Polywell update from May - sounds like things are going really well!

[The Polywell Guy]

53. The Polywell Blog, got some traffic from here

Greetings,

I got some traffic from your forum to my site: The Polywell Blog. I thought I would introduce myself to the DU community. I have been writing about the Polywell for five years, under the name: The Polywell Guy. I write about the polywell, nuclear fusion, fusion energy, fusion research and plasma physics. My goal is to explain fusion research in plain English. I have also made several movies explaining the polywell and the history of fusion research.

My other goal is to build interest in Robert Bussard's polywell idea, so we can find out if it could be a viable source of clean, green energy. It may not be. There are still many technical challenges we need to solve. Remember: NIFs' recent its abysmal failure, tells us that even the experts can get it wrong.

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I believe we are at the beginning of a new phase in fusion research: Fusion 2.0. When a 14 year old kid can fuse atoms in his home - it screams revolution. It tells us that a new generation of fusion machines, smaller, simpler and more straightforward are on the way. The old quote that fusion is 20 years away may have applied to giant machines like ITER and NIF. But new ideas, like Tri Alpha Energy, Focus Fusion, Lithium compression, Beam fusion, ect... They represent a new wave of ideas which are much farther along. Sure, most will fail - but if one succeeds it will have a big impact.

I focus mainly on the Polywell. The Polywell is a re-imagined fusor. Over 50 amateurs done nuclear fusion with these machines. These are people like Matthew Honickman, a 17 year old high school senior from upstate new york. The fusor cannot make net power because the metal cages conduct away the plasma. It saps away so much energy, we can never hope to reach break even. The Polywell eliminates the cage, driving down conduction losses.

I have laid out a detailed plan for polywell research. First we use computers to simulate plasma inside the machine. We use dimensionless number to explore a wide range of operating conditions. The fusor has 3 modes of operation, the polywell probably has the same. Modes where the machine works well, and modes that suck. We publish these results. Next, we build a small machine and run it in this mode. We attach a direct converter to one end of the machine. These have shown an energy capture rate of 48%. We run the thing constantly and look for break even.

We know from the Lawson Criterion that any hot cloud machine will be subject to the following equation:

Power Out = (Fusion - Radiation - Conduction)*Efficiency

This tells us that finding net power is again a game of rates. We want to lower conduction losses. This can be done by designing a reactor where the B-Field never runs into a metal surface. Tokamaks do this. But curved fields are not perfect. Radiation losses are when energy leaves the cloud as light: UV, IR, Visible and X-Ray. Radiation rises with plasma temperature. Hence, devices where electrons and ions can be different temperatures would allow for optimization. Finally, if direct conversion can get 48% than that will change the efficiency. The goal is to explore what is experimentally possible.

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I think looking across the energy mix today, there will be interest in these machines. With 7 billion people on planet earth, declining oil supplies and energy hungry emerging economies, someone will eventually come looking for this idea. Will it change the world? We will see...