Compact Fusion Reactor: High Potential Difference Effects

[digital ranger]

What would happen if we applied high potential difference to a mixture of deuterium and tritium gases in a superconducting tube?
Would the electric discharge give suffecient energy and conditions for fusion to occur??

 

[quinn]

what>?

Superconducting tube?

You need to be more precise in you thought experiments.

Certainly there are a myriad of particle accelerators that merely apply an electrical field to gases and definitely produce fusion, just not in "break even" quantities

 

[digital ranger]

Well I was trying to say (compact) ..
I mean something in the size of a car baterry can be charged from a domestic DC source and cause discharging once by means of capacitance.
So electricity can be produced by thermoelectric generator .

 

[Astronuc]

There are neutron generators or 'howitzers' which use an electrostatic field to accelerate deutrons into tritated targets to create 14.1 MeV neutrons. However, the deuteron current is so low and the scattering so great that more energy is put in than developed by fusion. The objective however in this system is neutron generation.

A relatively compact system using electostatic fields is the fusor -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_electrostatic_confinement (article may contain unverified claims - reader beware)

I don't believe that a practical fusor for energy production has been developed.

In Tokamak, neutral particle beams are injected into the plasma. The NPBs use electrostatic fields to accelerate deuterons into the plasma chamber.

The problem is the scattering and the acceleration of nuclei/ions and electrons causes energy loss due to cyclotron and brehmsstrahlung radiation. Because of high temperatures in the plasma, magnetic confinement is essential for most fusion reactor concepts, with the exception of inertial confinement systems.

 

[digital ranger]

power output

well, I read the article of the fusor and it seems that the main problem is energy output.
I think steam generators and turbines won't be useful on a small scale.
Instead we can use a neutron absorbent material as a target for neutrons then it transforms the majority of energy into heat.
the heat is absorbed by a lasing active medium generating photons which can be absorbed by photoelectric cells to generate electricity.
I know that it's difficult from technichal and geometrical point of view.
so I need suggestions...

 

[quinn]

I think that the fusor is an excellent choice for compact nuetron generation.

It is simple and elegant

 

[68658]

digital ranger
Can you elaborate on your idea it seems similar to an idea of mine. By the way if you dope the water for the steam turbine with boron it can act as both a neutron absorber and as a working medium

 

[Drakkith]

well, I read the article of the fusor and it seems that the main problem is energy output.
I think steam generators and turbines won't be useful on a small scale.
Instead we can use a neutron absorbent material as a target for neutrons then it transforms the majority of energy into heat.
the heat is absorbed by a lasing active medium generating photons which can be absorbed by photoelectric cells to generate electricity.
I know that it's difficult from technichal and geometrical point of view.
so I need suggestions...

The issue with the Fusor is not getting power out of it. It is that no matter how much you input, the losses because of the grids are simply too great to ever allow breakeven and power generation.

 

[berkeman]

digital ranger
Can you elaborate on your idea it seems similar to an idea of mine. By the way if you dope the water for the steam turbine with boron it can act as both a neutron absorber and as a working medium

I don't think digital ranger is going to reply... He last visited the forums in 2006, around the time of this thread.

 

[Drakkith]

Thread necro's strike again!

 

[quasi44]

There are neutron generators or 'howitzers' which use an electrostatic field to accelerate deutrons into tritated targets to create 14.1 MeV neutrons. However, the deuteron current is so low and the scattering so great that more energy is put in than developed by fusion. The objective however in this system is neutron generation.

A relatively compact system using electostatic fields is the fusor -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_electrostatic_confinement (article may contain unverified claims - reader beware)

I don't believe that a practical fusor for energy production has been developed.In Tokamak, neutral particle beams are injected into the plasma. The NPBs use electrostatic fields to accelerate deuterons into the plasma chamber.

The problem is the scattering and the acceleration of nuclei/ions and electrons causes energy loss due to cyclotron and brehmsstrahlung radiation. Because of high temperatures in the plasma, magnetic confinement is essential for most fusion reactor concepts, with the exception of inertial confinement systems.

So you think they are on the wrong track at Lawrence Livermore-Sandia?

-The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing, also by Satch

 

[Drakkith]

So you think they are on the wrong track at Lawrence Livermore-Sandia?

-The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing, also by Satch

What do you mean?