Search found 33 matches

by jrvz
Mon Jan 22, 2024 6:44 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I wonder if the chamber could be evacuated between pulses, at least in part, electromagnetically? After all, there have been proposals to use FRC fusion for spacecraft propulsion, which would require expelling the plasma at a high speed. For example: Stephanie J. Thomas, Michael A. Paluszek, and Sam...
by jrvz
Thu Dec 14, 2023 6:36 pm
Forum: Design
Topic: Sintered metal objects from a standard FDM 3D printer
Replies: 7
Views: 18180

Re: Sintered metal objects from a standard FDM 3D printer

“ In the case of copper, the highest density achievable would be about 97 density with 15 percent shrinkage, but shrinkage can be kept to under 7 percent with 10 to 12 percent porosity.”

So, definitely not vacuum tight. And I don’t see anything about printing superconductors.
by jrvz
Fri Oct 06, 2023 9:02 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I've been hoping existing coal- or gas-fueled generating stations could just be converted. They already have the licenses and grid connections. But I have to admit that having just one customer would mitigate the growing pains.
by jrvz
Fri May 12, 2023 4:51 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

Getting a grid connection has become a significant problem for solar projects https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/23/climate/renewable-energy-us-electrical-grid.html , but fusion doesn't require large amounts of land. I hope they are looking at existing fossil fueled plants that already have the grid co...
by jrvz
Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:39 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I suppose you've seen this patent?
John Thomas Slough, David Edwin Kirtley, and Christopher James Pihl. Advanced D-3He fuel cycle for a pulsed fusion reactor. European Patent EP 3103119 B1, March 2021.
by jrvz
Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:50 pm
Forum: News
Topic: ZAP Energy News
Replies: 133
Views: 26202

Re: ZAP Energy News

I see that the Zap Energy folks presented several papers at the 64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (October 2022) in Spokane, Washington. The titles are listed here, with links to the abstracts. Can anyone point to the full papers? https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DPP22/Sessio...
by jrvz
Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:17 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I saw one error in the animation at about 27:00 into the video, which seemed to show the two FRCs being formed with opposite polarity. They actually have to have current in the same direction, so after the collision they can form a single hotter FRC. Actually both polarities will merge into a singl...
by jrvz
Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:23 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

According to Wikipedia, Polaris will be able to produce 1 pulse per second for short periods, and Helion expects it to have net electricity production (not net "energy") But there are already designing a new prototype called Antares... will Polaris be commercial or will only Antares be commercial? ...
by jrvz
Thu Dec 15, 2022 5:18 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

What feedback is needed? I don't remember any mention of active stabilization. Is the FRC formation/acceleration/compression process not predictable enough?
by jrvz
Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:00 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

How should TAE and Helion be compared? Both use a field-reversed configuration to confine the plasma. Both envision direct energy conversion. They have similar funding. Helion plans on fusing D-He3 and D-D (to produce the He3). They've achieved a higher temperature (100 million C) and plan to demons...
by jrvz
Fri Sep 16, 2022 1:11 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104480

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I've been studying one of the Helion patents https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/2c/29/ff/ecc112b8c05e46/US20170011811A1.pdf . and have some questions... In Fig. 3: The "80 percent" refers to the fraction of energy, the fraction of reactions, the fraction of He-3, or what? 80 percent and 4 p...
by jrvz
Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:50 pm
Forum: News
Topic: SpaceX News
Replies: 2324
Views: 1154876

Re: SpaceX News

The point was that he wants to send a very large payload (larger than any before) to mars and he only has a perfect launch window every two years (when mars is closest). For operations in earth orbit and even smaller scale missions BEO, an SSTO based on the tanker ITS would be more economic. ... to...
by jrvz
Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:15 pm
Forum: News
Topic: MIT SPARC Presentation
Replies: 8
Views: 8920

Re: MIT SPARC Presentation

I just watched one of Prof. Whyte's videos - very impressive. (I'm looking forward to seeing the other one.) He makes the point that the REBCO superconductor allows higher fields which allow a Tokamak to be made much smaller, which greatly reduces the cost and construction time. Would the same hold ...
by jrvz
Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:54 pm
Forum: News
Topic: PPPL Colloquium: The Lockheed Martin CFR, Aug 6, 2015
Replies: 34
Views: 26997

Re: PPPL Colloquium: The Lockheed Martin CFR, Aug 6, 2015

4:15 in what time zone?
by jrvz
Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:52 pm
Forum: News
Topic: House of Lords’ science&technology committee fusion session
Replies: 2
Views: 8413

Re: House of Lords’ science&technology committee fusion sess

Will there eventually be a transcript?