Jan 25, 2021 11:26 PM
Jeff Bezos Is Backing an Ancient Kind of Nuclear Fusion (engineering)
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science...eff-bezos/
SUMMARY POINTS: Smaller fusion reactors could have their breakthrough moment far sooner than large projects. The Jeff Bezos-backed General Fusion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems both are targeting 2025. These reactors use extraordinary magnets to pressurize elements into superhot plasma. (DETAILS)
How to separate oxygen from air using magnets (engineering)
https://www.economist.com/science-and-te...ng-magnets
EXCERPT: . . . Dry air is a mixture of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% argon, with a few other trace gases such as carbon dioxide. At the moment, most of the world’s pure oxygen is made by the liquefaction and subsequent distillation of air, to separate it into its components. This is done in large factories. [...] The alternative of magnetic separation is the brainchild of John Vetrovec, boss of Aqwest, a technology firm in Larkspur, Colorado.
Though oxygen cannot be magnetised permanently in the way that elements like iron can, it is attracted by magnetic fields. As a consequence, when air is pumped through such a field its oxygen gets concentrated in those places where the field is strongest. This concentration-enhancement is small. But if the oxygen-enriched part of the air stream could be separated from the oxygen-impoverished part, and then treated in the same way over and over again, it could be enriched to the point where it was pure enough to be useful. Dr Vetrovec thinks he knows how to do this.
A previous attempt by a different group of engineers used pulsed electromagnets. This, though, required both high pressure, which is expensive to create, and the electromagnets themselves, which are costly to buy and costly to run. Dr Vetrovec intends to perform his version of the trick at atmospheric pressure, and using permanent magnets. Both of these modifications greatly reduce power consumption. In fact, the device’s only moving part is the blower which pushes air through it... (MORE -details)
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science...eff-bezos/
SUMMARY POINTS: Smaller fusion reactors could have their breakthrough moment far sooner than large projects. The Jeff Bezos-backed General Fusion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems both are targeting 2025. These reactors use extraordinary magnets to pressurize elements into superhot plasma. (DETAILS)
How to separate oxygen from air using magnets (engineering)
https://www.economist.com/science-and-te...ng-magnets
EXCERPT: . . . Dry air is a mixture of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% argon, with a few other trace gases such as carbon dioxide. At the moment, most of the world’s pure oxygen is made by the liquefaction and subsequent distillation of air, to separate it into its components. This is done in large factories. [...] The alternative of magnetic separation is the brainchild of John Vetrovec, boss of Aqwest, a technology firm in Larkspur, Colorado.
Though oxygen cannot be magnetised permanently in the way that elements like iron can, it is attracted by magnetic fields. As a consequence, when air is pumped through such a field its oxygen gets concentrated in those places where the field is strongest. This concentration-enhancement is small. But if the oxygen-enriched part of the air stream could be separated from the oxygen-impoverished part, and then treated in the same way over and over again, it could be enriched to the point where it was pure enough to be useful. Dr Vetrovec thinks he knows how to do this.
A previous attempt by a different group of engineers used pulsed electromagnets. This, though, required both high pressure, which is expensive to create, and the electromagnets themselves, which are costly to buy and costly to run. Dr Vetrovec intends to perform his version of the trick at atmospheric pressure, and using permanent magnets. Both of these modifications greatly reduce power consumption. In fact, the device’s only moving part is the blower which pushes air through it... (MORE -details)