In this concept a specially arranged set of copper coils are used to produce an exoergic fusion reaction by focusing an electromagnetic field on a single point in the center of the vacuum chamber. Like Inertial Confinement Fusion reactors the fuel is static (at least once the fuel has reached the center of the chamber), but in this design it is heated by exciting the atoms with a magnetic field. The electromagnetic arrangement forces the fusion fuel to compress toward a single point and with a high enough current the coulomb barrier is overcome and nuclei begin to fuse together. The fusor shares similarities with the Farnsworth and Hirsch-Meeks Fusors.
Design Description
The Fusion Reactor design utilizes an inner coil arranged to create an electromagnetic field that focuses its strength at a singularity in the center of the Reactor when current is passed through it. The inner containment sphere is made of a magnetically permeable material and a vacuum is generated within. The inner containment sphere is then seeded with an amount of fusion gas fuel and allowed to normalize. The fuel would most likely be a mix of Deuterium and Tritium (D-T) however a Hydrogen and Helium 3 (He3-H) mix would offer better energy efficiency. Using this fuel instead will depend highly on the effectiveness of the system. Helium 3 requires much higher temperatures to ‘ignite’. The fuel inside is in a near perfect vacuum so although the center of the sphere is many millions of degrees K, the outer edges will not be excessively hot.
Outside of the inner coil is a second outer coil. This coil is wrapped around the first in a perpendicular fashion in the same spherical arrangement. When fusion occurs, the inner coil experiences a spike in current that, through inductance, is transferred to the outer coil. The inner coil and outer coil are coupled with capacitors at either ends. The capacitor on the negative end of the outer coil is made up of two regular capacitor plates and an insulator material. The capacitor on the positive end of the outer coil has the same arrangement with the exception of an overhang on one of the plates, such that it creates an open-air gap between the two capacitor plates.
When fusion occurs and the excess energy is transferred to the outer coil the capacitors create a ‘traffic jam’ of charge between the inner coil and the outer coil. The voltage between the two plates of the positive end capacitor increases until it exceeds the breakdown voltage of air. When this happens, electricity arcs over the air gap of the capacitor plates causing another peak in fusion, perpetuating the cycle.
The fusion reactor thus continuously cycles between high and low periods and the current of the inner coil undulates accordingly. Because of this continuous ebbing and flowing of current, the outer coil continually captures the energy through inductance. Cables located on either end of the outer coil extract the excess energy from the reactor. The amount extracted will determine the time between each cycle. In this manner it is possible to control the rate at which energy is generated by the reactor.
Its anticipated that if more energy is extracted, the time to the next reaction will increase and the total output over a given time is reduced. If less is extracted, the time between each cycle is reduced and the total output is increased. If too much is taken in one cycle, the breakdown voltage required to cause an arc between the air-gap of the capacitor plates will not be reached and fusion will eventually come to a complete stop. If not enough is extracted, the reactor may become unstable and damage could occur such as destruction of the insulators and heat damage of the interior.
Inductance only occurs when there is a change to the current in the inner coil so it is unlikely the fusion reactor will ever experience a runaway reaction. When the amount extracted is optimal the cycle between high and low fusion will happen many times a second. From a human perspective it will appear continuous.
An insulator sphere is located between the two coils fully enclosing the inner coil. The purpose of this sphere is to create an enclosed space for coolant to be pumped around the inner coil and to homogenize inductance across the surface of the coils. It also creates a barrier between the two coils to prevent arcing. It is unclear whether this coolant is necessary and will be the subject of further study and/or experimentation.
A second insulator layer covers the outer coil and is further covered by a copper sphere. These two layers combined are intended to act as a barrier to prevent excessive magnetic discharge outside of the reactor. Charge is collected from the copper sphere through some means of electrostatics and then grounded. The final outer containment sphere is to protect from accidental electrostatic discharge off of the copper sphere.