BE1019002A3 - Nuclear fusion reactor. - Google Patents

Abstract

Nuclear fusion reactor, characterized in that the fusion plasma (22) is located in a pressure vessel (1), which is rotated around two different axes (4,7) and is filled with liquids and / or gases under a high pressure of minimum 220 bar.

Description

Nuclear fusion reactor.

The present invention relates to a nuclear fusion reactor.

A nuclear fusion reactor is known to contain a plasma in which the fusion reaction takes place, being the fusion of deuterium (2H) or tritium (3H) to helium (4H), for example, releasing neutrons or fusing hydrogen (1H) with boron ( UB) to helium (4H) and carbon (12C), for example, in which no neutrons are released.

The nuclear fusion only comes about at very high temperatures, such as those obtained in a plasma by heating the plasma to millions of degrees Kelvin.

A problem that arises here is that such a plasma must be isolated from the environment in order to prevent the heat from the plasma being delivered to the environment too quickly and the nuclear reaction to stop.

A problem that also arises here is that the charged particles in the plasma can collide with and damage the walls of the vacuum chamber.

Traditionally, the plasma is isolated from the outside world by means of a vacuum chamber, as is the case in arrangements such as a Tokamak, a Stellator, a Fusor or Polywell.

The plasma is then confined in a very strong magnetic field, which is known as magnetic confinement, requiring super-powerful magnets, or in the case of a Polywell, in a strong electric field, also known as electrostatic confinement.

The present invention is intended to provide a nuclear fusion reactor in which the plasma is isolated from the environment without the need for a vacuum chamber and without the need for super-powerful magnets or electrostatic confinement.

To this end the invention relates to a nuclear fusion reactor, wherein the fusion plasma is located in a pressure vessel, which is rotated about two different axes and is filled with liquids and / or gases under a high pressure of at least 220 bar.

An advantage of the rotary pressure vessel is that the rotary action creates a centrifugal force that separates the lighter molecules that make up the plasma in the core of the reactor and the heavier molecules that move to the periphery of the pressure vessel and thereby reduce the heat convection in the pressure vessel between the hot plasma and the heavier molecules of the environment.

Another advantage of the rotating pressure vessel is that the pressure on the plasma can be increased without the need for magnets.

Another advantage of the rotating pressure vessel is that energized charged plasma particles can be injected, which is not possible with magnetic confinement.

A further advantage of the rotary pressure vessel is that the centrifugal forces that are developed therein separate the contents of the rotary pressure vessel into layers, which suppresses convection flows.

The rotary pressure vessel is preferably surrounded by a second pressure vessel, in which a second amount of liquid and / or gas is present under high pressure, so that the rotary pressure vessel must not be able to withstand the full process pressure.

Preferably, the rotating pressure vessel is spherical.

An advantage of a spherical pressure vessel is that this shape can best withstand the high pressure.

Another advantage of the spherical pressure vessel according to the invention is that the plasma is also spherical and therefore has the smallest surface / volume ratio, which promotes thermal insulation.

In addition, due to the high pressure in the pressure vessel, the plasma has a much smaller volume, which also contributes to better thermal insulation, and is conducive to heating the largest possible part of the energy that is put into the reactor in heating of the plasma.

Preferably, the pressure vessel rotates simultaneously about two axes in the space that are perpendicular to each other.

An advantage of the rotations of the pressure vessel is that the gravitational field is replaced by a uniform centrifugal field, which contributes to the prevention of heat convection flows.

The pressure vessel is preferably surrounded by a second pressure vessel, in which there is a second amount of liquid and / or gas under high pressure.

An advantage of the second pressure vessel is that the rotating pressure vessel need not be resistant to the full process pressure, but only to the difference between process pressure and the pressure in the second pressure vessel, which considerably simplifies the construction of the rotary pressure vessel.

The outer layer in the rotary pressure vessel preferably consists of water that protects the rotary pressure vessel against too high temperatures through cold water injection, but also against any neutrons if the nuclear reaction emits neutrons.

An advantage of this outer layer of water is that the water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by thermolysis and radiolysis, so that these elements end up in a layer closer to the core because of their lower molecular weight, together with helium from the fusion reaction. The exempt hydrogen and oxygen can serve as fuel for fuel cells from which electrical energy can be extracted.

At rotational speeds that are sufficiently high, the oxygen layer will be separated from the hydrogen layer by a helium layer.

In a preferred embodiment, oxygen and hydrogen are each withdrawn separately from the process by separately expanding each in a turbine, after which the hydrogen and oxygen in fuel cells can be combined with electrical energy and water formation.

Optionally, the water contains lithium that can be converted to tritium by reaction with neutrons.

An advantage of the presence of lithium in the aqueous layer is that neutrons from the nuclear reaction in the plasma core can give rise to the formation of tritium after collision with lithium. This tritium can possibly be recovered from the lithium and serve as a fusion fuel for the plasma.

The resulting water can be cooled, and injected back into the rotary pressure vessel, after adding or not adding lithium.

The DC voltage produced can be used to ionize and inject tritium, deuterium and hydrogen into the plasma center.

An advantage of this embodiment is that in this way a constant supply of plasma is ensured, which is necessary given that the plasma is also used up quickly due to the high number of fusion reactions.

Another advantage of this embodiment is that the fusion reaction can hereby be very controllable and can be switched off immediately without subsequent heat.

Another advantage of this embodiment is that no radioactive substances are present, except tritium, nitrogen (16 N) and activated minerals in the case of a neutron-emitting nuclear reaction. Radioactive noble gases, iodine, nuclear fuel products and nuclear fuel do not occur.

Another advantage of this embodiment is that the hottest plasma in the center, which is hot enough to keep the nuclear fusion reaction going, is isolated by less hot plasma and this by even less hot plasma, etc.

In principle, the heat conductivity increases with increasing temperature due to the reduction in viscosity, resulting in faster convection. The influence of the rotational speed on convection and heat conduction will have to be determined experimentally.

Presumably the plasma will be better isolated at a higher rotational speed.

Due to the lower mass density of hot plasma, the temperature in the center will be much higher.

The size of the plasma determines the maximum temperature in the center and the number of nuclear reactions achieved.

The plasma can be increased by a larger power supply, but then the other layers must be sufficiently thick, which assumes a sufficiently large reactor.

There are three ways of transferring heat with which the plasma can lose its heat: convection, conduction and radiation.

In the preferred embodiment of this invention, convection is suppressed by replacing the gravitational field with a centrifugal field.

Radiation losses are reduced by the gas layer and liquid layer that surround the plasma. 80% of the energy in deuterium tritium fusion is released in the form of neutrons. It is important that these are moderated or slowed down by the surrounding elements and absorbed by the lithium before they reach the reactor wall. With each fusion reaction, only one neutron is released, with which no more than one tritium core can be formed. The tritium is necessary to achieve a high energy density. Tritium and neutrons are also formed with D-D fusion.

Heat losses due to conduction are reduced by isolating the hot plasma from the wall of the pressure vessel.

With the insight to better demonstrate the characteristics of the invention, a preferred embodiment of a nuclear fusion reactor according to the invention is described below, as an example without any limiting character, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: figure 1 schematically shows a nuclear fusion reactor according to the invention.

Figure 2 represents the portion indicated by F2 in Figure 1; figure 3 represents a section according to line III-III in figure 2; Figure 4 represents a plasma injector that is applicable to a nuclear fusion reactor according to the invention; Figure 5 shows a variant of the nuclear fusion reactor according to the invention.

The nuclear fusion reactor according to the invention shown in Figure 1 consists essentially of a pressure vessel 1 which in this case is of a spherical design and which is rotatably arranged in a rotation mechanism 2 which can drive the above-mentioned pressure vessel in rotation about at least two different rotational axes.

The rotation mechanism 2 is shown in more detail in Figure 2 and mainly consists of an outer ring 3 rotatably arranged around a vertical geometric axis XX '4, which is driven by a drive 5 and of an inner ring 6 rotatably arranged in the outer ring 3 around a geometric axis YY '7, which in this case is perpendicular to the first axis XX' 4.

Between the outer ring 3 and the inner ring 6, transfer means 8 are provided to transfer the rotary movement of the first shaft 4 to the shaft 7 of the inner ring and to synchronize both rotational movements relative to each other in such a way that for each rotation of the outer ring 3, the inner ring 6 also undergoes a complete rotation.

These transmission means 8 are shown schematically in Figure 2 by a crank 9 which is connected to the shaft 4 of the outer ring, and a crank pin 10 which is arranged eccentrically with respect to this shaft 4 and which is connected by means of a hinge 11 with one end of a connecting rod 12, the other end of which is coupled to a crank pin 13 of a second crank 14 mounted on the shaft 7 of the inner ring.

Other drive mechanisms are of course not excluded.

Furthermore, the nuclear fusion reactor is provided with means 15 which allow to supply or extract liquids or gases from the internal space 16 of the pressure vessel 1.

In this case, these means 15 are formed by conduits 17 which connect to a rotary seal 18 around the axis of rotation 4 and which are coupled by means of intermediate lines 18 to a second rotary seal 19 around the axis of rotation 7 of the inner ring and the pressure vessel 1. itself, from which lines 20 depart which extend through or around the axis into the space 16 of the pressure vessel and which open at different distances from the center of the pressure vessel.

A plasma injector 21 is built into the rotating pressure vessel of the nuclear fusion reactor for generating plasma 22 which is supplied into the space 16 of the pressure vessel.

The operation and use of the nuclear fusion reactor are illustrated with reference to Figure 3.

During the normal operation of the reactor, the pressure vessel 1 is driven in rotation about two geometric axes X-X'4 and Y-Y '7, whereby the gravitational field is replaced by a stronger centrifugal field.

During operation, the pressure vessel is filled with liquids and / or gases, which are separated by the centrifugal field into several concentric layers, the core of which is formed by a plasma 22 consisting of deuterium 23 and tritium 24 that form the fuel of the exothermic nuclear fusion reaction that occurs as soon as a critical temperature of the plasma 22 is reached, surrounded by layers of substances with increasing molecular weight, such as hydrogen 25, helium 26, oxygen 27 and in the outer layer of water 28 itself.

Each time plasma 22 is injected from the plasma injector 21 into the space 16 of the pressure vessel 1, a plasma pulse is brought into the center. This is a direct method of heating the plasma 22 in the center where almost all of the electrical energy used in the injector 21 serves to heat the plasma. Injecting charged plasma particles is not possible with magnetic confinement, such as in Tokamaks, because the magnetic field repels the charged particles.

Moreover, it is always possible to heat up the plasma 22 with induction or high-frequency radio waves.

Once the nuclear fusion reaction has started, the plasma is heated by the energy released from the nuclear fusion and also the fuel, being deuterium 23 and tritium 24 in the plasma, is quickly used up, so that the fuel must be constantly replenished.

To this end, new fuel in the form of ionized deuterium and tritium must be continuously supplied from the plasma injector 21 to the plasma or generated in the plasma by the heat reaching millions of degrees Kelvin.

The spherical layers of oxygen 27 and of hydrogen and the isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium 23 and tritium 24, in the pressure vessel, are each separately drained via the aforementioned conduits 17, expanded in a turbine and further recombined in fuel cells 29 containing electrical energy and water to deliver.

This generated electrical energy can, if desired, be recovered for the ionization of deuterium 23, tritium 24 and hydrogen 25 in the plasma injector.

The size of the plasma 22 will determine the maximum temperature in the center of the plasma 22 and the number of nuclear reactions achieved. The more power is supplied, the larger the plasma becomes 22.

Because the other layers in the pressure vessel must be sufficiently thick, the reactor must be built large enough.

A calculation shows that a spherical plasma 22 that generates 3 GigaWatt of fusion energy from a deuterium-tritium fusion consumes approximately 63 g / h of deuterium and tritium, at a pressure of 250 bar in the pressure vessel, a plasma volume of 141 liters and a plasma diameter of 64 cm.

Figure 4 shows a plasma injector 21 of an existing type, which consists of two electrodes 30a, 30b that are supplied with direct voltage and ionize hydrogen under high pressure.

In the plasma injector 21, hydrogen is injected under high pressure, for example 1000 bar. Due to the high voltage between the two electrodes, the isotopes of hydrogen are ionized and a spark is created between the two electrodes that continues between the two electrodes. As a result, electric currents 34a, 34b are driven through the plasma 31 and the Lorenz force 32 ensures that the plasma is accelerated in the direction of the core of the pressure vessel.

Figure 5 shows a nuclear fusion reactor 1 according to the invention, built into a second larger pressure vessel 35. Such an arrangement can be built in the space of a nuclear fusion reactor, in which in particular the existing infrastructure of steam generation and steam turbines that generate electricity in the nuclear fusion reactor can be reused in a nuclear fusion reactor.

It is self-evident that the invention is not limited to rotation mechanisms with two rotational axes, as proposed in the preferred embodiment, but that several rotational axes and alternative mechanisms are also possible to achieve the desired rotation of the pressure vessel.

The supply and discharge of liquids, gases and plasma can also be obtained in an alternative manner than those described in the preferred embodiment.

The nuclear fusion reactor is not limited to the specific nuclear reaction described here.

The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiment described by way of example and shown in the figures, but such a nuclear fusion reactor can be realized in various variants without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. Nuclear fusion reactor, characterized in that the fusion plasma (22) is located in a pressure vessel (1), which is rotated about two different axes (4,7) and is filled with liquids and / or gases under a high pressure of minimum 220 bar.
2. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotating pressure vessel (1) is spherical.
3. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure vessel (1) rotates simultaneously around two axes (4,7) in the space that are perpendicular to each other.
4. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure vessel (1) is surrounded by a second pressure vessel (35), in which a second amount of liquid and / or gas is present under high pressure.
5. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 1, characterized in that the outer layer in the pressure vessel consists of water (28).
6. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 5, characterized in that the water (28) contains lithium.
7. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 5, characterized in that oxygen (27) and hydrogen (25) are each withdrawn separately from the process by separately expanding each in their turbine, whereafter the hydrogen (25) and oxygen (27) in fuel cells (29) is combined with the formation of electrical energy and water (28).
8. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 7, characterized in that the resulting water (28) is cooled, and injected again into the rotating pressure vessel (1), whether or not after adding lithium.
9. Nuclear fusion reactor according to claim 7, characterized in that the direct voltage produced is used to ionize tritium (24) and deuterium (23) and inject it into the plasma center (22).