A High Efficiency I.C.F. Driver Employing Magnetically Confined Plasma Rings
Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 8 / Number 1P2B / July 1985 / Pages 1191-1197
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology / Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) / dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39929
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We discuss the possibility of achieving energy, power and power density necessary for ICF by magnetically accelerating plasma confined by a compact torus (CT) field configuration. The CT, which consists of a dipole (poloidal) field and imbedded toroidal field formed by force-free, plasma current, is compressed and accelerated between coaxial electrodes by Bθ fields as in a coaxial rail-gun. Compression and acceleration over several meters by a 9.4 MJ capacitor bank is predicted to give a 5.7 cm radius, 0.001 gm CT 5 MJ kinetic energy (107 m/sec). Transport and focussing several meters by a disposable lithium pipe across the containment vessel is predicted to bring 4.8 MJ into the pellet region in 0.5 cm2 area in 0.3 ns. The high efficiency (∼ 50%) and high energy delivery of the CT accelerator could lead to low cost, few hundred MW power plants that are economically viable.
