General Fusion

[suki]

Think of his idea as a one-two punch. His big electrical gizmo starts to heat up the atoms. Those get injected into a 10-foot-wide sphere full of swirling molten lead.

"The liquid will be circulated with a pump, so it spins around and makes a vortex in the center. You know, like your toilet with a hole in the center," Laberge says.

And just as the heated atoms get into the center, Laberge fires 200 pistons, powered with compressed air, which surround the sphere. "Those are compressed air guns ... that send a big compression wave, squash the thing, and away you go!"

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/09/141931...-big-on-fusion

Anyone heard of this company, or this approach to fusion?

[ASH]

Re: General Fusion

I like that it doesn't depend on any new physics. Clever engineering is always more plausible than black magic. It sounds a lot more practical to actually use than standard inertial confinement fusion (the big laser guns). Can't say it sounds especially 'easy'. My bet is that big tokamak-style magnetic confinement reactors will eventually be economically viable -- I see that as simply a matter of time and resources. However, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that something 'simpler' like this could win the race.

[c1ue]

Re: General Fusion

Anyone heard of this company, or this approach to fusion?

I'd say that if compressed air is the means by which fusion is initiated and controlled, I'd want to be as far away as possible from the fusion reactor.

It is also quite unclear how you transfer energy through the air compression wave outside of the reactor.

Compressed air has the benefit of possibly being less likely to leak as compared to magnetic bottles (tokamaks), but the offsetting negative is that the air itself (or relative lack thereof) is a means by which over-energetic reactions can affect containment.

It is also a good question on just how much compression can be achieved, and how consistent it is. The idea is interesting, but the details on whether a series of pistons can create a uniform layer of compressed air is rather important; failure to do so would mean either insufficient pressure to generate fusion, or worse a leak of fused elements and fusion energy out of containment.

Definitely one of those wait and see deals.

[leegs]

Re: General Fusion

My understanding is that compressed air doesn't have anything to do with containment, and there is no issue of a uniform layer of compressed air. Rather the air drives pistons create a shock wave in the lead to 'squeeze' it and the hydrogen nuclei inside it to initiate fusion. The molten lead (rather the magnetic field generated by the swirling lead) is the actual containment. The subsequent fusion reaction deeps the lead molten, and one could extract heat from it to drive turbines, etc.