Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

[Skipjack]

SJ,
Thanks for that insight, besides, 50 MWe is a good modular size.

On the subject of Musk, in an interview he voiced the opinion that he believes that fusion will never be economical. I have no idea why he holds that view, who he is listening to.

Yeah, that is what I remember him saying. I think he is just thinking of the big fusion projects at the national labs. The guys there are still very skeptical of Helion and ZAP. Boy are they going to be in for a surprise!

[Carl White]

I think he is just thinking of the big fusion projects at the national labs. The guys there are still very skeptical of Helion and ZAP.

Quoting Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

[Skipjack]

Our electrical engineering team has successfully tested our new continuously operating pulsed semiconductor switch technology for the Polaris program. Tested to 52% higher switched energy than required!

HelionSwitchTechnology.JPG (91.68 KiB) Viewed 8443 times

https://twitter.com/Helion_Energy/statu ... r1kCn-3_Gw

[Carl White]

David Kirtley's retweet:

"These new switches are great! In the photo is an impedance-matching toroid for the single switch test bed. Phase 2 requires more switches!"

https://twitter.com/dekirtley/status/15 ... fsrc=email

Although we hear about the successes, naturally companies aren't as ready to talk about any snags or problems they've encountered. I hope it's been smooth sailing for them.

[mvanwink5]

Although we hear about the successes, naturally companies aren't as ready to talk about any snags or problems they've encountered.

Helion has not only demonstrated the ability to scale but to also improve their performance rather than lose performance. Therefore news of technical build successes and building milestones reached are what I am looking for, so the switch updates are welcome news for me.

edit for wording, LOL

[Skipjack]

https://twitter.com/Helion_Energy/statu ... poMVFTpk1g

Our team has successfully installed and pumped down the fused silica formation chamber for the Polaris program's FRC plasma formation test! This test will form and accelerate millions of FRC plasmas, providing more data to improve our plasma formation capabilities.

HelionFRC_Formation.JPG (64.59 KiB) Viewed 8017 times

[Skipjack]

Inside of the building that will be housing Polaris. The name of the facility that will house Polaris is now "Ursa", after Ursa Minor, the constellation that Polaris (the star) is a part of:

HelionUrsa_interior.JPG (47.9 KiB) Viewed 7793 times

[Skipjack]

Seems like Helion encountered a small snag with the vacuum seals for their Polaris FRC formation test, but they managed to fix that quickly from the looks of it:

HelionFRC_Formation_Update.JPG (80.84 KiB) Viewed 7793 times

[mvanwink5]

Larger systems, tougher vacuum sealing. Details.

Love the pictures.

[Skipjack]

Larger systems, tougher vacuum sealing. Details.

Love the pictures.

It is pretty normal for a first test to find problems with seals. They got it fixed already. No biggie.
I love how the picture of Ursa gives a sense of scale of the facility and Antares is much bigger even.

[Skipjack]

And more Helion News today!

Helion_EmailNewsletter_07072022.JPG (133.72 KiB) Viewed 7745 times

[mvanwink5]

Large vacuum equipment sealing takes great care at the high vacuum levels these guys work with. I have great respect for the perfection needed. Exciting to see the progress.

[kurt9]

Do these fusion reactors require ultra high vacuum (10-10 torr) or do they work with regular high vacuum (10-6 torr)?

I've worked a lot with high vacuum tools, but not ultra high vacuum tools. The only process tools I've worked with in the ultra high vacuum regime are MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) systems that required a three day "bake out" process to get them down to the UHV regime.

[Carl White]

Do these fusion reactors require ultra high vacuum (10-10 torr) or do they work with regular high vacuum (10-6 torr)?

There was a Reuters article that provided an image with the following text appended:

"Fusion energy startup Helion Energy's engineers test turbo pumps under ultra-high vacuum for their next generation generator Polaris, in Redmond, Washington, U.S. in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters. "

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 021-11-05/

[kurt9]

Turbo pumps alone will not get you to UHV. You need a cryo-trap as well. Diffusion pumps can get you to UHV and they have the benefit of having no moving parts. But they are finicky to use in other ways and create quite a mess if shut down improperly.

The spacing between the bolts on the flanges look like that of UHV. The middle section looks like a cryo-trap as well.