Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Henning · Post by **Henning** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:15 pm

rcain wrote:
Giorgio wrote:I have big expectations from them too. If the aluminum plates will brig the expected results I am sure there will be a big surge of interest in their research.
also, perfect lightweight (regenerative) shielding for their xray machines, and a perfect development test bed for Q>1 objectives. just block up the hole.

did they decide on aluminum already? is it optimum?

These aluminium plates connect the switches with the DPF, isolated by Mylar (boPET). They're just the conductor for the current. Nothing fancy here.

rcain · Post by **rcain** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:18 pm

are we talking about the same thing? i was waxing about his direct conversion method.

Henning · Post by **Henning** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:37 pm

rcain wrote:are we talking about the same thing? i was waxing about his direct conversion method.

Probably not. I'm referring to the LPPX tweet "aluminum transmission lines (ground plates) are being installed ;-D". That's the only aluminum reference I see recently.

Joseph Chikva · Post by **Joseph Chikva** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:37 pm

Henning wrote:These aluminium plates connect the switches with the DPF, isolated by Mylar (boPET). They're just the conductor for the current. Nothing fancy here.

Does Mylar (boPET) a good isolator in neutron flux environment?
How steady are its properties in typical fusion conditions (short duration pulse device)? I think that is significant question if LPP makes detailed engineering.

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:39 pm

They are working on the aluminium plates of the capacitor banks right now.
The direct conversion system is still on the paper as far as I know.

Joseph Chikva · Post by **Joseph Chikva** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:44 pm

Giorgio wrote:They are working on the aluminium plates of the capacitor banks right now.
The direct conversion system is still on the paper as far as I know.

So, the talk is about not first wall material but pulse power supply transmission line?

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:14 pm

It's about the Capacitor-Switch coupling.

You can see the design of the Switch here:
http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/a ... parkplugs/

Additional info here, under "Insulator breakdown causes discovered, reinforcement underway " paragraph:
http://focusfusion.org/assets/lppx/LPPX_2011_06_03.pdf

Henning · Post by **Henning** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:17 pm

Joseph Chikva wrote:
Giorgio wrote:They are working on the aluminium plates of the capacitor banks right now.
The direct conversion system is still on the paper as far as I know.
So, the talk is about not first wall material but pulse power supply transmission line?

Yepp.

Joseph Chikva · Post by **Joseph Chikva** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:26 pm

Henning wrote:
Joseph Chikva wrote:
Giorgio wrote:They are working on the aluminium plates of the capacitor banks right now.
The direct conversion system is still on the paper as far as I know.
So, the talk is about not first wall material but pulse power supply transmission line?
Yepp.

And what is a problem?

rcain · Post by **rcain** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:56 am

Joseph Chikva wrote:...And what is a problem?

i don't think there is a problem. they are just building it. (it just so happened we were all talking about 3/4 completely different things at one point - the common aspect of each being 'aluminium').

Joseph Chikva · Post by **Joseph Chikva** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:14 am

rcain wrote:
Joseph Chikva wrote:...And what is a problem?
i don't think there is a problem. they are just building it. (it just so happened we were all talking about 3/4 completely different things at one point - the common aspect of each being 'aluminium').

I saw. Thanks.
Pulse energy storage (capacitors bank) are used in many experiments.
For pulses duration till hundreds nanoseconds and above this is very well known technology but at the same time very costly.
I have asked the pricing information of high voltage capacitors bank and the price of bank 300kV, 2MJ has an order 20-25 millions USD depending on manufacturer.
Though as I have seen in pdf file link of which provided by Georgio, LPP uses lower voltage. And so, may be their energy storage will be less costly.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:07 pm

There were several problems, which were discussed in the article Giorgio already linked to. These problems necessitated a redesign of the whole switch assembly which is only now being completed. Once the upgrade is complete the switches on the FF-1 device will (hopefully) be able to fire consistently (and simultaneously) at 45 kV, which they have been unable to do so far.

Today's little bit of news:

On July 21, 2011 LPPX wrote:getting bunny suited for mylar main insulator assembly

It seems they weren't quite as far along as I had thought. I'm not even sure to what extent the new switches have been installed.

After the mylar insulator has been installed they at least have the top switch plates, trigger heads, and gas lines left to install. I'm guessing the first shot with the upgraded FF-1 will take place some time next week.

zapkitty · Post by **zapkitty** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:46 am

Ivy Matt wrote:
On July 21, 2011 LPPX wrote:getting bunny suited for mylar main insulator assembly
It seems they weren't quite as far along as I had thought.

Last time they checked in they were in bunny suits for the exacting task of cutting the mylar to shape for the upgraded switch design after a short and a small explosion, but before that they'd said they'd be about a month in the switches upgrade so that "bang!" didn't actually set them back.

They are more or less on schedule... the "we need to design new switches because the ones we bought aren't up to the manufacturer's claimed specs" and "we need to upgrade the new switch designs" schedule.

But if the upgraded switches work out then we apparently will not have to wait for too long...

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:14 am

Yeah, the switch problem has been hounting them for a while now.
If you think about it, this is not really a problem related to the DPF itself, which I am sure makes this only more frustrating for them.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:50 am

The switch problems have been holding the experiment back for a year and a quarter, at least. I'll be immensely relieved when I hear they've achieved a 45 kV pinch.