Talk-Polywell.org

If they do give off microwave radiation, is it substantial? I know that these devices can give off soft x-rays and UV, but how about Microwaves, if so I have another "crazy" idea to share.

A good point, pertinently raised and not discussed much. Supposedly there is minimal field within the wiffleball, thus no microwaves from that region. But it is only meant to be a small increase in density so there will be masses of electrons all pumping microwaves.

The microwave power will be huge and will be transmitted around the 25GHz/T range. I think, for theoretical reasons, it will be below a level where it can self-ionise the contents, though, but will surely irradiate [with thermal consequences?] the magrid coils as that is where the mag field would be strongest and the electrons 'working their hardest' to shrug off that cyclotron radiation.

I guess it's just a matter of seeing how much MC waves are produced from the reaction. It may be enough for my little idea.

If there are enough MC waves maybe there can be a way to reflect them back and focus them onto the reaction itself. So instead of having to use outside power sources to pump in fresh MC waves just reuse what is being made already.

What kind of surface(s) would be good for reflecting and refocusing the waves back to the reaction? I know that microwave ovens use fans to scatter the waves about the cooking area so they can be reflected and possibly focused.

Then it'd be a matter of knowing how far away the microwave "mirrors" would have to be to only "cook" the reaction and not the EM coils.

Reflection will happen anyway. Metal is what you need. But it will heat up a little as no metal is a perfect conductor - especially stainless steel. Copper would help but prob not last very long. Microwave rotation/blades etc are just to avoid standing modes in the volume else you'd find 'double heating' and 'zero heating' across your TV dinner when you took it out.

The microwaves will be absorbed by the contents of the reactor, it will go into adding thermal energy, which would likely feed negatively into any mechanisms that are trying to promote non-maxwellian behaviour and to keep the electrons cool, these matters would be negatively impacted.

chrismb wrote:The microwaves will be absorbed by the contents of the reactor, it will go into adding thermal energy, which would likely feed negatively into any mechanisms that are trying to promote non-maxwellian behaviour and to keep the electrons cool, these matters would be negatively impacted.

Hum, water-based cooling blanket, turn some turbines with the resulting steam?

It'll be quite tricky to make the vacuum vessel transparent to MW's in that case, though, and still hold it together.

chrismb wrote:A good point, pertinently raised and not discussed much. Supposedly there is minimal field within the wiffleball, thus no microwaves from that region. But it is only meant to be a small increase in density so there will be masses of electrons all pumping microwaves.

The microwave power will be huge and will be transmitted around the 25GHz/T range. I think, for theoretical reasons, it will be below a level where it can self-ionise the contents, though, but will surely irradiate [with thermal consequences?] the magrid coils as that is where the mag field would be strongest and the electrons 'working their hardest' to shrug off that cyclotron radiation.

I'm not sure what you mean by "small increase in density" inside the WB. The WB traping factor has been suggested to be ~ 1000 X or more for ions, and perhaps 10,000 X for electrons. As the machines increase in size I believe these traping factors are susposed to increase. As such, I speculate the wicrowave heating of structures should lag far behind the heating due to x-rays. Whether the resultant recycling of any microwaves would be usefull or pratical, I don't know. It would depend on the amount of microwaves to get your desired effect and the cost and complexity to do so, as opposed to putting in some simple magnatrons.

Dan Tibbets

Microwaves are potentially more useful 'industrially' than raw, 'Direct Conversion' EHT or steam heat: Is there any way to enhance and connect a Polywell's output to allow close-coupled feed to processes ??

( This is aside from any sci-fi notion of driving a pair of muckin' big lasers... )