Oct 14, 2019 10:52 PM
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science...n-reactor/
SUMMARY POINTS: A patent [application] filed by the U.S. Navy last month claims to have developed a compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor. Nuclear fusion has been touted as the ultimate energy source, generating enormous amounts of power with little to no harmful byproducts. No one has yet been able to mass produce or control large quantities of fusion energy, so designs for the reactor seemingly stretch the limits of science.
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The Navy Just Patented a Compact Fusion Reactor, but Will It Work?
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/3000...ll-it-work
EXCERPT: The patent [application] granted to the Navy is for a “plasma compression fusion” device, but the document is rather vague on how these gains are achieved. Phrases like “It is a feature of the present invention to provide a plasma compression fusion device that generates energy gain by plasma compression-induced nuclear fusion,” are nearly tautological in their construction. Elsewhere, the document claims: “It is a feature of the present invention to provide a plasma compression fusion device that can produce power in the gigawatt to terawatt range (and higher), with input power in the kilowatt to megawatt range.”
Remember what we said about the difficulty of getting to net-positive power? This patent is basically claiming it can sidestep all such problems. That’s another part of why I’m fundamentally uncertain what to think here; the author is claiming his invention can yield gigawatt-level energy from kilowatt input, or terawatt output with megawatt input. It would be a momentous achievement for us to get megawatt-level output from a smaller number of megawatts of input at this point. Granted, patents are allowed to look forward towards what they expect will be achievable in the future, but again, it’s not clear where these improvements are coming from.
This clears everything up.
Supposedly the reactor is also capable of fusion ignition, a self-sustaining reaction in which the energy produced by the reactor is high enough to heat the fuel mass quicker than various loss mechanisms can cool it. Ignition is an even more advanced goal than achieving a break-even point, because break-even explicitly ignores energy lost to the reactor’s surroundings. Ignition does not, and is therefore required any practical commercial reactor. But again, claiming to have solved the ignition problem before we’ve even managed to break even on net power production is a huge claim to make.
Furthermore, as The Drive has detailed in an extensive report, the author behind this patent, Salvatore Cezare Pais, has a history of filing very strange patents. Pais works as an aerospace engineer at the Navy’s top aircraft test base. One of his previous patents describes a “hybrid aerospace-underwater craft.” The craft is supposedly capable of creating a “quantum vacuum” around itself, allowing it to repel air and water molecules with which it comes in contact, and allowing for incredible speed and maneuverability. As The Drive summarized in that instance... (MORE - details)
SUMMARY POINTS: A patent [application] filed by the U.S. Navy last month claims to have developed a compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor. Nuclear fusion has been touted as the ultimate energy source, generating enormous amounts of power with little to no harmful byproducts. No one has yet been able to mass produce or control large quantities of fusion energy, so designs for the reactor seemingly stretch the limits of science.
- - -
The Navy Just Patented a Compact Fusion Reactor, but Will It Work?
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/3000...ll-it-work
EXCERPT: The patent [application] granted to the Navy is for a “plasma compression fusion” device, but the document is rather vague on how these gains are achieved. Phrases like “It is a feature of the present invention to provide a plasma compression fusion device that generates energy gain by plasma compression-induced nuclear fusion,” are nearly tautological in their construction. Elsewhere, the document claims: “It is a feature of the present invention to provide a plasma compression fusion device that can produce power in the gigawatt to terawatt range (and higher), with input power in the kilowatt to megawatt range.”
Remember what we said about the difficulty of getting to net-positive power? This patent is basically claiming it can sidestep all such problems. That’s another part of why I’m fundamentally uncertain what to think here; the author is claiming his invention can yield gigawatt-level energy from kilowatt input, or terawatt output with megawatt input. It would be a momentous achievement for us to get megawatt-level output from a smaller number of megawatts of input at this point. Granted, patents are allowed to look forward towards what they expect will be achievable in the future, but again, it’s not clear where these improvements are coming from.
This clears everything up.
Supposedly the reactor is also capable of fusion ignition, a self-sustaining reaction in which the energy produced by the reactor is high enough to heat the fuel mass quicker than various loss mechanisms can cool it. Ignition is an even more advanced goal than achieving a break-even point, because break-even explicitly ignores energy lost to the reactor’s surroundings. Ignition does not, and is therefore required any practical commercial reactor. But again, claiming to have solved the ignition problem before we’ve even managed to break even on net power production is a huge claim to make.
Furthermore, as The Drive has detailed in an extensive report, the author behind this patent, Salvatore Cezare Pais, has a history of filing very strange patents. Pais works as an aerospace engineer at the Navy’s top aircraft test base. One of his previous patents describes a “hybrid aerospace-underwater craft.” The craft is supposedly capable of creating a “quantum vacuum” around itself, allowing it to repel air and water molecules with which it comes in contact, and allowing for incredible speed and maneuverability. As The Drive summarized in that instance... (MORE - details)
