{"id":8044,"date":"2014-06-06T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T20:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8044"},"modified":"2014-06-08T23:12:29","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T03:12:29","slug":"sci-tech-polywell-fusion-project-makes-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8044","title":{"rendered":"Sci-Tech: Polywell fusion project makes progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years I’ve posted several times about \u00a0the\u00a0Polywell<\/a>\u00a0fusion power concept\u00a0invented by the late\u00a0Robert W. Bussard<\/a>. See, for example, this\u00a0introductory video\u00a0on the\u00a0Polywell fusion system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Navy funded project investigating the system has been very quiet for the past \u00a0year or so and I’ve not seen any\u00a0new info on how they were doing. Today, however, comes word of a technical paper posted at arXiv.org and it sounds quite encouraging:<\/p>\n

High Energy Electron Confinement in a Magnetic Cusp Configuration<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in a magnetic cusp configuration when beta (plasma pressure\/magnetic field pressure) is order of unity. This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible.<\/em><\/p>\n

The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high beta a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially smaller loss rates.<\/em><\/p>\n

The current experiment validates this theoretical conjecture for the first time and represents critical progress toward the Polywell fusion concept which combines a high beta cusp configuration with an electrostatic fusion for a compact, economical, power-producing nuclear fusion reactor.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years I’ve posted several times about \u00a0the\u00a0Polywell\u00a0fusion power concept\u00a0invented by the late\u00a0Robert W. Bussard. See, for example, this\u00a0introductory video\u00a0on the\u00a0Polywell fusion system. The Navy funded project investigating the system has been very quiet for the past \u00a0year or so and I’ve not seen any\u00a0new info on how they were doing. Today, … Continue reading Sci-Tech: Polywell fusion project makes progress<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-and-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-25K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9036,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9036","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":0},"title":"Sci-Tech: Updates on five fusion power projects","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm quite optimistic about progress with LENR energy production, it's great to see progress being made on more conventional fusion approaches as well. There has been a flurry of reports recently on different approaches to fusion that are far simpler\u00a0and lower in cost than the ITER Tokamak-based system that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/UlYClniDFkM\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10722,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10722","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":1},"title":"Sci-Tech: Alt-fusion update","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Alan Boyle posts a survey of the status of several alternative fusion power projects: Rays of Hope: Fringe Fusion Ventures Take Small Steps Toward Energy Leap - NBC News. He includes a pointer to a new paper with interesting results on the Polywell approach invented by the late Robert Bussard:\u00a0[1406.0133]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4675,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4675","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":2},"title":"Sci-Tech: Intro video to the Polywell fusion system","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently posted an item about the Focus Fusion technique aimed at achieving power generation from nuclear fusion. Back in February I poste about a\u00a0 Lockheed-Martin fusion reactor project, which is also a fairly near term low cost approach. Another alternative fusion scheme is the Polywell, invented by the late\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/IFp0WFCK714\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8109,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8109","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":3},"title":"Sci-Tech: More on Polywell fusion + Focus Fusion crowd-funding update","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Alan Boyle gives some additional details about the Navy funded Polywell fusion power project (see post here) that recently published a paper on progress they have made :\u00a0Low-Cost Fusion Project Steps Out of the Shadows and Looks for Money - NBC News.com. The Navy funding is running out and they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12997,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12997","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":4},"title":"Sci-Tech: MIT SPARC project aims to build demo fusion power reactor with private funds","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years I've posted a number of times about innovative fusion power projects that are underway in various\u00a0places (e.g. see Tri-Alpha Energy,\u00a0General Fusion, Lockheed Compact Fusion,\u00a0EMC2 polywell, Helion Energy,\u00a0and LPP focus fusion) each aims for a much smaller and practical power plant than\u00a0the giant ITER tokomak and NIF laser\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"iter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/iter-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9072,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9072","url_meta":{"origin":8044,"position":5},"title":"Sci-Tech: More fusion power projects","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently listed some relatively low cost, near(er) term nuclear fusion power projects, \u00a0most of which originated at government labs or from government funded research at universities but are now being pursued by private ventures: Updates on five fusion power projects\u00a0- Dynomak, Helion Power, EMC2 Polywell,\u00a0Lockheed-Martin Compact Fusion, and Sandia's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science and Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Science and Technology","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8063,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8044\/revisions\/8063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}