Rick Nebel Discussed DC Transformer Project in Los Alamos

[swamijake]

No news, is unfortunately, no news.

[DeltaV]

Nebel's topic is no longer TBA. Same topic he's been presenting in the recent past.

Wednesday

Session 7 Chair: D. Maurer Mode locking and special topics
...
9:15-9:35

R. Nebel Helical Current Drive in Tokamaks and a Plasma-based DC-DC Electrical Transformer

Attract Tokamak money to fund Polywell DC-DC transformer development. Brilliant. Hope it works.

[Solo]

Come on, DeltaV! That's some real wishful thinking. Nebel is not part of the Polywell project anymore, he's basically retired and is tinkering around in his garage with this DC-DC converter based on magnetic reconnection / dynamo just for the fun of it. This much he told me at a conference last year. He did some theory on toroidal fusion devices (RFP among them) back in the day, and that's how he came up with the DC-DC converter. He's pitching it to conventional power transmission companies, nothing exotic.

[DeltaV]

http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DPP14/Session/TP8.42

56th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Volume 59, Number 14

Monday–Friday, October 27–31, 2014; New Orleans, Louisiana

Session TP8: Poster Session VII: C-MOD TOKAMAK; Divertors; Boundary/Edge Physics; Heating and Drive; Turbulence, Transport and Astrophysical Plasmas

9:30 AM–9:30 AM, Thursday, October 30, 2014
Room: Preservation Hall

Abstract: TP8.00042 : Plasma-Based Electrical Transformers and Electrostatic Current Drive in Tokamaks

Authors:

Richard Nebel
(Tibbar Technologies)

W. Gibson
(Tibbar Technologies)

K. Moser
(Tibbar Technologies)

D.C. Barnes
(Tibbar Technologies)

L.L. Glascock
(Tibbar Technologies)

J.M. Finn
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)

J. Dunn
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Recent nonlinear simulations shown that it is possible to drive current in tokamaks with applied helical electrostatic fields. These electrostatic studies have uncovered a new nonlinear MHD relaxation principle. This new principle states that if helical electrostatic fields are applied to a plasma, it tries to relax to a state where the magnetic field aligns parallel with the electrodes. If an m=1, n=1 driving electrostatic field is applied at the boundary, the plasma tries to relax to a state where q ∼ 1 everywhere even if no loop voltage is applied to the plasma. It is possible to operate a tokamak steady-state without applying a loop voltage. At Tibbar Technologies we are primarily interested in using this new MHD relaxation principle to build DC-DC electrical transformers. This technology is important for High Voltage DC electrical transmission. We have now demonstrated this new physics in a linear device in the laboratory. The plasma tries to align the magnetic fields parallel to the electrodes, as the theory predicts. It also doesn't matter which electrode is positive and which is negative, which is also consistent with the theory. Finally, changing the direction of the magnetic field in the solenoid also changes the direction of the current flow in the secondary of the transformer. Efficiencies of 50{\%}-60{\%} are regularly observed.

Efficiency is not superb, but this is the first lab prototype.

[DeltaV]

Update from Nov 2015:

ARPA-E Awards Tibbar Plasma Technologies Of Los Alamos $3.5M For Transformational Energy Technology
http://www.ladailypost.com/content/arpa ... technology

http://tibbartech.com/

They are hiring.

Tibbar Plasma Technologies has tested the concepts for both a plasma DC to DC transformer and a plasma AC to DC transformer using an experimental test-bed called "Bismarck", shown below. The new enhanced test-bed which will be built under the ARPA-E contract will be called "Shiner". The design of Shiner is almost complete.