IEC fusion in the news

choff · Post by **choff** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:14 am

I've been a little under the weather lately, but I was just watching the CBC a few minutes ago, and I saw President Obama shaking hands with some students in front of a display that said Electrical Inertial Confinement Fusion on top. It was just background to the story about the troubles in the ME and his asking the regions leaders to show restraint. Anybody else see it, I'll try to find a link.

choff · Post by **choff** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:48 am

Here it is:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows ... 1804032086

Hillsboro, Oregan science fair from what I can find out.

http://blackwaterdog.wordpress.com/2011 ... -a-device/

Axil · Post by **Axil** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:16 am

“This is remarkable stuff; we couldn't be prouder of you,” he said. “Tell your parents they're doing something right.”

http://www.kptv.com/yourvote/26920002/detail.html

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:15 pm

Is there any difference between electrostatic inertial confinement and inertial electrostatic confinement? If we can trust the reporter in the following news segment (heh), the former is a type of cold fusion:

http://www.kgw.com/news/neighborhood-ne ... 83503.html

I guess if the containment vessel is small enough, it must be "cold". However, there appears to be a plasma inside from the brief image shown in the news segment. I think I see two tori. Whatever it is, it's certainly a different setup than the conventional spherical fusor.

I'm not sure what quantum ternary algorithms have to do fusion. Perhaps the discussion was over someone else's project:

http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/ind ... lists.html

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:33 am

I found a couple more recent stories on these students' project here and here. Going by the first story, it would appear to be a variety of either beam-target or inertial confinement fusion. The electrostatic part has to do with focusing the beam. The beam is hydrogen and the target is frozen deuterium. According to the first article the containment vessel is composed of plastic and aluminum. According to the second article the device is powered from a wall socket and has achieved fusion three times so far.

The students won first place in the electrical and mechanical engineering category of the Beaverton Hillsboro Science Exposition, and will be going on to compete at the Intel Northwest Science Expo on April 1st.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:24 pm

The Intel Northwest Science Expo was held yesterday. The students' project, "Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Focused with Electrostatic Focusing Lenses", was selected as a finalist for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held in Los Angeles, May 8-13. Other than that brief mention, I have seen no recent press on this project.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Tue May 17, 2011 6:50 am

And they won a couple of prizes: $5000 Best of Category Award in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and a $3000 First Place Award in the same category.

See here for more fusion-related results from the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

kcdodd · Post by **kcdodd** » Tue May 17, 2011 7:20 am

Holy crap. I met those guys at the ITER summer school here at UT last summer. Small world.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:39 am

I haven't been following this story lately, but then it seems nobody else has either.

Anyway, I found an interesting story from May 21. The salient points are that the students have got their project working for as much as 10 minutes at a time (9 minutes longer than ITER is shooting for), and that they've generated 25 kilovolts of power, but are shooting for 100 kilovolts.

Question: if the device uses a 120-volt wall socket and produces 25,000 volts, does that mean it has achieved a fusion energy gain of ~200?

choff · Post by **choff** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:37 am

Might be a typo, but if it isn't, I hope they have good shielding.

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:08 am

Ivy Matt wrote:Question: if the device uses a 120-volt wall socket and produces 25,000 volts, does that mean it has achieved a fusion energy gain of ~200?

Volt is not an energy power unit.
To know if any gain was made you need to know two additional data:
1) the input and output amperes
2) the total time of draining/delivering of that power (Volt x Amperes).

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:47 pm

Well, something seemed wrong to me when I saw "kilovolts" being used (presumably) for the output of the device, as I'm more used to seeing units such as joules and watts. Perhaps I should trust my instincts more than those of the journalist who reported the story.

I asked the same question on the Focus Fusion forums, and the answer I got from a physicist there is that the project's power supply would convert the 120 V AC current into a 25 kV DC potential difference that is applied to the electrodes.

Although I'm beginning to wonder if there's another possibility: that the journalist heard "kiloelectron volts" and decided the "electron" part was unnecessary. Assuming this hypothesis is correct, does a goal of 100 keV indicate that they're aiming to use advanced fuels?

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:41 am

Ivy Matt wrote: .........
Although I'm beginning to wonder if there's another possibility: that the journalist heard "kiloelectron volts" and decided the "electron" part was unnecessary. Assuming this hypothesis is correct, does a goal of 100 keV indicate that they're aiming to use advanced fuels?

Many simple fusors use drive energies of 100+keV for D-D fusion. Why not these guys?

After all, D-D PEAKS at about 1MeV. With D-D, the more the merrier, for quite a while.