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1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 2:58 pm
by tannerhorne
Hello Talk-Polywell,

I thought what I am working on might be of interest to you:

http://www.hornetechnologies.com
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My company has produced the first superconducting high-beta research device and we are working on the next generation device now. The way too ambitious goal is to have the second generation device up and running by the end of the year and push the magneto-electrostatic fusion concept to the limit of the technology.

Tanner Horne
Horne Technologies

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 4:13 pm
by ladajo
Well hello there.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:01 pm
by Skipjack
Hello and welcome!
Congrats on your great achievement! I am very surprised and excited by the fact that you managed to get ReBCO magnets working already, when even the MIT is still researching them (and so is Tokamak Energy)! Your goals are ambitious, but I do wish you the very best of success and hope that you will keep us updated on your progress!

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:48 pm
by tannerhorne
Thanks! I had them up and running a little over a year ago, certainly a challenge! The custom LN2 pump did slow me down a bit.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:40 pm
by ladajo
How are you supporting your project?
And do you have more information available than what is on your webpage? It is kind of limited.
What are your configuration testing plans, instrumentation, etc.?
Would love to know more.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 9:23 pm
by tannerhorne
I apologize for the limited information, what is on the website is mostly what I can offer. I will try to keep it up to date as the year progresses!

If you have specific questions I might be able to answer, but some things are going to be vague.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 10:14 pm
by tannerhorne
In a tangentially related note, I have been contacted by a researcher that wants to test an purely optical measuring device on my system that would give density measurements over line of sight by method of using trace argon gas. As a completely passive system this would definitely be useful in verifying measurements.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 8:22 am
by Giorgio
That is quite interesting and unexpected news.
Out of curiosity (and if you can reply), are you part of a technology incubator of some sort or doing this completely out of yourself?

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 1:51 pm
by choff
LM has some competition! :D

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 3:19 pm
by tannerhorne
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Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 3:24 am
by Tom Ligon
Way cool! Wait, I guess "way cool" would be liquid helium. But pretty darned LN2 cool, anyway, and I'd love to see a Polywell built like that!

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 11:33 am
by paperburn1
Tom Ligon wrote:Way cool! Wait, I guess "way cool" would be liquid helium. But pretty darned LN2 cool, anyway, and I'd love to see a Polywell built like that!
In my personal opinion LN2 is going to be the necessary coolant do to availability and cost restraints and usability. He2 is just too hard to manage in an industrial environment.

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 11:33 am
by ladajo
How do you plan on driving your potential well? Have you tried anything yet?

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:31 pm
by Tom Ligon
paperburn1 wrote: In my personal opinion LN2 is going to be the necessary coolant do to availability and cost restraints and usability. He2 is just too hard to manage in an industrial environment.
No argument there. While I was at EMC2 in San Diego, I ordered a sample of high-temperature superconducting ribbon. Prior to that you could get the powder, but nobody was making practical "wire". I did manage to get a piece to magnetically levitate, but Dr. Bussard was not prepared to try making magnets out of it at that time. We did later approach a fellow who made superconducting magnets professionally. He thought the sizes of apparatus we were making at that time was too small to make superconductors practical (the vacuum break structures would make the resulting magnets too bulky). However, he thought superconducting magnets, either liquid He or LN2, were the way to go once we scaled up. High temperature superconductors have had nearly two decades to mature since then.

You can make superconducting magnets without vacuum breaks, but the fusion plasma demands some thermal insulation between your cryogenic fluid and the plasma. That bulks the structure up.

If liquid helium is too hard to manage in an industrial environment, what does that say about tokomak designs based on such magnets?

Re: 1st Superconducting High-beta Device

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 5:10 pm
by paperburn1
That is a problem at least 30 years away. :D