Magnetic and electrostatic confinement of plasma in a field reversed configuration

Abstract

A system and apparatus for containing plasma are described in which plasma ions are contained magnetically in stable, non-adiabatic orbits in a Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) magnetic topology. Further, the electrons are contained electrostatically in a deep energy well, created by tuning an externally applied magnetic field. The simultaneous electrostatic confinement of electrons and magnetic confinement of ions avoids anomalous transport and facilitates classical containment of both electrons and ions. In this configuration, ions and electrons may have adequate density and temperature so that upon collisions they are fused together by the nuclear force, thus releasing fusion energy. Moreover, the fusion fuel plasmas that can be used with the present confinement system and method arenot limited to neutronic fuels only, but also advantageously include advanced fuels.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the application dated February 1, 2002, the application number 02807791.1, and the title of the invention "Magnetic and electrostatic confinement of plasma in field reverse configuration". [0002] This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. N00014-99-1-0857 awarded by the Office of Naval Research. During 1992-1993, several background studies were supported by the US Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in this invention. technical field [0003] The present invention relates generally to the field of plasma physics and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for confining plasmas. Plasma confinement is of particular interest for the purpose of achieving nuclear fusion reactions. Background technique [0004] Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei combine to form one heavy nucleus. The nuclear fusion process releases enormous amounts of energy in the form of fast-mov...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Disadvantages of the neutron reaction are: (1) the flux of fast neutrons creates a number of problems, including structural damage to the reactor walls and high levels of radioactivity to most structural materials; and (2) the thermal energy of the fast neutrons is convert to electricity to harvest their energy, which is very inefficient (less than 30%)

Tokamak reactors using D-T fuel have other problems: most of the energy of the fusion products is carried by 14MeV neutrons, which cause radiation damage in almost all construction materials due to the neutron flux and introduce reaction rates

Although there are many research programs on the electrostatic confinement of ions, none of these have been successful in establishing the required electrostatic field when the ions have the density required for a fusion reactor

Finally, none of the aforementioned patents discuss field-reversed configuration magnetic topologies

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