Method and apparatus for creating and controlling nuclear fusion reactions

• US 5,160,695 A
• Filed: 02/08/1990
• Issued: 11/03/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Robert W. Bussard
• Original Assignee: QED
• Inventors: Bussard, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wasil, Daniel D.
• Application Number:
  US07/476,044
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: 376/145, 376/144, 376/107, 376/150, 376/120
• US Class Current: 376/107
• CPC Class Codes: G21B 3/006 Fusion by impact, e.g. cluster/beam interaction, ion beam collisions, impact on a target
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/03 using electrostatic fields
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 30/10 Nuclear fusion reactors

Abstract

An apparatus and method of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions utilizes a plasma, made up of ions and electrons, contained within a region, and enhances the density of the plasma using a collision-diffusion compressional enhancement process. Ion acoustic waves generated within a central region of the system permit increased reflection and scattering of ions and thereby reduces their mean free path within the core region to permit greatly increased ions density sufficient to enhance nuclear fusion reactions within the core.

Claims

1. Apparatus of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions comprising:

a) a plasma, made up of ions and electrons, contained with a core region having a core radius;

b) means for directing said ions and electrons of said plasma to converge toward said core region which includes one of (1) a central axis of a cylindrical system and (2) a center of a generally spherical system;

c) means for recirculation said plasma in generally radial motion outwards from said core region and returning thereto by the action of the directing means on the ions and electrons of the plasma, and;

d) means for enhancing the density of said plasma in the core region so as to increase nuclear fusion reactions by generating ion-acoustic electrostatic waves therein, said ion-acoustic electrostatic waves reducing the collisional mean free path of said ions to dimensions set by the wavelength of the said ion-acoustic electrostatic waves creater therein, thus enhancing density by collision-diffusion trapping of said ions to thereby enhance nuclear fusion reactions.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said directing means comprises:

a first, inner electrode structure and a second outer electrode structure spaced apart form one another;

said first and second electrode structures being permeable to ions and electrons and being generally spherical and centered about said center of said generally spherical system, and

means for providing a potential difference between said first and second electrode structures so as to accelerate positive ions located outside said first electrode structure inwardly, through said first electrode structure and toward said center.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said first and second electrode structures are enclosed in an electron reflective boundary wall.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise sets of grid wires.

5. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise sheet conductors.

6. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise point or button-like electrodes.

7. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said directing means comprises:

a first, inner electrode structure and a second outer electrode structure spaced apart form one another;

said first and second electrode structures being permeable to ions and electrons and being generally cylindrical about said central axis of said cylindrical system;

means for providing a potential difference between said first and second electrode structures so as to accelerate positive ions located outside said first electrode structure inwardly, through said first electrode structure and toward said central axis.

8. Apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second electrode structures are enclosed in an electron reflective boundary wall.

9. Apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise sets of grid wires.

10. Apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise sheet conductors.

11. Apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second electrode structures comprise point or button-like electrodes.

12. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said directing means comprises two concentric spherical arrays of conducting electrodes having electrode elements thereon, said elements of each array positioned with spherical angular coordinates so as to generally correspond to those of one another and energized to electric potentials so as to accelerate ions inwardly with energies in the range of 5 keV to 150 keV for the collisional-compression of ions of deuterium (D) with ions of D and/or tritium (T) and/or helium-3 (³ He), and to 35 keV to 700 keV for the collisional compression of ions of hydrogen (protons, p) with ions of lithium-6,7 (⁶ Li, ⁷ Li), beryllium-9 (⁹ Be), boron-11 (¹¹ B), or other suitable combinations capable of undergoing nuclear fusion reactions.

13. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said directing means comprises wires or sheet strip conductors oriented so that their small dimension (thickness) is arranged to be circumferential and their large dimension (width) is arranged to be radial, said conductors arranged in a spherical geometric pattern to lie in centrally-fixed planes containing the edges of any regular or irregular polyhedron.

14. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said directing means comprises wires or sheet strip conductors oriented so that their small dimension (thickness) is arranged to be circumferential and their large dimension (width) is arranged to be radial, said conductors arranged in a spherical geometric pattern to lie along the path of any curvilinear winding that circumscribes a sphere with approximately equal areas between adjacent elements of the geometric pattern.

15. Apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein said spherical geometric pattern is selected from the group of a curvilinear cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, or "tennis ball seam" winding.

16. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said directing means comprises conductors arranged in a spherical geometric pattern to lie in centrally-fixed planes containing the edges of any regular or irregular polyhedron figure, said conductors in the form of a "button", point or rod electrodes placed at the vertices of said polyhedral figures.

17. Apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said first and second electrode structures include means for minimizing magnetic fields due to current flow within said electrode structures, thus avoiding magnetic influences on ion/electron motion within said region, and thus allowing the electric fields resulting from said potential difference to effect and control the motion and collisional-compression of ions within the spherical system.

18. Apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein said minimizing means includes means for passing current through said first electrode structure in pairs of opposing current paths so as to null effects of any magnetic field resulting from current flowing in a single current path, and further includes means in said second electrode structure for passing current through said second electrode structure in pairs of opposing current paths so as to null effects of any magnetic field resulting from current flowing in a single current path.

19. Apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said first and second electrode structures include means for minimizing magnetic fields due to current flow within said electrode structures, thus avoiding magnetic influences on ion/electron motion within said region, and thus allowing the electric fields resulting from said potential difference to effect and control the motion and collisional-compression of ions within the cylindrical system.

20. Apparatus as recited in claim 19 wherein said minimizing means includes means for passing current through said first electrode structure in pairs of opposing current paths so as to null effects of any magnetic field resulting from current flowing in a single current path, and further includes means in said second electrode structure for passing current through said second electrode structure in pairs of opposing current paths so as to null effects of any magnetic field resulting from current flowing in a single current path.

21. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for directing comprises an inner grid array (g1) whose radius (rg1) is in the range of 20 cm rg1<

200 cm, and an outer concentric grid array (g2) larger than and separated from the inner grid array by a radial spacing (δ

r12) in a range limited by electrical arc breakdown between the concentric grid arrays.

22. Apparatus as recited in claim 21 wherein the minimum practical arc-breakdown-limited radial spacing (in cm) is given by the formula δ

r12≧

E_g /20, where E_g is the electric potential difference between the inner grid array (g1) and its surrounding outer grid array (g2), in thousands of volts (kilovolts, kV).

23. Apparatus as recited in claim 22 wherein said potential difference E_g is in the range of 5 kV <

E_g <

600 kV.

24. Apparatus as reoited in claim 23 wherein E_g =400 kV corresponding to a grid spacing of δ

r12 ≧

20 cm, and wherein said potential difference is selected to be greater than the desired mean ion energy E_w of said ions at said grid array (gl).

25. Apparatus as recited in claim 21 wherein said directing means further includes an additional grid array placed outside the inner and outer grid arrays, and means for supplying an alternating electric potential to said additional grid array outside the region of the inner and outer grid arrays in order to control the motion of electrons between said outer and additional grid arrays.

26. Apparatus as recited in claim 25 wherein said additional grid array is disposed spherically symmetrically around the inner and outer grid arrays, conforms to the shape and angular position of the outer grid array and is energized oppositely to the voltage difference between said inner and outer grid arrays so that electrons accelerated in an outward direction between grids g1 and g2 will be decelerated and returned inward in the region between g2 and g3.

27. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for directing comprises an inner grid array (g1) having a radius (rg1), and an outer concentric grid array (g2) larger than and separated from the inner grid array by a radial spacing (δ

r12), and an additional grid array placed outside the inner and outer grid arrays, and means for supplying an alternating electric potential to said additional grid array outside the region of the inner and outer grid arrays in order to control the motion of electrons between said outer and additional grid arrays.

28. Apparatus as recited in claim 27 wherein said additional grid array is disposed spherically symmetrically around the inner and outer grid arrays, conforms to the shape and angular position of the outer grid array and is energized oppositely to the voltage difference between said inner and outer grid arrays so that electrons accelerated in an outward direction between grids g1 and g2 will be decelerated and returned inward in the region between g2 and g3.

29. Apparatus as recited in claim 27 wherein said additional grid array is formed of a plurality of conducting wires arranged in a rectangular pattern to form rectangular cells, as in a wire mesh screen, and wherein each wire carries current in such a manner that each rectangular cell is surrounded by a loop of current producing a central magnetic field within the cell such that each adjacent cell is of opposite magnetic polarity, said central magnetic fields reflecting outgoing electrons at the radial position of the additional grid array and returning them on inwardly directed trajectories.

50. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said enhancing means comprises means for injecting said ions into said core region so that ion injection power, P_inj satisfies at least one of the following relationships:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">P.sub.inj ≧

5.21E-3(a.sub.inj)(E.sub.w.sup.2.5 /Z.sup.2 G.sub.j) (watts) (1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">P.sub.inj ≧

5.9E-3(a.sub.inj)(E.sub.w.sup.2.5 /Z.sup.2 G.sub.j) (watts) (2)

wherein;

E_w is the energy of the ions at the core radius;

a_ij is 1 for ion/ion acoustic waves and m_c /m_i)⁰.5 for ion/electron acoustic waves wherein m_c and m_i are the mass of the electron and ion respectively;

P_inj is the ion injection power; and

G_j is the electron recirculation ratio.

51. Apparatus as recited in claim 50 wherein the density within the core radius satisfies the following relationship:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">n.sub.c >

(2π

E.sub.w /Z.sup.2 e.sup.2 r.sub.c.sup.2)(a.sub.ij)

wherein;

n_c is the ion density at the core radius;

r_c is the critical radius at which ion-acoustic waves are generated; and

Z is the ionic charge in units of electronic charge e.

30. A method of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions comprising the steps of:

a) forming a plasma, made up of ions and electrons, with a core region;

b) directing ions and electrons of said plasma to converge toward one of (1) a central axis of a cylindrical system and (2) a center of a generally spherical system;

c) recirculation said plasma in generally radial motion outwards from said core region and returning thereto by the action of the directing means on the ions and electrons of the plasma, and;

enhancing the density of said plasma in the core region so as to increase fusion reactions by generating ion-acoustic electrostatic waves therein, said ion-acoustic electrostatic waves reducing the collisonal means free path of said ions to dimensions set by the wavelength of the said ion-acoustic electrostatic waves created therein, thus enhancing density by collision-diffusion trapping of said ions to thereby enhance nuclear fusion reactions.

31. A method as recited in claim 30 wherein the step of directing includes providing an inner grid array (g1) having a radius (rg1), and an outer concentric grid array (g2) larger than and separated from the inner grid array by a radial spacing (δ

r12).

32. A method as recited in claim 31 including the step of providing a potential difference between said inner and outer grid arrays such that ions in the space between grid arrays g1 and g2 will be accelerated with nearly pure radial motion towards the system center at energies E_i that are in the range E_i ≦

E_g, resulting in an increase in ion density as the system center is approached more closely, where E_g represents the ion maximum energy at the center.

33. A method as recited in claim 32 further comprising the step of decelerating said inward-moving ions, inside grid array g1, by converting ion kinetic energy of radial motion into electrostatic energy of repulsion due to the buildup of positive ion density at the system center, and into increasing kinetic energy of transverse (angular) motion with decreasing radial distance from the center, whereby a virtual anode is formed around the system center.

34. A method as recited in claim 33 further including the step of attracting electrons from the grid array g1 and from the space within g1, toward the system center, following said ions, said electrons tending to neutralize the buildup of repulsive positive charge of said ions near the system center, thus permitting the ions to continue their radial inward motion, with continuing increase in ion density.

35. A method as recited in claim 34 wherein the ratio of ion current to electron current in the region of the system center is controlled to fall in the range of 0.5 to 0.02.

36. A method as recited in claim 32 further including the step of selecting the initial density of ions of said plasma in the region between g1 and g2 such that the mean free path for electron/atom ionization collisions in this region, under the influence of the potential difference is E_g is comparable to or less than the spacing between said inner and outer grid arrays.

37. A method as recited in claim 33 further including the step of ceasing radial inward motion of said ions at a momentum-convergence-limited radius r_o, given by r_o ≈

(E_t /E_w)⁰.5, where E_t is the transverse energy of the ion at the position of grid array g1 and E_w is the mean energy of the ions at the position of grid array (gl).

38. A method as recited in claim 36 further including the step of ceasing radial inward motion of said ions at a momentum-convergence-limited radius r_o, given by r_o ≈

(E_t /E_w)⁰.5, where E_t is the transverse energy of the ion at the position of grid array g1, and E_w is the energy of the ions at the position of grid array (gl).

39. A method as recited in claim 38 further including the step of applying a grid potential difference [E_i ] E_g ≧

E_w and increasing ion density towards and within the central core near to and inside of r_o, by adjusting ion density within the region between the inner and outer grid arrays to sufficiently large values that the total current density in the core region within said inner grid array exceeds a critical value for the given ion energy such that the converging ion current will initiate and resonantly maintain ion acoustic waves those wavelength is small compared to the momentum-limited convergence radius, r_o, at a critical core radius r_c comparable to r_o.

40. A method as recited in claim 31 further including the step of generating ion acoustic waves within the region interior to said critical core radius r_c and tapping incoming ions within said critical core region by reflecting and scattering said ions from the boundaries of said ion acoustic waves, whereby said ions move diffusively through and within the said critical core region with mean free paths between such reflections and scatterings that are much smaller than the dimensions of said critical core region.

41. A method as recited in claim 40 wherein the step of generating ion acoustic waves includes injecting said ions with an injection power greater than 10-100 kw, with rg1 between 50-100 cm, with ion current recirculation ratios of 10-30, and with a potential difference between said inner and outer grid arrays between 10-400 keV.

42. A method as recited in claim 41 wherein injection power is in the range 100-500 kw with radius g1 at 40-80 cm, ion recirculation ratio of 10-20 and potential difference energy of 15-30 keV for use with DT fuels.

43. A method of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a spherically symmetric electrostatic field in a spherical system having a center or a cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field in a cylindrical system having a central axis,

(b) producing a plasma of ions and electrons in said spherically symmetric or cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field for accelerating said ions in a radial direction toward the center of said spherical system or the central axis of said cylindrical system,

(c) accelerating said ions along said radial paths with a speed and flux density such as to produce ion acoustic waves at a core radius r_c wherein the wavelength of said ion acoustic waves is less than r_c and such that the ratio of change of the ion acoustic wavelengths with change in radial position of the ions is directly proportional to the ion radial position.

44. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein said accelerating step includes adjusting the ion density and ion flow such that the ion acoustic wavelength is at least approximately an integer divisor of the circumference of the sphere having said core radius r_c.

45. The method as recited in claim 44 maintaining said ion acoustic waves so as to cause collisional interactions of said ions with said ion acoustic waves, said collisional interactions occurring on the scale of said ion acoustic wavelength and within said core radius r_c, and

increasing the density of said ions within said core by injecting ions or a neutral gas within or near said core and by confining said ions utilizing said collisional interactions.

46. A method of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a spherically symmetric electrostatic field in a spherical system having a center or a cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field in a cylindrical system having a central axis,

(b) producing a plasma of ions and electrons in said spherically symmetric or cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field for accelerating said ions in a radial direction toward the center of said spherical system or the central axis of said cylindrical system,

(c) accelerating ions along said radial paths such that their density within said core and their injection power are related such as to fall within the region 1000 of FIG. 7.

47. The method as recited in claim 46 wherein said accelerating step includes accelerating said ions such that their density and injection power are related such as to fall within the region 1000 of FIG. 7 excluding the region 1010.

48. The method as recited in claim 46 wherein r_c is in the range of 0.1-2 cm, and E_w is in the range of 10⁴ -10⁵ eV.

49. A method of enhancing nuclear fusion reactions comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a spherically symmetric electrostatic field in a spherical system having a center or a cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field in a cylindrical system having a central axis,

(b) producing a plasma of ions and electrons in said spherically symmetric or cylindrically symmetric electrostatic field for accelerating said ions in a radial direction toward the center of said spherical system or the central axis of said cylindrical system so as to circulate through a core region having a core radius,

(c) accelerating ions along said radial paths such that their density within said core region and their injection power are related such as to satisfy the following two relationships;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">n.sub.c >

(2π

E.sub.w /Z.sup.2 e.sup.2 r.sub.c.sup.2)(a.sub.ij) (1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">P.sub.inj ≧

5.21E-3(a.sub.ij)(E.sub.w.sup.2.5 /Z.sup.2 G.sub.j) (watts) (2)

wherein;

n_c is the ion density at the core radius;

E_w is the energy of the ions at the core radius;

r_c is the critical radius at which ion-acoustic waves are generated;

a_ij is 1 for ion/ion acoustic waves and (m_c /m_i)⁰.5 for ion/electron acoustic waves wherein m_c and m_j are the mass of the electron and ion respectively;

P_inj is the ion injection power;

G_j is the electron recirculation ratio; and

Z is the ionic charge in units of electronic charge e.