3 ms·

What about polywell fusion? Can anyone with expertise comment on this design?

by calebh 8y ago

Thorondor 8y ago
Most mainstream physicists believe that the polywell design cannot work due to bremsstrahlung and electron cusp losses, as described by Rider. [0] Bussard and some of his followers have argued against some assumptions made in the Rider paper, but as far as I know, no one has found any loopholes big enough to allow a practical, power-producing reactor. If you're interested in alternative fusion reactor designs, though, you might want to look into the levitated dipole. [1] There is a lot of evidence suggesting that this design avoids most of the major problems that plague tokamak development. [2][3] The remaining obstacles (as far as I can tell, mainly interchange instabilities and engineering difficulties) don't seem insurmountable to me. MIT made a serious attempt to build a levitated dipole reactor in the late 2000's, but unfortunately, the US Department of Energy cut off all funding in 2011. [0] http://fsl.npre.illinois.edu/IEC/Rider,%20Phys.ofPlasmas1995.pdf http://fsl.npre.illinois.edu/IEC/Rider,%20Phys.ofPlasmas1995... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitated_dipole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitated_dipole [2] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/92cb/3e1ec34a707b2920f1c03a6d1f4f2497d72b.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/92cb/3e1ec34a707b2920f1c03a... [3] https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/95395/99ja014_full.pdf?sequence=1 https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/95395/99ja014...
- andrepd 8y ago
  >US Department of Energy cut off all funding in 2011 Sigh.
nugga 8y ago
I've been occasionally following the team that continued Bussard's work and they claim they can prove they can make it work in a couple years for a few million or something. Interview with the project lead: https://www.thefusionpodcast.com/itunes/2018/8/27/dr-jaeyoung-park https://www.thefusionpodcast.com/itunes/2018/8/27/dr-jaeyoun...

What about polywell fusion? Can anyone with expertise comment on this design?

by calebh 8y ago

What about polywell fusion? Can anyone with expertise comment on this design?

Most mainstream physicists believe that the polywell design cannot work due to bremsstrahlung and electron cusp losses, as described by Rider. [0] Bussard and some of his followers have argued against some assumptions made in the Rider paper, but as far as I know, no one has found any loopholes big enough to allow a practical, power-producing reactor. If you're interested in alternative fusion reactor designs, though, you might want to look into the levitated dipole. [1] There is a lot of evidence suggesting that this design avoids most of the major problems that plague tokamak development. [2][3] The remaining obstacles (as far as I can tell, mainly interchange instabilities and engineering difficulties) don't seem insurmountable to me. MIT made a serious attempt to build a levitated dipole reactor in the late 2000's, but unfortunately, the US Department of Energy cut off all funding in 2011. [0] http://fsl.npre.illinois.edu/IEC/Rider,%20Phys.ofPlasmas1995.pdf http://fsl.npre.illinois.edu/IEC/Rider,%20Phys.ofPlasmas1995... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitated_dipole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitated_dipole [2] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/92cb/3e1ec34a707b2920f1c03a6d1f4f2497d72b.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/92cb/3e1ec34a707b2920f1c03a... [3] https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/95395/99ja014_full.pdf?sequence=1 https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/95395/99ja014...

andrepd 8y ago
>US Department of Energy cut off all funding in 2011 Sigh.

nugga 8y ago

I've been occasionally following the team that continued Bussard's work and they claim they can prove they can make it work in a couple years for a few million or something. Interview with the project lead: https://www.thefusionpodcast.com/itunes/2018/8/27/dr-jaeyoung-park https://www.thefusionpodcast.com/itunes/2018/8/27/dr-jaeyoun...