Steady Progress at Focus Fusion

What has to be appreciated is thatthis device design is the first practical configuration that can beincrementally improved without running into obvious roadblocks.  What I mean is that it should work inside theenvelope of our knowledge and that it compares rather nicely to the earlyefforts that made the internal combustion engine emerge.  I anticipate break even sooner or later.  I also see specific technical improvementsbeen indicated and clearly achievable.

I think we are looking at the emergence of the power plant able to operate a starship and the very important MFEVs (magnetic field exclusion vessel)

Thus we will motor through thebreakeven point with this design and a long way past.  It seems to be a case of achieving robustnessand precision.  At some point it will allbe done in carbon which will serve to bring the size and mass down.

Eight fold symmetry is shown tobe better that ten fold symmetry.  Thatat least throws the five factor out and supports the next stage of sixteen foldsymmetry.  I suspect that this isimportant in terms of going forward.

It is great to be able to followthis technology so closely as it emerges. Read previous posts on the topic by googling focus fusion on this blog.

Focus fusion project getting greaterrepeatability and higher current beams

MAY 23, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/focus-fusion-project-getting-greater.html

1. Lawrenceville Plasma Physics is getting major improvement inrepeatability of fusion yield and beam production. Repeatable fusionyield is now within a factor of 4 of predictions. Clues found from data andsimulation on improving filamentation, ending the early-beam problem andboosting yield up to predictions.

Any small deviation from symmetry greatly reduced yield and repeatability. Whenwe changed the number of capacitors firing from 10 to 8, variability droppeddramatically, with the range of fusion yields dropping first to 3 to 1 and thento ±15% (around a yield of 5x10^10 neutrons).While 10 capacitors are not symmetrically arranged and 8 are, the currentspreads out to make asymmetries quite small, so this effect told us that wecould still improve the symmetry of the initial conditions of firing. 

2. Lawrenceville plasma physics is getting greater repeatability andreduced variability and larger current in the beam measured by the upperRogowski coil (URC) and by our photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs), which measurehard X-rays generated by the electron beam. Their highest currentbeams, seen twice on May 11, have current of almost 300 kA, and most of thebeams observed are within a factor of 3 of that current

The observations are right in line with their prediction of energies of 0.9 MeVand current of 280 kA, proving again they are getting good transference ofenergy into the plasma and into the beam, but not quite enough compression toget high density. The greater reliability of the beams means LPP’s DPFtechnology can generate more reliable bursts of high intensity X-rays.