Recovery.Gov Project Tracker

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:58 pm

I sincerely hope EMC2 posts a positive quarterly report before the coming US budget bloodbath. A positive report posted after the debt cusp will likely be lost in the chaos, or be viewed as a last-ditch grasp for future funds, regardless of the actual state of Polywell research.

http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/Re ... pId=212569

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:55 pm

Via the link above:

As of 2Q/2011, the WB-8 device has demonstrated excellent plasma confinement properties. EMC2 is conducting high power pulsed experiments on WB-8 to test the Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma energy and confinement.

One more job added:

one full time microwave engineer

Enginerd · Post by **Enginerd** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:46 pm

Ivy Matt wrote:
one full time microwave engineer

I suppose they had to hire an engineer to cook their popcorn...

TDPerk · Post by **TDPerk** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:40 am

That's easy. Count the ms between pops. Let the popcorn go for four minutes, until combustion is detected, or until you get a three second pause in popping*. Or maybe until you have ten seconds for the last four discrete pops.

*Pretty much that one will always happen first. It's also a good thing to put an almost dripping paper towel folded up to cover the 1/3rd of the bag facing down, between it and the glass.

mvanwink5 · Post by **mvanwink5** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:20 am

Sounds like leakage is not an issue:

As of 2Q/2011, the WB-8 device has demonstrated excellent plasma confinement properties. EMC2 is conducting high power pulsed experiments on WB-8 to test the Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma energy and confinement.

What would be the issue that would keep WB-8 from scaling? I just want to read the last book page.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:32 am

mvanwink5 wrote:Sounds like leakage is not an issue:
As of 2Q/2011, the WB-8 device has demonstrated excellent plasma confinement properties. EMC2 is conducting high power pulsed experiments on WB-8 to test the Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma energy and confinement.
What would be the issue that would keep WB-8 from scaling? I just want to read the last book page.

Well, with tokamak it was always something; and some folks just can't believe the Polywell will scale as theory sugggests!

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:08 am

What would be the issue that would keep WB-8 from scaling?

This has been the core of many discussions here for a long time. There is no simple answer.

Probably the best recent answer was Joel Roger's last paper. However that said, he did take some liberties, and also did not have access to WB7 data to base his assumptions on.

In any event, I view this as another <very> positive report. Things are looking up. It still may not work, but if you put the report in context, I think that they have seen scaling. Bottom line here, WB-8 is a built in step up in confinement (10x B-field). No we have two reports in a row that say it first was doing what it was suppossed (as designed), and second showing excellent confinement. This is then followed with the sentance, that they will continue to run the machine to test for scaling. Confinement is part of scaling, if it was not confining as or better than expected, then it is not scaling.

I am happy. (again).

No if they would just post that they have made it to full power tests...I remain sceptical they have done so, based mainly in the fact that they have not said it.

Either way, happy day!

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:54 am

Somehow three more months to next update doesn't seem like a long time.

kurt9 · Post by **kurt9** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:06 am

We have to wait until the end of January next year to know if this will work or not. Now, in the event that the government defaults and everything gets cancelled, will all of the latest research results be made public so that private parties can pick up where they left off?

mvanwink5 · Post by **mvanwink5** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:47 pm

Excellent confinement properties and they are testing at high power. That is new ground.

But why do they now need a full time microwave engineer? Other good news is WB-8 hasn't broken, no one has been hospitalized, they aren't over budget, and they have hired one more person.

Perhaps someone could explain why they now need a microwave engineer, full time? A little late for WB-8 work which is built and into high power testing. Could the full time microwave engineer be for future work plans? This back seat enquiring mind wants to know.

One thing that is worth underlining is that they are in the high power experimental testing stage, and high power testing is done in pulses.

choff · Post by **choff** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:18 pm

Yes, the 2nd quarter report is out, correct me if I'm wrong, but in one interview on WB7 Nebel said one of the challenges was to get confinement from 'good' to 'excellent', which is what they have now. Scaling would then be the last big hurdle to full size testing. Only other small scale stuff is PB11. If only they could prove that before August 2.

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:26 pm

Perhaps someone could explain why they now need a microwave engineer, full time? A little late for WB-8 work which is built and into high power testing. Could the full time microwave engineer be for future work plans? This back seat enquiring mind wants to know.

My uneducated guess is that they are preparing to gear up for WB8.1 (or WB9, or whatever the next stage will be in the end) and they want someone with those qualities for that. Now, if you want a qualified engineer for an upcoming project like that, then you need to factor in enough time for him to familiarize himself with the actual project and technology. I dont think that this straight foreward enough stuff so that any come along microwave engineer can just work on it right away, without special preparation and training. It is not like polywells, or fusion reactors in general are all that common.
This is at least my guess.

Solo · Post by **Solo** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 3:52 am

Microwave engineer says they want to use some kind of wave heating, probably electron cyclotron resonance (ECRH). Especially since they are talking about higher power. Possible reflectometry, interferometry, or EC temperature measurements, but less likely.

I'm really curious what they mean by 'excellent confinement.' Cusp machines aren't supposed to have good confinement. (I hope that's not a typo & should read 'excellent stability,' b/c we already know stability is fine & confinement is the big rub.) Any rate, I'm glad to hear it & can't wait to find out more!

bennmann · Post by **bennmann** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:59 am

LANL guys say excellent confinement.

And I thought I couldn't get anymore excited! More Alan Boyle interviews please! One every quarter is fine by me

If this is what getting news pre 8.1 is like, imagine the WB8.1 progress reports! Casually dropping "We burned boron this quarter"! I can't wait.

choff · Post by **choff** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 5:10 am

I noticed it says, Final Project Report Submitted Yes. That would imply they have at least completed the terms of either the Navy contract or Recovery Act funding, and now they're doing the research for themselves?