There is a picture up at
http://www.emc2fusion.org/
EMC2 Fusion showing the WB-7 Test Reactor vessel. All polished stainless steel with a nice logo.
H/T Tom Ligon
Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
It is being funded by the Navy, but I'm pretty sure ORN is not the group within the Navy supporting it. One day maybe I can tell the whole story. There are hints of in in another thread, where somebody dug up a rant I was goaded into on Fusor.net regarding the "Todd Rider Mess".
viewtopic.php?t=382
DARPA did fund quite a bit of the earlier work.
viewtopic.php?t=382
DARPA did fund quite a bit of the earlier work.
Ah, here wo go http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:F6 ... cd=4&gl=us
Looks like 1989-1992 was DARPA.
I guess I had read this before, and forgot.
Looks like 1989-1992 was DARPA.
I guess I had read this before, and forgot.
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 the machine were run with few or no ions, the electrons would mutually repel in the center, and would have their minimum kinetic energy there. Low electron kinetic energy beats the brem problem. But the ions also concentrate there, creating a virtual anode that the electrons like. If allowed to get too high, the virtual anode allows the electrons in at high kinetic energy, so the idea is to control the ion population to a modest level.
There's also a concern for electron energy scattering (essentially electron thermalization), for which there is supposedly an annealing mechanism comparable to the one for the electrons. That could have some bearing on brem, but is also important for all fuels.
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 the machine were run with few or no ions, the electrons would mutually repel in the center, and would have their minimum kinetic energy there. Low electron kinetic energy beats the brem problem. But the ions also concentrate there, creating a virtual anode that the electrons like. If allowed to get too high, the virtual anode allows the electrons in at high kinetic energy, so the idea is to control the ion population to a modest level.
There's also a concern for electron energy scattering (essentially electron thermalization), for which there is supposedly an annealing mechanism comparable to the one for the electrons. That could have some bearing on brem, but is also important for all fuels.