Search found 2143 matches

by mvanwink5
Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:37 pm
Forum: News
Topic: ZAP Energy News
Replies: 133
Views: 26174

Re: ZAP Energy News

"We have not and we will not hit break-even this year," a Zap Energy spokesperson said. SJ's comment: This might unfortunately be true, though I wonder if this is a matter of ready to confirm & publish as it seems their FuseQ device test amps is high enough? Halfway through March 2024, & ZAP news h...
by mvanwink5
Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:40 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

Thermal losses, heat rejection, is perhaps the most major issue for fusion plant siting. Rivers, ocean, lakes (sometimes artificial), cooling towers, these limit how close to ultimate use plants can be. Then there are also environmental issues, the thermal impact on natural bodies of water. Of all t...
by mvanwink5
Thu Mar 07, 2024 2:47 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

Ions & electrons don't thermalize in a pulse operation which is a big point in a pulse operation and improves direct magnetic recovery efficiency. Quartz is transparent to UV, but I do not know how much of the X-rays will pass, quartz is certainly not opaque to X-rays though and the tube is not that...
by mvanwink5
Wed Mar 06, 2024 3:36 am
Forum: General
Topic: General anti-fusion attitude
Replies: 14
Views: 363

Re: General anti-fusion attitude

Time is fast running out for the naysayers, then watch how those that predicted the exact time of commercial Fusion will suddenly appear. No matter, the big factor is how fast fusion gets deployed.
by mvanwink5
Tue Mar 05, 2024 5:51 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

Power transfer is not thermal; the plasma ions & electron motion produces a magnetic field which is coupled to the compression coils. The power transfer then behaves the same as a utility power transformer, only without the iron core hysteresis losses. The quartz tube will see neutron heating though.
by mvanwink5
Sat Mar 02, 2024 2:30 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

The wall load is not really a major concern for them
Fusion power is coupled magnetically directly to the plasma & the walls (enclosing the plasma) are quartz. Contrast this to all the other approaches, for example, the walls of General Fusion and Zap Energy are liquid metal.
by mvanwink5
Sat Feb 24, 2024 5:12 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

How many years would they work before needing to be replaced? Size, metalurgy, how they are operated are factors, but I am way out of date so whatever I remember is old info. I do know it is still important. Replacing gas turbine peakers will be low hanging fruit to target for Helion. On the other ...
by mvanwink5
Thu Feb 22, 2024 2:50 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

SJ We had gas turbine peakers at our plant & they were dispatched based on the number of 'cycles remaining'. Gas turbines operate at high temperatures & large pieces of metal that go through a heat up & cool cycle will see fatigue, that & stress due to rotation speeds cause cracks to form. The key h...
by mvanwink5
Wed Feb 21, 2024 3:22 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

For utility power, locating on nuclear power sites would be obvious for permitting especially considering low heat rejection compared to a nuclear plant. For steel mills and aluminum foundries the number of units would be dictated by the mill or foundry size. The thing about peakers is that they hav...
by mvanwink5
Tue Feb 20, 2024 4:49 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

My understanding was that the goal for the tritium was to store it, allow it to decay to He3, then burn that in the generator. Of course, this was before I knew the market price for tritium was so high. I was not paying attention to the tritium price either. There are at least two likely viable com...
by mvanwink5
Fri Feb 02, 2024 2:13 pm
Forum: News
Topic: General Fusion in the news
Replies: 590
Views: 357527

Re: General Fusion in the news

LM-26 was mentioned in their January 11, 2024 news letter, but I had no idea what it was and this latest publication (TY Crowberry) illuminates that. In abbreviated review (my understanding), GF has followed a fusion path of concept (mechanical compression of plasma using steam pistons and a spinnin...
by mvanwink5
Sun Jan 14, 2024 12:19 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

AI compute clusters are power hogs & huge pressure to supply it is escalating exponentially. If Helion can scale there will be a market that dwarfs steel foundries.
by mvanwink5
Sat Jan 13, 2024 2:42 am
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

SJ, any idea what the new earthwork is all about at Helion's new plant? Accelerating production plans?? :D
by mvanwink5
Fri Jan 12, 2024 5:54 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

I am not sure whether future power plants will need much larger capacitor banks. I would not be surprised if you are largely correct that there would not be a significant increase in capacitor energy storage to handle net power. 3 phase power summed is non time varying, constant, and transformers a...
by mvanwink5
Fri Jan 12, 2024 5:39 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Replies: 660
Views: 104398

Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

Remaining gasses have to be evacuated after the pulse, and their patented high volume vacuum pump is key to doing this fast.