4 ms·
Appreciate the rundown of why this is important! > This is because energy gain and power density scale exponentially with magnetic field strength but only line
by MauranKilom 5y ago
Appreciate the rundown of why this is important!
> This is because energy gain and power density scale exponentially with magnetic field strength but only linearly with reactor size
Nit: It scales polynomially, not exponentially. Specifically (according to those formulas) energy gain scales with the cube of field strength and power density with the fourth power. Still massive scaling indeed, but exponentially would be something else.
> as far as I remember the substrate they are using needs to be cooled to 60-70 degK to achieve super conductivity
The video in the article shows 20 K. Could of course be that higher temperature is feasible and they just played it safe (or the video is wrong).
- TrainedMonkey 5y agoYou are right on both counts, I will update the comment. 2020 paper referenced 7degK magnets. I am not sure where I got 70degK number from... https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/DD3C44ECD26F5EACC554811764EF9FF0/S0022377820001257a.pdf/div-class-title-overview-of-the-sparc-tokamak-div.pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/c...
- zardo 5y agoThere is a temperature dependent maximum field strength the material can take and keep superconducting. REBCO superconducts at 70k, but it can't take much current at that temperature.