Defense Intelligence Reference Document Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion

Defense Intelligence Agency · 72 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.

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“The Times”31 pages

p. 8 …This is important for long run times since 10n bombardment of the grids, hence grid wire…
p. 9 …This time can be restated in terms of the number of ion recirculations in the IEC…
p. 15 …This work and others on the small gridded systems at that time showed several important problems…
p. 17 …interesting concept is the idea of ion focusing, either in space or time, or some other…
p. 18 …confinement time for aneutronic fusion. This assumes, however, very precise control is maintained over the energy…
p. 23 …By selecting the pulse width to match or exceed the ion confinement time, typically order of…
p. 27 …This is the approach used at the UIUC. However, introduction of the source into the configuration…
p. 30 …The second jet would serve the integration purpose of the platform without having to expend time…
p. 35 …The issue then is how to achieve adequate confinement times. The approach being pursued at UIUC…
p. 36 …step in a timely fashion, however. The Dipole Assisted IEC (DaIEC) The dipole assisted IEC DaIEC…
p. 38 …in the current experiment. It is found that electron density increases about 17 times more than…
p. 41 …Namely, the time scale for collisional degradation of the beam-like ion distribution function is crucial…
p. 42 …would homogenize the speed within the ion beam a~er some time, making the speed difference…
p. 43 …1) The electrostatic well is deep enough (Eo > 100 kV); 2) Ion confinement time is long…
p. 44 …The source to sink issue noted several times here can be explained as follows. Two opposite…
p. 49 …The time convergence test suggests that employing the largest time step compatible with accuracy in a…
p. 50 …When an ion beam is hot, the waves excited by the instability are ion acoustic type…
p. 51 …used an analytical model of charge- exchange collisions in the IEC plasma to include ion time…
p. 53 …Nevins, Can inertial electrostatic confinement work beyond the ion-ion collisional time scale?" Phys. Plasmas, Vol…
p. 54 …This method uses a pulsed high-energy neutron source and the time-of-flight (TOF) diagnostics…
p. 57 …The longer the charge time, the higher the charge in the energy storage capacitor bank and…
p. 58 …The challenge in these systems is that the unloading time is short and the container is…
p. 59 …by the number of detectors, the detector configuration, the collimated beam size, the acquisition time, and…
p. 62 …The Tokamak has a shorter trip time by employing a power level that is six times…
p. 63 …In this fashion, an array of multiple IECs increase the overall confinement time roughly in proportion…
p. 64 …This recirculation significantly increases the confinement time verses that of a simple cusp devise, leading to…
p. 65 …This re-trapping greatly increases the confinement time of a MCSA fusion device. 58 UNCLASSIFIED/;CEiOAt…
p. 66 …in the IEC high power-to-weight of the MCSA enables fast trip times. The concept…
p. 67 …across the outer surface, so increased confinement times have been achieved by going to the massively…
p. 68 …Here n is the ion density and Tis the ion confinement time. Assuming the converged core…
p. 69 …A specially designed radio frequency (RF) ion gun is installed on the side of the chamber…

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low fuel leakage and extreme maneuverability make it a near-term competitor with
other devices such as Hall thrusters for future commercial thruster applications in the
multi-kW range. The extension to a p- 11B self-powered unit would resolve many
problems anticipated as larger power requirements develop. It would be extendable to
large power units needed for eventual fast deep space propulsion. Much more research
and development is required to ensure that step in a timely fashion, however.
The Dipole Assisted IEC (DaIEC)
The dipole assisted IEC DaIEC is similar to the IEC concept discussed above except a
dipole magnet is located in the center of two hemispherical grids (Reference 3.9). The
DaIEC was first proposed by G. Miley at the UIUC and has been under investigation
there. This concept is closely related to the levitated dipole reactor (Reference 3.10)
but is much simpler, being smaller and not requiring levitation. It also differs
considerably in the physics of the associate plasma confinement. Two ion sources inject
40-keV deuterium and helium-3 ion beams toward the center of the dipole magnet. The
magnetic field will compress the ion beams by trapping ions along the magnetic field
lines; therefore, they fuse within the dipole magnet. The products of the D- 3He fusion
reaction are 14.7-MeV protons and 4-MeV alpha particles. These can be used for direct
charged particle propulsion or direct conversion to electricity (or both- propulsion and
station keeping). A schematic of the setup is shown in Figure 3.4.
rn [:] [:] [:El
1:2] 1:2]
Stabilizing COIi
Figure 3.4. Dipole Reactor Propulsion Scheme
Those ions that exit toward the right in Figure 3.4 are trapped by the magnetic field
produced by the stabilizing coil and are exhausted to produce thrust. Since the
magnetic field does not close at the nozzle but is open, protons and particles are not
required to be neutralized. This configuration of the magnetic field in the DaIEC system
reduces the mechanical components. A neutralizer (electron injection into the exhaust)
will be required in this system so as to avoid possible charging up at nozzle.
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.