Talk-Polywell.org

There is an article with some details on General Fusion in The Globe and Mail, Vancouver’s high-tech makeover by Richard Littlemore.

Quote from the article by Haig Farris:

“Now physics and math are driving everything and people in the venture capital community don’t get it. Neither the media nor the investors understand. So, there’s lots of angel money. But it’s hard to get people to commit for long-term, complicated things: for artificial intelligence, learning computers and materials science. The best deals are still the hardest to sell.”

Apparently General Fusion has been working on the design for the full sized prototype, because now its cost is quoted at $200 million (it used to be estimated to cost $150 million).

“We’re trying to convince ourselves that it will work,” Laberge says. “Then we will need a big pile of cash.” He thinks their design could result in a plant that costs only $200 million, compared to the nearly $20-billion (U.S.) bill for the latest experimental fusion reactor in France.

Here is a nice quotation from Dr Laberge from that article.

Laberge offers both a complaint, and a solution: “It’s as hard to find the money as it is to find the fusion. I walked a lot to find the money. So, I’d say, you need a good idea and long legs.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... e23614007/

This is an interesting challenge by General Fusion:

General Fusion Challenge: Method for Sealing Anvil Under Repetitive Impacts Against Molten Metal

TAGS: Clean Tech, Physical Sciences, Engineering/Design, Theoretical-IP Transfer
AWARD: $20,000 USD | DEADLINE: 5/15/15 | ACTIVE SOLVERS: 85 | POSTED: 4/15/15

A new method is needed to seal a metal cylinder and the metal surface of the cylindrical hole into which it fits such that molten lead on one end of the cylinder is isolated from a vacuum on the opposite end of the cylinder. The cylinder is subject to repetitive impacts and high temperatures, which must not compromise the seal. More details are provided in the body of the Challenge.

This Challenge requires only a written proposal.

Source: InnoCentive Challenge ID: 9933691

https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9933691

Ferromagnetic fluid seals are good for sealing against vacuum and 'if' adequate for temperature should do it.

Looks like prototype engineering has started?


Edit: Right off I didn't see a product that was good for liquid lead temperatures, so then the obstacle would be too cool the ferromagnetic seal.

General Fusion has published both a blog post and a press release on their crowdsourcing effort. They plan to run similar campaigns in the future. Interestingly General Fusion is also now using the word "Wiffleball" to describe their reactor:

One of General Fusion’s major breakthroughs is the way we collapse the vortex: by simultaneously striking the surface of the sphere with a few hundred pistons, or hammers, sending an acoustic pressure wave to the center of the sphere (where the plasma is!). The spherical vessel containing the plasma is like a “Wiffleball” in that it has a bunch of holes – one where each hammer impacts. Inside each hole is a cylindrical plug – we call them anvils – and the hammer strikes that anvil, which moves back and forth a few millimeters on each impact, transferring the energy into the molten lead-lithium.

If you’ve got an engineering background or a tinkerer’s mindset you might now see the challenge. We have hot molten lead-lithium inside the sphere, which is full of holes. The anvils need to plug these holes, so we need some type of seal around them – but the anvils also need to be free to move – and the seal needs to survive these big impacts, which happen once every second, over and over again – and everything is really hot.

Crowdsourcing Fusion

http://www.generalfusion.com/blog/categ ... ng-fusion/

High-Tech Energy Firm Crowdsources Engineering Challenge

http://www.generalfusion.com/blog/categ ... challenge/

Perhaps a mechanical engineer that works at a steel mill? Whatever, this looks like an engineering project now, now the real work begins.

Why not use a gasket of silicone rubber? This stuff claims to be good up to 700°F. Make it thick enough and it should be able to absorb the several mm of displacement required.

http://www.permatex.com/component/docum ... automotive

Michel Laberge from General fusion is interviwed in the article DigiBC’s NEXT25 Showcase: Where are they now? by John Gray. There are no new details on their progress, but it is still interesting to read.
http://betakit.com/digibcs-next25-showc ... -they-now/

http://www.deaconindustries.com/pump-valve-packings
http://www.garlock.com/en/product/high- ... oCw1Pw_wcB

These people have a large experience with packing at this temperature range.

Serious cash infusion, no new technical news (what is wrong with American investors? Short sighted and brainless? Sorry, my rant governor lost control):
http://www.generalfusion.com/blog/categ ... on-energy/
GENERAL FUSION SECURES $27 MILLION INVESTMENT TO EXPAND LEADERSHIP IN FUSION ENERGY
MOST RECENT / PRESS RELEASES 19 MAY 2015
VANCOUVER, Canada – May 19, 2015 – General Fusion, a world leader in the development of fusion energy, announced today it has completed a $27 million (CAN) financing, putting the company in its strongest financial position since its founding in 2002.

General Fusion will continue the development of Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF). The company has emerged as the world leader in this approach, one it believes can deliver a faster and more practical path to commercial fusion energy production. Over the past five years, with the support of its global investor base, General Fusion has established a world-class research team and cutting-edge facilities. General Fusion has built technologies fundamental to its power plant, and is now aggressively advancing the development of key subsystems at full scale.

The financing was led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Government of Malaysia’s strategic investment fund. Existing investors, including European and North American venture capital firms, family offices and its industrial oil & gas partner also participated. This round brings the total investment in privately-held General Fusion to more than $100 million (CAN).

“This financing is evidence of the growing recognition of fusion as a game-changing source of energy, as well as the leadership position of General Fusion.” said General Fusion CEO Nathan Gilliland. “The support from new and existing investors reflects their confidence in our practical approach, our commercial strategy, and the progress we have made.”

This round closed in May 2015, and will be followed by a second closing in late summer 2015, allowing additional investors to participate.

Commented General Fusion Chairman Rick Wills, “We welcome Khazanah to our team of investors, physicists, engineers, partners and advisors. This financing reflects the growing global character of our investment base and the growing importance of fusion energy around the world”.

They will certainly be sad when it doesn't work. But with that kind of sourcing, they can drag that dog behind the car for a decade before they are down to a leash.

They will certainly be sad when it doesn't work.

Care to share something? It seems to me that GF has all the experimental pieces that says it will work at full scale and are working on engineering details, last of which surfaced (albeit in an odd way) was the anvil and its seal. And, perhaps it is only irritating to EMC2 enthusiasts that GF has the critical skill in getting backers with money. GF on the other hand has been sympathetic to all the fusion groups tackling the tough task, technical and financial, of bringing commercial fusion to life. As for me, It irritates me that American money seems only attracted to the simple quick buck Vegas gamble and investment money is mostly found off shore.

I take it Polywell is still searching for money, it's a shame really. All that promise and all that short sighted money going to subsidized green causes.

It is nice to see that now both HE and GF have gotten new money this year. It would be nice to see EMC2 also getting funding.

The GF approach to work on all key components simultaneously is very good and it means that they will know in a reasonable time whether the concept works or not. From what I have understood their goal is to be confident that the prototype reactor will work once they build it. This means that they need to meet their goals concerning plasma injection, compression, stability and lifetime. Since they have learned that the 14-piston device cannot compress the plasma they have to rely on computer simulations and the explosive compression tests. Of course one can assume that they have made progress since the seminar at the end of last year, but I would assume that any major advancement would have been publicized.

The fact that they are working on the design for the net gain prototype reactor does not mean that they have solved all problems. It is interesting to see how confident they seem to be that they can solve their problems.

I firmly believe that GF still faces significant plasma stability issues.

GF has reported that they have at least one explosive configuration that works although it is impractical to implement. However, the existence of one in their minds implies others and their belief that it is not a matter of whether it can be done but when (how long). GF also is confident in the compression modeling as the progress in fluid dynamics is advanced, so it is unnecessary to build a larger in-between device. Short of announcing the full size prototype project initiation I can't see further technical announcements.

27 million in additional funding in my mind puts them close to that, but the anvil issue must be tough to solve for their suppliers. Our heavy industry base loss to China is costing us. (Washington idiots bleeding us with green hubris.)

Metal bellows.