Search found 1871 matches

by Tom Ligon
Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:57 am
Forum: Design
Topic: Q&A : Major hurdles to overcome for Polywell Reactors
Replies: 50
Views: 33906

I'll presume for the moment that the basics work and Dr. Nebel and the team will be able to confirm and expand upon Dr. Bussard's results. I have no doubt that the basic scaling law is correct, and bigger is better on a very steep curve. My experience with these machines is they generate a lot of hy...
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:53 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Another KOS Diary On IEC/Bussard
Replies: 50
Views: 37476

Dr. Bussard explained this field shape thing to me early on. The terms he tended to use were convex versus concave. Looking from the perspective of a confined plasma or electrons pushing at a field, a concave field will be stretched when you push on it. Picture air pushing out a balloon. As it stret...
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:37 pm
Forum: Design
Topic: WB1 variant
Replies: 11
Views: 11321

hanelyp, There are photographs of WB1 knocking about. Figure 5 of the Askmar version of my recent Analog article shows it. http://www.askmar.com/Fusion_files/2008-4-15%20Simplest%20Fusion%20Reactor%20Revisited.pdf The ring burned into the flat faces is where the field lines enter, and are the seriou...
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:58 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Simulation and animation in 3-d. Recommendations?
Replies: 12
Views: 9567

Since you use AutoCad professionally, I'll suggest one to NOT use. I'm cheap. I've used DesignCAD for decades, almost exclusively for 2D. Their present 3D packages are capable of animation. I've tried doing this for a Polywell, but found it maddeningly difficult and awkward. I could make it animate ...
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:26 am
Forum: Design
Topic: WB1 variant
Replies: 11
Views: 11321

Nanos, I just accidentally scrolled down this far and found your post. From memory, I'd say WB-1 was made of donut magnets about 1/3 to 1/4 the diameter of the vacuum chamber it was in. You could probably find small ceramic donuts that fit your chamber. I've got a set of 6 that are about the size fo...
by Tom Ligon
Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:29 pm
Forum: News
Topic: New Analog article posted on-line
Replies: 4
Views: 4766

The wispy glow in WB4 in that particular photo is due to it being in operation, but the specfic configuration of the machine in that photo is atypical. I'm not sure of the specifics, but they were toying with various configurations and that one was making excess plasma outside the magrid. Many of th...
by Tom Ligon
Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:37 am
Forum: Design
Topic: How many farads does it take to screw in a light blub?
Replies: 8
Views: 6021

When I left EMC2, they had just received a very scarry-looking pallet piled high with high voltage capacitors. I forget how many farads at how many volts that constituted, but it was for a relatively small experiment. They were an off-the-shelf model, but intended for very high discharge rates. Comp...
by Tom Ligon
Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:59 am
Forum: News
Topic: New Analog article posted on-line
Replies: 4
Views: 4766

New Analog article posted on-line

The January-Feb Analog fact article, "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisited" is posted in a "special edition" form at Askmar. Mark Duncan has done his usual job enhancing the graphics, and he has added a bunch of figures using photos of the other machines mentioned in the article. http://www...
by Tom Ligon
Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:33 am
Forum: News
Topic: Another KOS Diary On IEC/Bussard
Replies: 50
Views: 37476

rnebel, I had my milliohm meter at the lab until one of the guys fried it by failing to follow my audio-tape checklist. I used to routinely put it across the coils on WB-3 to measure the resistance after tests, so I could determine when it had cooled off sufficiently for another test. We definitely ...
by Tom Ligon
Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:22 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

rnebel, I trust you guys all got your copies of the Analogs with the fusion article? I sent them to Dolly a couple of months back. I'm probably going to order another batch, and wondered if you need more. Askmar.com has a version that will be posted soon, and I'll have a copy to MSimon shortly to po...
by Tom Ligon
Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:36 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

That settles it guys, rnebel is who he says he is! :D

So, sir, what are you doing here instead of making fusion? (Ghost of R. W. Bussard speaking, as he did to me so many times.)
by Tom Ligon
Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:20 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

A lot of this will require experimentation. With a working Polywell running deuterium, it should be possible to validate some of the models. Let's hope Dr. Nebel and company succeed. Presuming our rnebel poster really is Dr. Nebel, he recently posted that the ion focus in a Polywell is not so sharp ...
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:08 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

I've found those dtic.mil urls are unstable. They may be temporary. The only reliable way to find the papers on that site is their search engine.
by Tom Ligon
Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:05 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

The short version is that brem is only a problem with p-B11, and involves high-energy electrons interacting with the B11. To beat it primarily involves two tricks. The first is to run hydrogen-rich, so there is not as much B11 present. The second trick is to control the "virtual anode height". If th...
by Tom Ligon
Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:59 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Replies: 57
Views: 38220

I see you found it. I was going to direct you to the collection of papers archived on askmar.com. Someone here found a cache of them that had all sorts of juicy tidbits, including the bremsstrahlung-beating scheme, and they were DARPA-funded, from around 1991.