Containment of plasmas at thermonuclear temperatures
First Claim
1. A method of heating and compressing plasma comprising the steps of confining the plasma in a vacuum chamber, generating a primary containment magnetic field within and surrounding said vacuum chamber, inductively energizing said plasma to generate ringlike plasmoids moving toward collision with each other in the chamber along an axis extending in a direction parallel to said magnetic field, said primary magnetic field acting to constrain and guide said plasmoids along said axis, and additionally compressing said plasmoids as they approach collision.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for heating and compressing plasma. The plasma is injected into a vacuum chamber located within a primary containment magnetic field. The injected plasma is inductively energized by means coaxial with and contained in the primary magnetic field to generate ringlike toroidal plasma vortex structures moving toward collision with each other in the chamber along an axis extending in a direction parallel to the primary containment magnetic field. The plasmoids are additionally compressed as they approach collision, also by means coaxial with and contained in the primary containment magnetic field. The toroidal plasma structures collide inside the primary magnetic field of bottle. The interaction caused by the collision generates a "septum region" consisting of a magnetic barrier which serves to separate the two colliding ring structures and keeps them from interacting destructively. The septum barrier also serves as a screen which allows collision of fast ions at the center of the region between the structures, while the electrons follow the magnetic force lines of the barrier and are shunted back into the structures.
108 Citations
17 Claims
- 1. A method of heating and compressing plasma comprising the steps of confining the plasma in a vacuum chamber, generating a primary containment magnetic field within and surrounding said vacuum chamber, inductively energizing said plasma to generate ringlike plasmoids moving toward collision with each other in the chamber along an axis extending in a direction parallel to said magnetic field, said primary magnetic field acting to constrain and guide said plasmoids along said axis, and additionally compressing said plasmoids as they approach collision.
- 8. Apparatus for heating and compressing plasma comprising a vacuum chamber, means for generating a primary containment magnetic field within said vacuum chamber, means for generating plasma and confining said plasma in said vacuum chamber, means forming plasmoids in said chamber having a plasma configuration in which plasma mass flow in the chamber is predominantly along an axis extending in a direction parallel to said containment magnetic field, said plasmoid-forming means being located inside of and being surrounded by said magnetic field and including means for urging the plasmoids toward collision with each other to compress the plasmoids and elevate the plasma temperature, and means to further compress and heat the colliding plasmoids to further elevate the plasma temperature.
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