See here for more.
Posted on 07/13/2015 3:54:56 AM PDT by markomalley
Boeing has received a US patent for a laser-powered fusion-fission jet propulsion system.
The patent, US 9,068,562, combines inertial confinement fusion, fission, and a turbine that generates electricity.
Boeing claims that there is a silhouette of a turbo fan engine and in the middle of the engine there is a fusion chamber, with a number of very strong lasers focused on a single point. A hohlraum (pellet) containing a mix of deuterium and tritium (hydrogen isotopes) is placed at this focal point. The lasers are all turned on at the same instant, creating massive pressure on the pellet, which implodes and causes the hydrogen atoms to fuse.
According to the patent, the hot gases produced by the fusion are pushed out of a nozzle at the back of the engine, creating thrust. One of the by-products of hydrogen fusion is lots of fast neutrons. In Boeing’s patented design, there is a shield around the fusion chamber that’s coated with a fissile material. The neutrons hit the fissile material, causing a fission reaction that generates lots of heat.
Finally there is a heat exchanger system that takes the heat from the fission reaction, and uses that heat to drive a turbine. This turbine generates the electricity that powers the lasers.
Boeing hopes that this system could replace rocket and turbofan engines, powering everything from spacecraft to missiles to airplanes.
See here for more.
Man I hate non-discloser agreements... :(
I’d rather it be used to generate electricity on the ground for quite a while before using it to propel an airplane.
Does it need the volume of air that the fast forward motion of an airplane allows?
Or can it be used in stationary applications also?
Such as a generator set for electrical generation instead of say, coal fired plants?
“laser-powered”
The power does not come from the laser. The laser must be powered in order to operate.
The power comes from the fusion reaction.
Looks like a giant step forward.
1. How are the fission products handled?
2. Inertial confinement set ups such as those at Lawrence Livermore have lasers that require long cool down times between firings. Not quite rugged.
3. I see a lot of other engineering hurdles, but I may get back to this later. Time to go to work.
Just remember that “it actually works” is not one of the criteria to be granted a patent.
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