Høj beta fusionsreaktor

Høj beta fusionsreaktoren (også kendt som 4. generation prototype T4) er et projekt under udvikling af et team ledet af Charles Chase fra Lockheed Martins Skunk Works. Høj beta konfigurationen muliggør et kompakt fusionsreaktordesign og en hurtigere udviklingstidslinje (5 år i stedet for 30). Projektet blev præsenteret ved Googles Solve for X forum d. 7. februar 2013.[1]

Charles Chase og hans team ved Lockheed har udviklet en høj beta konfiguration, som muliggør et kompakt reaktordesign og en hurtigere udviklingstidslinje (5 år i stedet for 30).

Design redigér

Fusionsreaktorens størrelse er 2x2x4 meter. Fusionsreaktoren har en cylindrisk form og har et vakuum indeni med stærke magnetiske felter, der laves med elektromagneter. Ikke-ioniseret deuterium gas sendes ind i cylinderen og opvarmes med radiobølger, på den måde som en mikrobølgeovn opvarmer mad. Når gastemperaturen når over 16 elektronvolt, ioniseres gassen til ioner og elektroner. Denne plasma udøver et tryk på de omgivende magnetfelter. Dette plasmatryk holdes i hævd af de omgivende magnetfelters tryk i beta forholdet:

  [2]

Planen er at opnå et højt beta-forhold og lave en kompakt 100 MW fusionsreaktor. Selskabet håber på at have en testreaktor i 2015, fungerende prototype i 2019, skalere den op til fuld produktionsmoden model i 2024 og være i stand til at levere den grundlast (eng. Base load power plant) verden har brug for globalt i 2045 (44 Tera-kWt).[3][4][5][6][7]

Her er nogle andre fusionsreaktor karakteristikker:

  • Det magnetiske felt stiger jo længere ud plasmaet kommer, hvilket skubber plasmaet tilbage ind.
  • fusionsreaktoren har meget få åbne feltlinjer (kun få veje som plasmaet kan lække ud fra; anvender et cylinderformet vakuumkammer, ikke en Tokamak ring).
  • meget god bue kurvebøjning af feltlinjerne.
  • systemet har en beta omkring 1.[7]
  • dette system anvender deuterium.[7]
  • systemet varmer plasmaet ved at anvende radiobølger.[7]

Fusionsreaktoren blev designet af Dr. Thomas McGuire[7] som lavede sin PhD afhandling[8][9] om fusorer ved MIT. Chase sagde at “the fuel (two isotopes of hydrogen) has six orders [1.000.000] of magnitude higher energy density than oil. You can’t make a bomb from it, and it has no meltdown risk. It’s very different from nuclear fission reactors.”[7][10]

Kilder/referencer redigér

  1. ^ FuseNet: The European Fusion Education Network, backup
  2. ^ Wesson, J: "Tokamaks", 3rd edition page 115, Oxford University Press, 2004
  3. ^ Youtube: Lockheed Martin: Compact Fusion Research & Development
  4. ^ Med fusionsreaktor fotografier: October 16, 2014, www.theage.com.au: Lockheed Skunk Works developing truck-sized fusion reactor
  5. ^ Med fusionsreaktor illustration: Oct 15, 2014, aviationweek.com: Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details Citat: "...The CFR will avoid these issues by tackling plasma confinement in a radically different way. Instead of constraining the plasma within tubular rings, a series of superconducting coils will generate a new magnetic-field geometry in which the plasma is held within the broader confines of the entire reaction chamber...Preliminary simulations and experimental results “have been very promising and positive,” McGuire says. “The latest is a magnetized ion confinement experiment, and preliminary measurements show the behavior looks like it is working correctly. We are starting with the plasma confinement, and that’s where we are putting most of our effort...", backup
  6. ^ 15 October 2014, theguardian.com: Lockheed announces breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy Citat: "...Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade...Ultra-dense deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found in the earth’s oceans, and tritium is made from natural lithium deposits. It said future reactors could use a different fuel and eliminate radioactive waste completely...Lockheed said it had shown it could complete a design, build and test it in as little as a year, which should produce an operational reactor in 10 years, McGuire said...", backup
  7. ^ a b c d e f Youtube: Charles Chase on energy for everyone
  8. ^ "Improved Lifetimes and Synchronization Behavior in Multi-grid Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Devices", Feb 2007, MIT, DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS, backup
  9. ^ "Numerical Predictions of Enhanced Ion Confinement in a Multi-grid IEC Device", McGuire, Sedwick, 44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit 21–23 July 2008, Hartford, CT
  10. ^ Fusion Power Could Happen Sooner Than You Think, backup

Se også redigér