January 29, 2015

Polywell Fusion at Microsoft

Hello All,

It's been a little while since I posted here. I have a new blog post. .

The Post: "An Industry Emerges" is a analysis of 16 companies working towards fusion power. I estimate that there is about 330 people engaged in these organizations, with a total funding of 430 million. By comparison, the KSTAR tokamak has 2X that amount invested.

I feel like these little companies (Trying everything from Polywells, Fusors, Focus Fusion, Magnetized Target Fusion, Lockheed's machine and beam fusion) are innovating much faster and are far closer to fusion than monsters like ITER.

Things have been happening fast in the polywell fusion world. Here is a short update:

In July, both Science and Nature reported on alternative fusion [31, 32]. This was a major milestone. It energized researchers who had been laboring away in obscurity. Natures’ article was more critical - covering Tri Alpha, Helion and General Fusion. The Science article was longer and more upbeat. It detailed General Fusion, focus fusion, Tri Alpha and the polywell. The author Daniel Clery has just published a new book on fusion [38].


In August, Phoenix Nuclear Labs announced it could churn out 100 billion neutrons a second, for an entire day [34, 35]. Wow. That is 24 hours of constant fusion. This shows a hint of what is possible when you use an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditions. Also in August, the government finally moved into alternative fusion. ARPA-E started a program named alpha. The budget of 30 million should fund about ten projects [13]. They see only two paths to fusion power. Laser fusion makes a high density plasma, while tokomaks makes a low density plasma. They want a third, middle range, high repetition option. By middle densities, they mean 1E18 to 1E23 ions per cubic centimeter [14]. Dr. Bussards’ polywell got there (1E19) but Dr. Park’s did not (1E16) [18, 3]. This request tells us much about the governments’ antiquated thinking. First, these new devices do not all pulse. Fusors can run continuously. Secondly, many schemes have no need for ‘drivers’ and ‘targets’. General Fusion and Tri Alpha are notable exceptions [19,20]. But, the polywell, the dynomak and Lockheeds’ designs do not work this way [21, 1, 27, 28].

In September the fifth paper was published by the University of Sydney [29]. Their old papers are explained on this blog [39 - 45]. Their new polywell has better electron injectors and is ten times stronger. The team also built a new capacitance probe and validating it was difficult. The probe was used to measure the voltage in the polywell, under different conditions. The coil made electrons that were attracted to the positive rings. As they approached the magnetic field overpowered, drawing the electros into the trap. The probe measured the amount trapped. The team found that trapping increased when more electrons were emitted. It also got stronger as the magnetic field rose. This is not surprising. Of the two variables, emission was more powerful. Trapping was connected to these variables with some rough math. You should read the paper yourself [39].

In October, Lockheed Martin revealed its fusion technology. This got international press [46 - 52]. Lockheed failed to give any data. They opted for a dreamy video and three patents [27, 28, 52]. This is unacceptable. We are building the case for fusion power. This is a long term effort. It can only be sustained by a community. A community of teachers, engineers, investors, policy makers, academics and businessmen. Everyone has a role here. The community needs to hear the newest data, presented in a clear manner. When this system breaks down – bad things happen. Lockheed should have done a paper before issuing a press release. Finally, the 16th IEC conference was held at University of Wisconsin Madison. The polywell had a bigger impact this year. Dr. Park gave a polywell keynote and Dr. Santarius discussed his modeling efforts [53]. Devlin Baker premiered his excellent modeling code and George Miley discussed the IEC family of technologies. Dr. Hirsch predicted that ITER funding would fall and IEC research could rise in its’ place [53]. It was a good conference.



This month the polywell was presented at MICROSOFT.

research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=238715&r=1


Sincerely,
The Polywell Guy
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com/

January 29, 2015

Updates on Polywell Fusion (Talk at MICROSOFT)

Hello All,

It's been a little while since I posted here. I have a new blog post. .

The Post: "An Industry Emerges" is a analysis of 16 companies working towards fusion power. I estimate that there is about 330 people engaged in these organizations, with a total funding of 430 million. By comparison, the KSTAR tokamak has 2X that amount invested.

I feel like these little companies (Trying everything from Polywells, Fusors, Focus Fusion, Magnetized Target Fusion, Lockheed's machine and beam fusion) are innovating much faster and are far closer to fusion than monsters like ITER.

Things have been happening fast in the polywell fusion world. Here is a short update:

In July, both Science and Nature reported on alternative fusion [31, 32]. This was a major milestone. It energized researchers who had been laboring away in obscurity. Natures’ article was more critical - covering Tri Alpha, Helion and General Fusion. The Science article was longer and more upbeat. It detailed General Fusion, focus fusion, Tri Alpha and the polywell. The author Daniel Clery has just published a new book on fusion [38].


In August, Phoenix Nuclear Labs announced it could churn out 100 billion neutrons a second, for an entire day [34, 35]. Wow. That is 24 hours of constant fusion. This shows a hint of what is possible when you use an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditions. Also in August, the government finally moved into alternative fusion. ARPA-E started a program named alpha. The budget of 30 million should fund about ten projects [13]. They see only two paths to fusion power. Laser fusion makes a high density plasma, while tokomaks makes a low density plasma. They want a third, middle range, high repetition option. By middle densities, they mean 1E18 to 1E23 ions per cubic centimeter [14]. Dr. Bussards’ polywell got there (1E19) but Dr. Park’s did not (1E16) [18, 3]. This request tells us much about the governments’ antiquated thinking. First, these new devices do not all pulse. Fusors can run continuously. Secondly, many schemes have no need for ‘drivers’ and ‘targets’. General Fusion and Tri Alpha are notable exceptions [19,20]. But, the polywell, the dynomak and Lockheeds’ designs do not work this way [21, 1, 27, 28].

In September, the fifth paper was published by the University of Sydney [29]. Their old papers are explained on this blog [39 - 45]. Their new polywell has better electron injectors and is ten times stronger. The team also built a new capacitance probe and validating it was difficult. The probe was used to measure the voltage in the polywell, under different conditions. The coil made electrons that were attracted to the positive rings. As they approached the magnetic field overpowered, drawing the electros into the trap. The probe measured the amount trapped. The team found that trapping increased when more electrons were emitted. It also got stronger as the magnetic field rose. This is not surprising. Of the two variables, emission was more powerful. Trapping was connected to these variables with some rough math. You should read the paper yourself [39].

In October, Lockheed Martin revealed its fusion technology. This got international press [46 - 52]. Lockheed failed to give any data. They opted for a dreamy video and three patents [27, 28, 52]. This is unacceptable. We are building the case for fusion power. This is a long term effort. It can only be sustained by a community. A community of teachers, engineers, investors, policy makers, academics and businessmen. Everyone has a role here. The community needs to hear the newest data, presented in a clear manner. When this system breaks down – bad things happen. Lockheed should have done a paper before issuing a press release. Finally, the 16th IEC conference was held at University of Wisconsin Madison. The polywell had a bigger impact this year. Dr. Park gave a polywell keynote and Dr. Santarius discussed his modeling efforts [53]. Devlin Baker premiered his excellent modeling code and George Miley discussed the IEC family of technologies. Dr. Hirsch predicted that ITER funding would fall and IEC research could rise in its’ place [53]. It was a good conference.



This month the polywell was presented at MICROSOFT.

research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=238715&r=1


Sincerely,
The Polywell Guy
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com/

October 5, 2014

Updates on Polywell Research

Hello Folks,

I have some updates from the polywell fusion world. The big news (if you have not already heard) - is that the Navy published it's results for the first time in years. Here is the paper (June 1, 2014)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.0133

Below are some images from their work.

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

You can watch a short film illustrating this machine here:

The Navy paper relies highly on X-ray data (below). We need to see a scientific response to this.

[img][/img]

The Navy thinks they have found a stable plasma configuration. The confinement method is "cusp confinement" a long sought-after, but never observed state of plasma. It could be a revolution in plasma containment.


Dr. Park has now given 8 lectures on this: UC Irvine, U of Maryland, Princeton, U of Wisconsin and private talks. They are shopping around for 30 million over 3 years to develop this research. They will likely be part of the 2014 ARPA-E Funding call on October 15th.

The 2014 IEC conference just wrapped up in Wisconsin last week. Polywell work is now becoming a bigger portion of the talks. The Polywell was pointed to by Dr. Robert Hirsche, former head of the AEC as an promising fusion technology. There is also a new paper from the University of Syndney. This is from 9/8/2014 in the Physics of Plasma Journal.


http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/pop/21/9/10.1063/1.4894475


This paper provides more evidence of electron trapping inside the polywell. University of Sydney is about to put out a second PhD Thesis on this, showing a great deal more data of this.



====
The Polywell Guy, since 2008

http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com/

June 29, 2014

New Developments in Fusion: Polywells, ICF, Fusors, Pinches and Magnetized Target Fusion

Hello All,

For 2 months, I have been working on a review of new Fusion developments. This post covers:


1. Livermore (NIF) has failed to get Ignition. It has Killed the LIFE program.

[IMG][/IMG]

2. The Navy has published exciting new Polywell Research. It may be the world's best plasma trap.

[IMG][/IMG]

3. High school students in Seattle have won $410,000 in college scholarships studying nuclear fusion in a garage.

[IMG][/IMG]

4. Jeff Bezos has funded a Fusion Power Startup for 55 million - Dive into their technology!

[IMG][/IMG]


Fusion has changed! Check it out!

http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/fusion-in-upheaval.html

June 7, 2014

Nuclear Fusion - US Navy Publishes on Polywell.

Hello All,


The Polywell is an idea for a fusion reactor.

It is based off of the fusor: The Worlds' Simplest Fusion machine.

The Fusor was recently featured on The David Letterman Show.

A magnetic field traps electrons. These make an electric field. That field can heat ions to fusion conditions.
It is a possible path to fusion power. The US NAVY spent several millions building, testing and running this machine.

This is what they built:

[IMG][/IMG]

Download the paper here.

==========
Abstract:

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in
a magnetic cusp configuration when ? (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity.
This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible.
The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale
perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp
configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high ?
a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially
smaller loss rates. The current experiment validates this theoretical conjecture for the first time
and represents critical progress toward the Polywell fusion concept which combines a high ? cusp
configuration with an electrostatic fusion for a compact, economical, power-producing nuclear fusion
reactor.

June 7, 2014

Nuclear Fusion - US Navy Publishes on Polywell.

Hello All,


The Polywell is an idea for a fusion reactor.

It is based off of the fusor: The Worlds' Simplest Fusion machine.

The Fusor was recently featured on The David Letterman Show.

A magnetic field traps electrons. These make an electric field. That field can heat ions to fusion conditions.
It is a possible path to fusion power. The US NAVY spent several millions building, testing and running this machine.

This is what they built:

[IMG][/IMG]

Download the paper here.

==========
Abstract:

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in
a magnetic cusp configuration when ? (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity.
This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible.
The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale
perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp
configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high ?
a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially
smaller loss rates. The current experiment validates this theoretical conjecture for the first time
and represents critical progress toward the Polywell fusion concept which combines a high ? cusp
configuration with an electrostatic fusion for a compact, economical, power-producing nuclear fusion
reactor.

June 7, 2014

Nuclear Fusion - US Navy Publishes on Polywell.

Hello All,


The Polywell is an idea for a fusion reactor.

It is based off of the fusor: The Worlds' Simplest Fusion machine.

The Fusor was recently featured on The David Letterman Show.

A magnetic field traps electrons. These make an electric field. That field can heat ions to fusion conditions.
It is a possible path to fusion power. The US NAVY spent several millions building, testing and running this machine.

This is what they built:

[IMG][/IMG]

Download the paper here.

==========
Abstract:

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in
a magnetic cusp configuration when ? (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity.
This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible.
The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale
perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp
configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high ?
a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially
smaller loss rates. The current experiment validates this theoretical conjecture for the first time
and represents critical progress toward the Polywell fusion concept which combines a high ? cusp
configuration with an electrostatic fusion for a compact, economical, power-producing nuclear fusion
reactor.

June 7, 2014

Fusion Power - US Navy Publishes on Polywell.

Hello All,


The Polywell is an idea for a fusion reactor.

It is based off of the fusor: The Worlds' Simplest Fusion machine.

The Fusor was recently featured on The David Letterman Show.

A magnetic field traps electrons. These make an electric field. That field can heat ions to fusion conditions.
It is a possible path to fusion power. The US NAVY spent several millions building, testing and running this machine.

This is what they built:

[IMG][/IMG]

Download the paper here.

==========
Abstract:

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in
a magnetic cusp configuration when ? (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity.
This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible.
The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale
perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp
configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high ?
a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially
smaller loss rates. The current experiment validates this theoretical conjecture for the first time
and represents critical progress toward the Polywell fusion concept which combines a high ? cusp
configuration with an electrostatic fusion for a compact, economical, power-producing nuclear fusion
reactor.

April 11, 2014

13 Year old does Nuclear Fusion. Was on Letterman.

Hello All,

Fusion is obviously a very significant mechanism for making energy. Here is a quick comparison:

[IMG][/IMG]

250 Kg of Fusion Fuel makes the same energy as 93 square kilometers of solar panels.

=====

For 5 years, I have been blogging about a specific path to fusion power, inertial electrostatic.

This method uses an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditions. The field does work on the ions, heating them to fusion conditions. Several devices use this physical mechanism for fusion:

1. Fusors
2. Polywells
3. Lockheed Martins' High Beta Fusion Reactor
4. The periodic oscillating plasma sphere
5. Ect...

The Fusor is so simple and cheap, that since 1999, amateurs have been doing Nuclear Fusion with them, in their homes, basements and garages.

===

In fact -- on March 4th, an 8th grader in Lincolnshire England, became The Youngest Person In the World To Do Nuclear Fusion using a fusor.

He built it for 3,000 pounds, in his middle school. His name is Jamie Edwards. His story was reposted across the web. He got a letter of congratulations from His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, The Duke of York.

[IMG][/IMG]

Jamie was on the letterman show talking about Nuclear Fusion, on Wednesday. You can watch the clip here:

The IEC is an exciting technology. But, I warn you: we do not have it sorted out yet. The Polywell has lots of unknowns and much more research is needed to figure out if it will ultimately work. My hope is, this fusor press, will get organizations, universities and governments interested in this.

Cheers!









====

1000 MW Citations:

A. Oil, coal, uranium and fusion estimates from: Ongena, J., and G. Van Oost. "Energy For Future Centuries Will Fusion Be An Inexhaustible, Safe And Clean Energy Source?" Fusion Science and Technology 45.2T (2004): 3-14. Http://www.ans.org/store/j_464. Web. Mar. 2004. .

B. Fusion numbers also came from: Lee, Sing, and Sor Heoh Saw. "Nuclear Fusion Energy—Mankind’s Giant Step Forward." Journal of Fusion Energy 30.5 (2011): 398-403. Print.

C. Solar predictions were from a real plant in India: Jai, Shreya. "India to Build World's Largest Solar Power Plant in Rajasthan." Http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/. The Economic Times of India, 21 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .

D. Cow calculations were based on: Otaraku, Ipeghan J., and Evelyn.V. Ogedengbe. "Biogas Production from Sawdust Waste, Cow Dung and Water Hyacinth-Effect of Sawdust Concentration." International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM) 2013th ser. 2.6 (2013): 91-93. Web. June 2013. .

E. Napier grass were from a real project in Thailand: Vivanpatarakij, Supawat, Weerin Wangjiraniran, Raksanai Nidhiritdhikrai, and Dawan Wiwattanadat. "Potential Study of Electricity Generation 1000 MW with Biogas in Thailand." Advanced Materials Research 622-623 (2012): 1209-212. Print.

F. Wind calculations were based on a California wind farm: "GE Acquires California Wind Farm, UK Energy Management Firm." Sustainable Business. Sustainable Business, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2014. .