Someone had to post this. I'm surprised no one beat me to it.
Posted on 04/27/2009 1:01:54 PM PDT by Omedalus
Helion Energy, a startup developing engines powered by nuclear fusion, is certain to pique the interest of sci-fi fans. But the more important question for Helion President Philip Wallace is whether the same can be said of venture capitalists. That’s because the Seattle-based company is on the hunt for $20 million in financing to build a full-scale model of its fusion engine.
That engine, which the company currently has a prototype of at one-third scale, works by forming hot, ionized hydrogen gas. The gas is then electromagnetically accelerated to greater than 1 million mph and collided in a burn chamber to generate enormous amounts of heat energy.
The company’s plan is to sell its technology to new and existing power generation sites. Helion’s engines, once commercially ready, could be used to produce heat in power plants that currently rely on burning coal or natural gas, Wallace said. The heat runs steam turbines that drive generators to produce electricity. “We are very confident that we can out perform all carbon-based energy sources. If we can implement the technology, the economics follow,” he said.
But any venture capitalist that invests with Helion better have patience. Wallace said the full-scale prototype should be ready by 2011 or 2012 and a commercial engine available within a “decade.” Meanwhile, other companies are pushing to develop technology based on nuclear fusion. They include Burnaby, British Columbia-based General Fusion and the super-stealthy Tri-Alpha Energy, which reportedly raised $40 million in venture funding in 2007. Still, Helion’s Wallace believes his company can commercialize more quickly and cheaply than its competitors.
Nuclear fusion is often confused with its more politicized cousin, nuclear fission, but the two are distinct. In fusion, two light atomic nuclei are fused together to form a heavier nucleus and in the process release a large amount of heat energy. Unlike with fission, which produces radioactive waste, the by-product of fusion is environmentally safe. Wallace said that’s one reason why generating electricity from fusion will be cheaper than current nuclear power, which is based on fission—companies using it wouldn’t have the safety and regulatory hurdles to overcome.
As exciting as Helion’s technology is, it’s going to take a lot of money before its fusion engines start replacing coal. The company predicts it will need $100 million on top of the $20 million it currently seeks to go from full-scale prototype to commercial production.
The above article doesn't talk about the design of Helion's reactor much. The general idea is that it takes two hydrogen plasma jets, uses electromagnets to propel the plasma at over 1,000,000 MPH, and then shoots the two jets into one another. At the point at which the two jets meet, hydrogen ions are slamming into one another with such force as to overcome their electromagnetic repulsion and fuse into helium, releasing energy in the process. A container of water placed around the reaction point absorbs the energy and gets superheated into steam, which turns a turbine and creates electricity.
Unlike the experimental fusion reactors I read about as a kid, this isn't designed to be thermally self-sustaining. It doesn't have to be. The point is not to create a small Sun, but rather to produce just a little bit more energy than it took to create the plasma jets in the first place. I've never heard of this approach before, but it seems very enticing.
Sounds cool but prepare to be flamed. There have been too many fusion scams for much of this crowd to take an honest look at it.
Check this:
http://focusfusion.org/
“uses electromagnets to propel the plasma at over 1,000,000 MPH”
I think this is the wrong approach. Electrostatics would be much more efficient in propelling the plasma.
Their mistake is only asking for 20 mill.
They should ask for 10 billion. Then they would be too big to fail.
Our govt is going to spend $4 trillion this year and the stimulus couldn’t go to stuff like this?
bfl
If I understand correctly, there are problems with using electrostatics for plasma applications.
For one, the voltage required to hold the plasma in place is immense. It’s impossible to build up to it with direct current, and if you try to use alternating current then you end up losing massive amounts of energy when you convert it to DC.
Second, even if you *could* reliably and efficiently build up the necessary voltages, it’s nearly impossible to keep your hard-won electron gradient from just arcing over to the nearest positive charge source. Insulators wouldn’t even really help you all that much; try wrapping the whole device in rubber, and all you’ll get is lightning bolts shooting out of your rubber enclosure.
Point is, electrostatics aren’t used much, mostly because they’re hard to work with. But hey, these are all implementation issues, not problems with the theory. So if you’re clever enough, you might make it worthwhile.
Heh, yes, I know. I have already donned an electromagnetically coupled plasma repellent suit. :)
If I could get one of those in a Dodge Challenger, I bet it would really move.
I would beg to differ. :)
Agreed. Of course, if they are legit, they might be finding themselves forced to use stupid ploys like that to raise money. It's like the oft-quoted joke that somewhere out there there's a company that's successfully created a penis enlargement pill, but they're going broke because nobody will click on their banner ads.
And it is not true that a fusion machine would have no radioactive biproduct waste. High energy products of the burn process will be radiating the container. The container itself will become radioactive and will have to be scrapped periodically and stored at a waste site.
They don't claim it produces no by-product. I can't find the specific link, but I read that they're citing a radioactive half-life of 50-70 years for the radioactive waste -- which, while not "clean", is better than the thousands of years of half-life of fission reactions.
As for the container getting irradiated... Uh, that's sort of the point. :) Any energy spewed by the container directly translates into heat in the water around it.
Also, the present fusion research has been shooting high energy beams into magnetic mirrors for decades, with no success at any positive energy output. ... If there was any truth to this claim, the people at Los Alamos, on hearing of it, would have it going in their labs before the Helion people could even have their money raised.
Well, this isn't a magnetic mirror. This is two jets slamming into one another. Other than that, I can't say much about the intellectual property rights issues surrounding this thing. At the very least, it's reasonable to assume the contrapositive: that if the Los Alamos people start going after Helios, that increases the odds that they've actually got something. :)
Interested investors please contact President@helionenergy.com
Yes, “controlled” is an important qualifier. This has the potential to drastically reduce the value of Seattle-area real estate. :)
You wrote: They don’t claim it produces no by-product
But in the Post: Unlike with fission, which produces radioactive waste, the by-product of fusion is environmentally safe.
You: As for the container getting irradiated... Uh, that’s sort of the point. :) Any energy spewed by the container directly translates into heat in the water around it.
Response: The point is you can’t have a vacuum without a metal container. You can’t have the water around the burn without a metal container. That metal container will very soon be radioactive and not be environmentally safe.
Article: They talk about a reflexive magnetic field.
Me: Otherwise known as a magnetic mirror. I assume it is to hold the fast particles in the target area so they have time to fly around until they hit each other. The particles are going every which way in the target area, or why use the concept of a “temperature’? You have to contain them some way. You don’t think they are aiming these particles at each other do you? That is absured. They are so small and not precision controlled, so that is impossible.
You: if the Los Alamos people start going after Helios
Me: I didn’t say anything about going after them. Los Alamos can research anything they like. Who has the right to sell what is another question that can be decided down the road. If you think Los Alamos would let some likely concept get past them, you can think again. Some of the brightest people in the country with almost unlimited budgets have been struggling with this for 60 years.
If Helion has patent rights, one can read all the details in the patent and see if they make sense. If they tell investors the details are confidential and can’t be discussed, then write it off as fraud.
That is my opinion.
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