capacitor bank lifespan and life extension.
Alpha direct conversion coil design.
Helium coolant system.

All of the above need to be worked on and validated before it becomes possible to design even a prototype power plant… and I’m sure there’s other things I’ve overlooked 🙂

[zapkitty]

The typos in Lerner-hakase’s posts would indicate to me that he’s just jotting off answers offhand when he feels it is needed rather than that he’s laboring under an excessive burden of questioning. And as Aeronaut has pointed out they have been very informative answers 🙂

I’d suggest that he answers questions that he think needs answering when he gets a spare moment… if someone else on the team hasn’t gotten there first. The other side of that coin would be that good manners indicates that we should appreciate the time spent on such… and we also should understand that at other times he may not wish to spare the effort.

Just my 2 quatloos

[zapkitty]

… was the angular momentum a poloidal rotation of the torus?

[zapkitty]

vansig wrote:
by the way,
the forum software, here, mangles URLs that embed spaces or punctuation, but you can use a shortener:

http://www.plasmafocus.net/IPFS/Papers/PP1Published APPLAB922021503_1witherratum.pdf
–> http://tinyurl.com/2uho7a9

http://www.intimal.edu.my/school/fas/UFLF/Papers/PP3PublishedPPCF 50 (2008) 065012 .pdf
–> http://tinyurl.com/38u9lfd

http://www.plasmafocus.net/IPFS/2010 Papers/Energies PP.pdf
–> http://tinyurl.com/346zl96

http://www.plasmafocus.net/IPFS/Papers/PP1Published APPLAB922021503_1witherratum.pdf

hmmm… a “the following string is an url” tag can be kludged… but the software’s not open source…

[zapkitty]

rashidas wrote: Here is a link to an article in New Scientist about nanomaterials that can convert radioactivity directly into electricity:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13545-nanomaterial-turns-radiation-directly-into-electricity.html

Would this process have an application in High Density Plasma (Focus) Fusion?

What I gather from the article is that this is a fission-oriented approach which won’t be of much help to a Focus Fusion aneutronic fusion reactor… because the output of an FF is basically alpha particles, x-rays and heat.

The coils around the FF alpha beam already convert the energy of the alphas to electricity much more efficiently… and much more cheaply… than the gold-stuffed nanotubes would 🙂

… what this is, is Heinlein’s isotopic batteries, is what it is….

[zapkitty]

benf wrote:
One thing I realize is that the plasma I made is torus shaped instead of umbrella shaped as in other animations on this site. What is more accurate as the plasma runs up the electrodes?

… more akin to the arc of a Jacob’s Ladder or a railgun but in 2D instead of 1d so more like a sheet than a torus…

[zapkitty]

Rezwan wrote: We need to start compiling this kind of discussion into a “ReNeW” document for the DPF, if there isn’t one out there already.

… “ReNeW” document?

[zapkitty]

Esuf> The Tok fuses. Neutrons fly. You feel weaker.
Esuf> A Tritium has escaped the Tok!
Esuf> The Tok fuses. Neutrons fly. You feel weaker.
Esuf> The Tritium threatens you!

> cast 30 cm of Steel at Tritium

Esuf> The Tritium migrates through the Steel.
Esuf> The Tok fuses. Neutrons fly. You feel weaker.
Esuf> Now the Steel threatens you!
Esuf> The Tritium smirks at you…

[zapkitty]

Brian H wrote: Long before the project is half done, I think and hope FF generators will be spreading across the planet like wildfire. Even though ITER is not purpose-designed to generate power, the loss of relevance of that 50-yr pie-in-the-sky “promise” will undercut and then eliminate financial support for it. It will end up as an aborted white elephant like the Super-Conducting Super-Collider. Saving lotsa billions and leaving France with a very interesting cleanup problem.

How so? Just stock it with FFs, Polywells, etc etc and keep on building but with an emphasis on prototyping gear. France can become the premier alt fusion research capitol of the world with just a fraction of the ITER budget… and do all that while generating more jobs than the tok would.

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