System and methods for forming and maintaining high energy and temperature FRC plasma via neutral beam injection
AssigneeTae Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMichl W. Binderbauer, Sergei Putvinski, Artem N. Smirnov, Hiroshi Gota, Thomas Roche, Michael Meekins
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Abstract
A high performance field reversed configuration (FRC) system includes a central confinement chamber, divertors coupled to the ends of the chamber, neutral beam injectors positioned about the chamber, and a magnetic system comprising quasi-dc coils axially positioned along the FRC system components.
Claims19
A method for generating and maintaining a magnetic field with a field reversed configuration (FRC) comprising the steps of:
- forming a mirror plasma within a confinement chamber,
- injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from a plurality of neutral beam injectors into the mirror plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber to transition the mirror plasma to a FRC plasma, and
- maintaining the FRC plasma at or about a constant value without decay by injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from the plurality of neutral beam injectors into the FRC plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber.
A method for generating and maintaining a magnetic field with a field reversed configuration (FRC) comprising the steps of:
- forming a mirror plasma within a confinement chamber,
- transitioning the mirror plasma to a FRC plasma by injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from a plurality of neutral beam injectors into the mirror plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber, and
- maintaining the FRC plasma at or about a constant value without decay by injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from the plurality of neutral beam injectors into the FRC plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber,
- wherein the step of injecting beams of fast neutral atoms includes one of the step of tuning the beam energies of the plurality of neutral beams injectors between a first beam energy and a second beam energy, wherein the second beam energy differs from the first beam energy, or the step of tuning the beam energies of the plurality of neutral beam injectors between a first beam energy and a second beam energy, wherein the second beam energy differs from the first beam energy, and wherein the second beam energy is higher than the first beam energy, or the step of tuning the beam energies of the plurality of neutral beam injectors between a first beam energy and a second beam energy, wherein the second beam energy differs from the first beam energy, and wherein the plurality of neutral beam injectors switch between the first and second beam energies during the duration of an injection shot.
A method for generating and maintaining a magnetic field with a field reversed configuration (FRC) comprising the steps of:
- forming a mirror plasma within a confinement chamber,
- transitioning the mirror plasma to a FRC plasma by injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from a plurality of neutral beam injectors into the mirror plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber, and
- maintaining the FRC plasma at or about a constant value without decay by injecting beams of fast neutral atoms from the plurality of neutral beam injectors into the FRC plasma at an angle towards the mid-plane of the confinement chamber,
- wherein the step of maintaining the FRC plasma at or about a constant value without decay includes maintaining the FRC plasma at or about a constant value without decay in excess of 30 ms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.