CA2153406A1 - Self-catalyzed nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium using alpha particles - Google Patents
Self-catalyzed nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium using alpha particlesInfo
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- CA2153406A1 CA2153406A1 CA002153406A CA2153406A CA2153406A1 CA 2153406 A1 CA2153406 A1 CA 2153406A1 CA 002153406 A CA002153406 A CA 002153406A CA 2153406 A CA2153406 A CA 2153406A CA 2153406 A1 CA2153406 A1 CA 2153406A1
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- palladium
- lattice
- nuclei
- alpha particles
- high energy
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- G—PHYSICS
- G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
- G21B—FUSION REACTORS
- G21B3/00—Low temperature nuclear fusion reactors, e.g. alleged cold fusion reactors
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E30/00—Energy generation of nuclear origin
- Y02E30/10—Nuclear fusion reactors
Abstract
A method and apparatus for nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium ions at ambient temperature yielding alpha particles and thermal energy. Ion pairs of Li and D are accumulated and densely packed into a metallic lattice, approaching each other closely or combining into LiD molecules. Alpha particles are then emitted into the lattice which have an energy sufficient to cause the nuclei of the Li and D
atoms to fuse by compressive interaction of their nuclei within the lattice. Upon fusion, secondary high energy alpha particle are emitted which cause additional fusions and alpha particles emissions. In this manner, a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions is initiated resulting in a self-sustaining nuclear fusion chain reaction occurring at or near room temperature.
atoms to fuse by compressive interaction of their nuclei within the lattice. Upon fusion, secondary high energy alpha particle are emitted which cause additional fusions and alpha particles emissions. In this manner, a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions is initiated resulting in a self-sustaining nuclear fusion chain reaction occurring at or near room temperature.
Description
WO94/164~ 21 ~ ~40 6 PCT~S93/12541 -Description Self-Catalyzed Nuclear Fusion of Lithium-6 and Deuterium Using Alpha Particles Technical Field The present invention pertains to lithium-deuterium fusion in a metallic lattice to produce alpha particle emitter sources or thermal energy.
Background Art Electrically charged particles such as bare electrons or protons or muons are known to be Fermions and to obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. Two like elementary charged particles, such as two protons, have like elec-trical charges so that they tend to repel one another.
Further, two like Fermions obey the Pauli exclusion prin-ciple so that, if the particles possess identical quantum numbers, the two identical particles will not occupy the same region of space at the same time, even if the iden-tical particles have no net electrical charge. The com-bination of two Fermions in a nucleus, such as a neutron and a proton, which together form the nucleus of a deuterium atom or ion, behaves as another type of parti-cle, called a Boson, which obeys Bose-Einstein statistics rather than Fermi-Dirac statistics. This has been dis-cussed by K. Birgitta Whaley, a theoretical chemist speaking at the Dallas meeting of the American Chemical Society in April, 1989.
Particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics ("Bosons") tend to accumulate in the same region of space under some circumstances, in contrast to staying apart as like Fermions tend to do. This tendency of Bosons to accumulate in the same region of space is indicated by a quantum thermodynamic expression for the pressure in a system of Bosons developed and discussed in Statistical PhYsics by L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Addison-Wesley Co., 1958, p. 159. In this expression for pressure, the WO94/1~ 215 3 4 0 6 PCT~S93/~541 ~; .
pressure developed by a system of Bosons is less than the pressure developed by a system of particles that are nei-ther Fermions nor Bosons at the same concentration and temperature. This suggests that the Boson particles ex-perience a modest attraction for one another that has itsorigin in quantum mechanical forces.
Whaley has speculated that, because of the quantum effect features of particles such as deuterium nuclei, the natural repulsion between two such nuclei can be blocked inside a crystal so that the deuterium ions are not held apart by the combination of strong coulomb forces and quantum forces. Some workers speculate that, because deuterium nuclei might be brought very close to-gether inside a crystal, the deuterium nuclei could com-bine in a fusion process at enhanced rates, as comparedto the infinitesimal rates observed at ordinary fluid densities for deuterium nuclei.
Lithium ions have been widely used in the elec-trolyte added to heavy water in certain experiments in-volving palladium by Pons and Fleischmann and many otherresearchers. The electrolyte used most commonly is LioD, wherein most or all of the hydrogen in LiOH is replaced by deuterium. Most reports of generation of heat by these experiments indicated that the LiOD electrolyte had been used. In March, 1990, two physicists speculated that the excess enthalpy generated may come from a reaction known in nuclear physics:
Li6 + D -> 2He4 + 22.4 MeV.
The excess energy of 22.4 MeV is carried by the kinetic energy of the two helium nuclei (alpha particles), and thought to be dissipated directly in the host lattice used, which is usually palladium.
It is known that lithium reacts with hydrogen to form LiH, in which the hydrogen acts as the negative ion. This is evidenced by the fact that when this sub-stance is electrolyzed, the hydrogen is liberated at the anode. Therefore it would be expected that the close proximity of lithium-6 ions and deuterium ions within the ~094/1~4b PCT~S93/~541 2I ~340 6 palladium lattice could lead to a strong chemical bond with the deuterium acting as a negative ion and the lith-ium-6 as a positive ion. In contrast, in the case of two deuterons the coulomb force would tend to push them mutually away.
It is also known that some metals will readily accept substantial amounts of hydrogen or its isotopes into the interior of such metals and that such metals can be used to filter hydrogen isotopes from a stream of oth-er substances. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,065, granted Sep-tember 27, 1988 to R. Penzhorne et al., it is disclosed that a hot palladium membrane will filter tritium and deuterium from C0 molecules. The palladium membrane dis-closed by Penzhorne et al. was used to filter exhaust gas from a fusion reactor. In "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry"
by F. Albert Cotton and Geoffrey Wilkinson, published 1972, it is stated that one of the unique characteristics of metallic palladium and Pd-Ag and Pd-Au alloys is the high rate of diffusion of hydrogen gas through a metal membrane compared to the diffusion rates in other metals such as nickel or iridium. There is no doubt that pressure-temperature-composition curves indicate the presence of palladium hydride phases. In "General Chemistry for Colleges" by Herman T. Brisioe it is stated that as much as 900 ml of hydrogen can be adsorbed in 1 ml of finely divided palladium. This adsorbed hydrogen is very chemically active. The increased activity of adsorbed hydrogen in palladium indicates it exists in the atomic form instead of molecular form. Catalysts such as finely divided palladium increase the speed of reactions even at low temperatures. Also, finely divided nickel is a catalyst and adsorber of hydrogen. Additionally accumulator structures for packing and storing deuterium and lithium have been disclosed in the published PCT
applications PCT/US91/01067, PCT/US91/03280, PCT/US91/03281, and PCT/US91/03503 of Jerome Drexler.
The nuclear fusion of deuterium and lithium-6 is well known. For example, such a nuclear reaction can WO94/1~4~ ~ PCT~S93/12541 2~s34Q6 be obtained by bombarding a Li6 atom with a deuteron having a bombarding energy of only 20,000 volts. The fusion of Li6 and D nuclei is considered favorable in that it is aneutronic, that is, it generates no harmful neutrons. However, in order to achieve frequent and continuous fusion, extremely high temperatures, approach-ing 100 million degrees, have been considered necessary.
Some researchers have attempted to obtain room temperature fusion using muon particles as catalysts.
Luis W. Alvarez, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1968 for his work on muon-catalyzed room temperature fusion which he achieved in 1956. Although the process worked, it was extremely expensive and it was not energy efficient. Very expensive high energy particle accelerators were needed to generate the muons, and once generated, the muons lasted only about two millionths of a second. Since the lifetime of the muon particle is so brief, each particle was only able to catalyze a limited number of fusion reactions.
Lord Ernest Rutherford's experiments during the early 1900's, measuring the scattering of alpha particles passing through metals, provided the first information on the interaction between energetic alpha particles and nuclei in metallic lattices. Other early researchers who contributed to the knowledge of alpha particles interacting with nuclei in metals include H. Seiger, J.
Chadwick, and Marsden.
These early researchers used radium C' as the source of high kinetic energy alpha particles having an energy of 7.8 MeV. Since radium C' has a half life of only one microsecond it is necessary to have some radium C and radium B mixed in which emit beta and gamma rays as they decay in less than one hour to radium. Thus when radium is used to generate alpha particles, beta and gamma rays are also present which is not normally desirable.
It is an object of this invention to create a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction at ambient W094/1~K 21 5 3 4 0 6 PCT~S93/12541 .. i,,;
temperatures. Another object of the invention is to generate heat from nuclear fusion without the generation of neutrons or only a negligible number. Another object of the invention is to achieve self-sustaining chain reaction-type nuclear fusion which is energy efficient.
Still another object is to create an emitter source of high energy alpha particles which does not emit gamma rays or only a negligible number.
Summary of the Invention This object has been achieved through self-catalyzed nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium using alpha particles. This is accomplished by densely packing ions of Li6 and D into the metallic lattices of an ion accumulator structure. The metallic lattices of an ion accumulator structure allow ions of Li6 and D to enter and to be packed together in close proximity to each other or as Li6D molecules in a material such as palladium. Next, a source of energetic alpha particles, such as radium, brought into scattering proximity with the Li6 and D nuclei is used to bombard the Li6 and D
nuclei packed together in the accumulator structure. The alpha particles, Li6 and D are all Bosons which obey the Bose-Einstein statistics. The alpha particles have a sufficiently high kinetic energy such that they can penetrate the surface of the palladium for a short distance when the alpha particle source is brought near the palladium surface, thereby causing a scattering encounter of the alpha particles with the nuclei of Li6 and D, imparting motion, i.e. recoil, to one or both of those nuclei leading to a nucleus-to-nucleus compression effect of the Li6 and D nuclei within the metallic lattice. As a result, the probability that these nuclei will combine and fuse is increased. When these nuclei fuse, two highly energetic alpha particles are emitted.
The emitted alpha particles may, in the same manner described, trigger additional Li6 + D nuclear fusion W094/1~K PCT~S93/~541 2153~06 reactions and additional high energy alpha particle emissions.
Since alpha particles may be easily and inex-pensively generated, the present invention does not suf-fer from the cost inefficiencies of muon-catalyzed sys-tems. Thus, high energy alpha particles from a radioactive alpha emitter can be used only to initiate a continuous cycle of aneutronic fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, such that a self-sustained chain reaction-type nuclear fusion is achieved at ambient temperatures. Since alpha particles are generated by the fusing Li6 and D in the palladium lattices in a self-sustained manner, the palladium ion accumulator may be used as an alpha particle emitter source.
Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective view of a torus-shaped reaction apparatus in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus of Fig. 1 taken along lines 2-2.
Figs. 3 and 4 are top views of passive baffles or ion accumulator baffles in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a slurry accumulator structure in accord with the present nventlon .
Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views of insulated particulate accumulator structures in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view of a spiral accumulator structure.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of small spiral or rolled foil accumulator structures.
Fig. 10 is a plan sectional view of a portion of a reaction apparatus showing confinement of accu-mulator structures of the kind shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8 or 9 between passive baffles of the kind shown in Fig. 3.
WO94/1~4K 21 S3q o ~ PCT~S93/~541 Fig. 11 is a plan sectional view of a portion of a reaction apparatus showing rods cantilevered from baffles of the kind shown in Fig. 3.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention With reference to Fig. 1, a torus-shaped reactor structure 11, as disclosed in published PCT
application US91/03503, and containing within it alpha particle sources 44 and 53 as shown in Fig. 10 or Fig. 11 and ion accumulator structures in accord with the present invention is shown. Reactor structure 11 is sealed to prevent light water and other contaminants in the atmosphere from entering it. A fluid 13 is driven by a pump or pumps 15 through the structure. The fluid 13 is concentrated heavy water ionized by enriched lithium deuteroxide, LioD containing at least 50~ Li60D.
Deuterium gas is bubbled into the heavy water and dissolved in it. The D-D gas provides a source of negative deuterium ions due to some dissociation and ionization. In order to create thermal energy in accord with the present invention, it is necessary to pack lithium-6 and deuterium ions into a tight metallic lattice. Such a lattice is available in a material such as palladium or alloys such as Pd-Ag and Pd-Au, contained for example within the accumulator structures in the form of porous baffles 17 of Figs. 3 or 4 and the particulate slurry 29 shown in Fig. 5. To maximize this packing and to increase the amount of deuterium gas in the heavy water the internal pressure may be raised as high as one hundred atmospheres or more, which a torus-shaped structure can withstand.
Referring now to Fig. 2, a sectional view of the reactor structure of Fig. 1 taken along line 10-10 is shown exposing the porous baffles 17. Baffles 17 may be made of palladium and act as ion accumulators, as illustrated in Fig. 4, or may be inactive porous baffles, as shown in Fig. 3, used to confine the palladium parti-culate accumulator structures described below. When the WO94/1~ PCT~S93/~541 2ls3~o6 Li6 and D ions enter into the palladium lattice, the palladium lattice slightly increases in volume to accommodate them. Palladium with such an increased volume is referred to as beta palladium. The positive Li6 ion and the negative D ion can combine to form Li6D
molecule or can simply remain in close proximity. The Li6 and D nuclei in the palladium lattice also add an important new feature to the palladium lattice, in that the nuclei pair are now available to scatter incoming alpha particles. Preferably, for long-term operation, at least 30 percent of the relevant palladium lattice sites should be loaded with pairs of Li6 and D; however, loading ratios of 15 percent may be made to work.
Lattice loading ratios found to yield pressures and temperatures which are too high for the reactor vessel indicate a chain reaction proceeding too rapidly and should be avoided. The ratio of Li6 to Li7 may be lowered if temperatures and pressures indicate they will approach reactor design safety limits.
All of the baffles are porous, except for one, baffle 19, which may be open or closed, which serves to separate an inlet port 21 from an outlet port 23. Pump 15, which is representative of one or more pumps, serves to establish flow from the inlet port out to the outlet port during start-up and during fueling operations. The inlet port 21 and outlet port 23 are closed during the normal nuclear fusion cycle. With a pump, kinetic energy may be imparted to ions so that ion flow rates may greatly exceed those in a Fleischmann-Pons electro-chemical cell. After the torus is filled with the heavy water the baffle valve 19 is opened and ports 21 and 23 are closed and the fluid circulates around the torus.
Once the fluid reaches the desired temperature, heat is removed through a heat exchanger 25, a helical liquid-filled pipe wrapped about reactor structure 11. The torus reactor structure is sealed from the atmosphere and is known to withstand high pressures. It may be operated up to 100 atmospheres or even higher by applying the wo 94/16~K 2 1 5 3 ~ 0 6 PCT~S93/~541 ._ . ; . . ~
_g _ pressure through an inlet port which is sealed off after the desired pressure is reached. The high pressure greatly increases the solubility of deuterium gas in the heavy water and facilitates the loading of the lithium and deuterium into the metallic lattices of the accumu-lator structure. Pump or pumps 15 serve to establish flow through the torus. The fluid circulates around the structure 11.
The copper pipe 25 contains a heat exchange fluid medium which is flowing sufficiently rapidly to remove heat which is conductively transferred into the conductive pipe. This hot fluid may be used to drive a turbine for the generation of electricity.
In Fig. 3, the baffle 17 has an array of apertures 27 which have the advantage of allowing a greater fluid flow at reduced pressure. This baffle will confine palladium lattice structures of the type shown in Figs. 6-9 between baffles so long as the structures are bigger than the apertures of the baffle. On the other hand, in the baffle structure of Fig. 4, apertures are pinhole sized, giving rise to higher pressure in the containment vessel. The size and spacing of pinholes should be adjusted so that desired flow rates may be achieved without undue pressure. Either of these baffles may be passive and contain accumulator components between them. They may also be active ion accumulators. In this case, the accumulator contains palladium on a structure having a thickness so that the accumulator will not readily rupture.
Fig. 5 shows an alternate accumulator structure wherein metallic palladium particulates 29 form a slurry which is resident in the torus-shaped reactor represented by section 31. The particulates in the slurry have the advantage of presenting a greater surface area to the heavy water. If a slurry is used, the pinhole baffle structure previously described is used to contain the particulates. The particulates may be bare palladium particles or other forms as shown in Figs. 6-9. The WO94/164~ PCT~S93/~41 21S3~0~
palladium particulates are permeated by lithium and deuterium, just as the palladium baffle structures. If the heavy water flow is increased, the upper layers of the slurry, by sheer forces, exposing fresh underlayers which become permeated with lithium and deuterium.
Eventually, the entire slurry becomes sufficiently permeated that fusion reactions begin to yield measurable amounts of heat. Fig. 6 shows palladium particulates 33 coated with a nonconductive water porous polymer 35 which is permeable by lithium and deuterium ions. Such a polymer may be gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol. Such a coating reduces the contamination of the palladium surface and exposes the entire surface palladium for ion accumulation. The palladium particulates in either coated or uncoated form may be mixed with nonreactive ceramic particulates or silicon dioxide particulates.
The sizes of the particulates and their ratios are selected for optimum economic design, that is, maximizing the ratio of ion absorption rate to dollar investment.
In Fig. 7, the particulates 37 have a partial polymer coating 39 about approximately 50~ of the surface area. This provides a balance between uncoated particu-lates and fully coated particulates and may be used for economic design optimization in conjunction with other particulates.
Fig. 8 shows an alternative accumulator structure wherein a polymer sheet 41 is housed in the containment structure 43 which may be a section of the torus-shaped reactor. The sheet has a plurality of palladium particulates 45 adhered to the surface, in the fashion of rough sandpaper. The sandpaper-like structure is rolled into a spiral which fits into the containment structure with the center of the spiral parallel or colinear with the axis of the toroidal confinement structure. As an alternative to a single spiral occupying sections of the toroidal confinement vessel, Fig. 9 shows that small spiral strips 47 also having palladium particulates adhered to one or both sides in a WO9411~K 21 5 3 ~ o ~ PCT~S93/~541 sandpaper-like texture, may be stuffed into the containment vessel. Fig. 9 also represents rolled-up palladium foils.
Fig. 10 shows a plurality of reactor compartments 41, 43, 45 each housing accumulator structures of the type described with reference to Figs.
6-9. Radioactive radium C' particulates, which are a source of energetic alpha particles are indicated by a square, while palladium accumulator components are indicated by circles. Approximately one milligram of radioactive radium C' is sufficient to ignite a reaction among approximately 50 palladium accumulator components.
Baffles 47 are of the type shown in Fig. 3, permitting fluid flow through the baffles, but not permitting motion of accumulator structures past the baffles. The baffles themselves may or may not contain palladium accumulator structures.
In Fig. 11, baffles 47 support the cantilevered rods 51 which extend into the chamber defined between adjacent baffles. The rods position alpha emitting radium isotopes from radium C' on tips 53 thereby bring-ing the radium into a geometrically central location for activation of Li6D nuclear reactions within distributed palladium structures which fill the zones between the baffles, but are not shown. The radioactive radium continuously emits alpha particles which catalyze Li6D
nuclear reactions. The rods 51 may be fixed or extend-able or retractable.
The packing of the palladium lattice occurs over a period of time in which the moving ionized lithium-6 and deuterium containing fluid comes into ~ contact with the palladium. The lithium and deuterium ions pack the lattice interstices over a number of hours.
The affinity of negative deuterium ions for positive lithium ions allows the ions to come rather close together, perhaps chemically combining into LiD, a well known compound. In this situation, there is a very low probability requiring a very long time for lithium and WO94/1~4~ PCT~S93/~541 21$34~ 12 deuterium nuclei fusing, which ultimately happens, yielding energetic alpha particles. It is known from nuclear research that many Li6D molecules can fuse simultaneously under shock wave compression. The present invention achieves similar compression as Li6 nuclei and D nuclei are compressed towards each other in the lattice by energetic alpha particles moving through the lattice structure causing recoil of the nuclei toward one another, increasing the probability of nuclear fusion.
In this patent application specification when the term palladium is used, it is meant to include palladium metal, palladium metal on a substrate or alloys of Pd-Ag or perhaps Pd-Au which are highly adsorptive of hydrogen and its isotopes as mentioned in the prior art.
Also palladium or alloys of Pd-Ag may be coated up to a maximum preferred thickness of 20 microns and a minimum preferred thickness of 5 microns onto a silver base which would lead to a very high concentration of Li6 and D at the interface since lithium does not diffuse easily into silver. Also, for applications of these principles involving surface effects sponge nickel may be used.
Radioactive alpha particle emitters, such as radium C', can be used to initiate fusion of Li6 and D
nuclei. The alpha emitters are introduced into the reactor structure, mixed with accumulator structures in a concentration such that emitters will be in near contact to the surface of palladium structures. The following describes four different fusion ignition embodiments. A
pile of palladium-based particulates that have accumu-lated lithons and negative deuterium ions in the form ofpairs of Li6 and D nuclei may be used in conjunction with a fusion triggering arrangement. In one fusion trigger-ing embodiment, particulates of radium C' are mixed in with the palladium particulates, as in Fig. lO where the palladium particulates may be of the type shown in Figs.
5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. The 7.8 MeV alpha particles produced by radium C' will penetrate the surface of the palladium and trigger the fusion of the lithium-6 and deuterium ~094/1~4~ PCT~S93/~541 - 21S3~Q6 nuclei, creating 11.2 MeV alpha particles to trigger additional fusion reactions nearby and triggering more fusion reactions and more alpha particles. The fusion process moves through the metallic lattices around and through the particulate burning up the Li6 and D fuel and generating alpha particles for a finite period of time.
Since 11.2 MeV alpha particles can travel more than several centimeters through air or more than 100 microns through aluminum, the alpha particles generated in one palladium particulate, which is part of an accumulator structure, can travel to another palladium particulate starting the fusion reaction in that particulate. At the same time, fusion reactions further into the interior of the same palladium particulate lattice may occur as sec-ondary alpha particles are generated in all directions.
A second fusion-starting embodiment involves some alpha particle emitters comprising palladium particulates filled with fusing Li6 + D in a state of nuclear fusion positioned to be easily and safely removed from the reactor with a tool from one pile of particles and dropped into another pile of Li6 + D saturated palladium particles, starting the fusion reaction in the second pile of particles, as shown in Fig. 10 where the R
in the squares can also represent these artificially radioactive palladium particulates. Note that the only difference between the first and second embodiments is that in the first case the naturally radioactive material radium C' is used and in the second an artificially radioactive palladium particulate is used.
In a third embodiment a rod with an artificial-ly radioactive palladium tip as described in the second embodiment has its tip inserted into a bed of lithium and deuterium saturated palladium particulates or components causing the alpha particles radiating from the rod tip to initiate fusion reactions. Alternatively, radium C' may be placed at the tip of the rod. The two forms of this third embodiment are illustrated in Fig. 11 where the baffles supporting the rods 51 are removable.
WO94/16~K PCT~S93/~541 A fourth embodiment of an alpha particle fusion triggering system is illustrated by Fig. 5 where a very large number of very small palladium particulates adsorb Li6 and D from the heavy water-based fluid in which they are immersed. The pressure inside the torus section is raised to increase the amount of deuterium gas dissolved in the fluid and the D and Li6 adsorbed in the palladium.
The close proximity of the Li6 and D nuclei are known to create a finite probability such that over an extended period of time a nuclear fusion event is likely. By enormously increasing the number of particulates involved and the loading of the palladium lattice sites of each particulate with the said nuclei pairs the probability greatly increases for a first fusion event to occur and the time necessary for that first nuclear event to occur may be reduced to weeks, days or even hours. Shock and vibration of the palladium lattices and a temperature rise also increase the probability of initial random fusions. The two 11.2 MeV alpha particles produced by such a fusion can trigger more than one subsequent fusion and thereby sustaining a chain reaction.
The amount of energy resulting from the fusion reaction of Li6 + D -> 2He4 can be determined by the mass defect, or mass difference, between the constituents (Li6 and D) and the remaining nucleus (2He4) using the relation E = mc2.
The mass of the constituents and the remaining nucleus are commonly defined by atomic mass units (u).
An atomic mass unit is defined as 1/12 of the mass of the neutral carbon atom having 12 total nuclear particles.
It is known that:
lu = 1.660566 x 10-27 kg.
The energy equivalent of lu is found from the relation E = mc2:
E = (1.660566 x 1027 kg)(2.998 x 108 m~s~1)2 = 1.492 x 10-10 J = 931.5 MeV
In atomic mass units, the masses of the rele-vant atoms are known to be:
WO94/l~K 2 PCT~S93/12541 -15- ~6 Li6 = 6.01513 u D = 2.01410 u He4 = 4.00260 u Therefore, the mass defect of the nuclear reac-tion can be determined as follows:
(Li6 + D) - (2He4) = mass defect (6.01513 u + 2.01410 u) - 2(4.00260 u) = mass defect (8.02923 u) - (8.00520 u) - mass defect .02403 u = mass defect Using the energy equivalent of lu found above, the energy equivalent of this mass defect can be deter-mined:
(.02403 u)(931.5 MeV u~1) = 22.3839 MeV.
Hence, the reaction can be written as:
Li6 + D - > 2He4 + 22.4 MeV, where each of the emitted alpha particles has a kinetic energy of approximately 11.2 MeV.
The alpha particles required herein have a suf-ficiently high kinetic energy such that when they undergo noncontacting coulomb-type collisions with the nucleus of Li6 or D ions they will impart motion to the nucleus of that ion, which is commonly referred to as nucleus recoil. The initial energy of each alpha particle used to trigger the fusion reaction is preferably between 6-12 MeV.
Some of the kinetic energy and momentum of the bombarding alpha particle is imparted to the bombarded nucleus which recoils. The scattering angle of the alpha particles from a nucleus is somewhat proportional to the energy transferred. Depending on the direction of motion of the deuterium or lithium-6 recoil nucleus, some of them will approach each other and combine in a nuclear fusion reaction. The fusion of the Li6 and D ions produces additional high energy alpha particles. The particles released as a result of the fusion then bombard the nuclei of nearby Li6 and D ions causing some to recoil toward each other. Hence, more Li6 and D fusions occur and even more high energy alpha particles are WO94/1~K 2 ¦S3 46 PCT~S93/12541 produced. Thus, by initiating the fusion of Li6 and D
ions through a beam of high energy alpha particles, a continuous self-sustaining chain reaction nuclear fusion is attained. A more detailed description of the fusion process is set forth below.
It is known that alpha particles from radium C' having an energy of 7.8 MeV will easily penetrate 4 mi-crons of gold and can penetrate 100 microns of aluminum.
From this information, it can be estimated that 11.2 MeV
alpha particles produced from the fusion of Li6 and D
ions, will penetrate up to 30 microns or 300,000 angstroms of the palladium present in the accumulator structure. Since the atomic spacing or palladium atoms in palladium metal is 3 angstroms, the alpha particles would traverse approximately 100,000 palladium atom sites.
The reason that the 11.2 MeV alpha particles can traverse 100,000 palladium atoms is because they are only 0.000024 ~ in diameter and therefore easily pass through the 3 ~ diameter palladium atoms. On the other hand, a complete helium atom with its two electrons, has a diameter of 1.86 ~ and would not move very far through a palladium lattice. The nuclear reaction Li6 + D
creates energetic alpha particles, i.e. the helium-4 nucleus, not helium atoms in the lattice confinement environment of the present invention.
Thus, alpha particles penetrating the palladium loaded with Li6 and D nuclei will have non-contacting scattering encounters with the nuclei of palladium atoms, deuterium atoms, and lithium-6 atoms. These encounters with the palladium atoms will compress the nuclei-to-nuclei spacing of some of the Li6D nuclei pairs, thereby increasing the probability of nuclear fusion. The palladium lattice plays at least two important roles.
Initially it confines Li and D during scattering encounters and later absorbs kinetic energy of the fusion reaction through the alpha particle collisions with the WO94/1~K 21`S~ o~ PCT~S93112541 palladium atoms, which cause the desired heating of the palladium metal.
It is also known that alpha particles from radium C' scatter at an average angle of about 9 degrees when projected through a single layer of gold foil 4 microns thick. Only one alpha particle in a few thousand is scattered more than 90 or about 33 out of the l00,000 Pd lattice sites encountered. Adding the Li6 and D
nuclei at every Pd lattice site as mentioned above should triple the number of alpha particles scattered more than goo to roughly about one hundred. Another way of stating this is that since so few of the alpha particles are scattered 90 or more that almost the same number of alpha particles will traverse the l00,000 Pd lattice sites with or without the Li6 and D added. With the Li6 and D added at each site an alpha particle encounters about 300,000 nuclei and only one in a few thousand will be scattered more than 90 or roughly about l00.
If we conservatively estimate that at least 40~
of the alpha particle's kinetic energy is lost to scatter-ings of more than 90, the average 90 plus scattering could transfer up to about 45 KeV to the recoil nuclei.
Since a deuteron having a kinetic energy as low as 20 KeV
can cause a nuclear fusion reaction upon bombarding a Li6 nucleus, the ll.2 MeV alpha particles clearly have adequate kinetic energy to transfer to the Li6 and D
recoil nuclei to initiate a number of nuclear fusions.
Thus if every palladium lattice site were filled with a D nucleus and an Li6 nucleus it might be concluded that every ll. 2 MeV alpha particle would transfer significant recoil kinetic energy to about 67 Li6 or D nuclei.
However, this number must be reduced by a factor of about 3 to account for the fact that when an alpha particle transfers energy to a Li6 and D nuclei, only about one-third of the particles obtain a velocity directed towards the other nuclei. Of the remaining two-thirds of the alpha particles, about one-third attain a W094/1~4K 2 ~S3 ~ PCT~S93112541 velocity directed away from the other nucleus and the other one-third have a velocity that is not significantly towards or away from the other nucleus and includes those particles which leave the palladium before achieving a large number of nuclei encounters. These factors reduce the number of possible Li6 + D fusions per ll.2 MeV alpha particle to about 22. This number is further reduced if the loading of the palladium lattice sites with Li6 and D
is reduced from the l to l ratio or 100% loading used in the calculation. If for example the natural isotope ratio of commercial lithium were used with lithium-6 of about 7.5% and lithium-7 of 92.5%, the estimated fusions per alpha particle would drop from 22 to about l.65 if all palladium sites were loaded with lithium and deuterium pairs. If only two thirds of the palladium lattice sites were filled, the fusions per alpha particle would drop from l.65 to l.l.
If each of the two alpha particles produced through the fusion of a Li6 + D can catalyze one or even slightly less than one nuclear fusion reaction, a self-catalyzing nuclear fusion reaction becomes a self-sustained, continuous fusion reaction that is generally referred to as a chain reaction. The reaction is controlled through the rate of introduction of "fresh"
Li6 and D to replace the consumed Li6 and D.
If the natural lithium isotope ratio were used, as the Li6 is consumed the natural 7.5% Li6 ratio would decline eventually to 3% or lower and the chain reaction would stop. This would occur not only because the Li6 is being consumed, but also because the empty lattice sites previously holding the Li6 ions are being replenished at a ratio of 7.5% active Li6 and inactive Li7. Thus it is preferred that in the LioD more than 50% of the Li be Li6 for a long term chain reaction in a commercial fuson reactor, although Li ratios as low as 25% could work in experimental reactors. In the commercial reactor it is also preferred that in the relevant region of the palladium ion accumulators the palladium lattice sites ~094/1~4b ~ PCT~S93/~541 filled with Li6 and D pairs total at least 30% and at least 15% in experimental reactors. To achieve this the concentration of the Li60D in heavy water, the condition of the palladium ion accumulator material, the degree of Li6 enrichment of the LiOD, and the time, temperature, and pressure during the loading of the Li6 and D are selected to ensure that in at least some large regions of the palladium ion accumulator at least 30% of the palladium lattice sites are filled with pairs of Li6 and D for commercial reactors and at least to the 15% level for experimental reactors.
Background Art Electrically charged particles such as bare electrons or protons or muons are known to be Fermions and to obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. Two like elementary charged particles, such as two protons, have like elec-trical charges so that they tend to repel one another.
Further, two like Fermions obey the Pauli exclusion prin-ciple so that, if the particles possess identical quantum numbers, the two identical particles will not occupy the same region of space at the same time, even if the iden-tical particles have no net electrical charge. The com-bination of two Fermions in a nucleus, such as a neutron and a proton, which together form the nucleus of a deuterium atom or ion, behaves as another type of parti-cle, called a Boson, which obeys Bose-Einstein statistics rather than Fermi-Dirac statistics. This has been dis-cussed by K. Birgitta Whaley, a theoretical chemist speaking at the Dallas meeting of the American Chemical Society in April, 1989.
Particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics ("Bosons") tend to accumulate in the same region of space under some circumstances, in contrast to staying apart as like Fermions tend to do. This tendency of Bosons to accumulate in the same region of space is indicated by a quantum thermodynamic expression for the pressure in a system of Bosons developed and discussed in Statistical PhYsics by L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Addison-Wesley Co., 1958, p. 159. In this expression for pressure, the WO94/1~ 215 3 4 0 6 PCT~S93/~541 ~; .
pressure developed by a system of Bosons is less than the pressure developed by a system of particles that are nei-ther Fermions nor Bosons at the same concentration and temperature. This suggests that the Boson particles ex-perience a modest attraction for one another that has itsorigin in quantum mechanical forces.
Whaley has speculated that, because of the quantum effect features of particles such as deuterium nuclei, the natural repulsion between two such nuclei can be blocked inside a crystal so that the deuterium ions are not held apart by the combination of strong coulomb forces and quantum forces. Some workers speculate that, because deuterium nuclei might be brought very close to-gether inside a crystal, the deuterium nuclei could com-bine in a fusion process at enhanced rates, as comparedto the infinitesimal rates observed at ordinary fluid densities for deuterium nuclei.
Lithium ions have been widely used in the elec-trolyte added to heavy water in certain experiments in-volving palladium by Pons and Fleischmann and many otherresearchers. The electrolyte used most commonly is LioD, wherein most or all of the hydrogen in LiOH is replaced by deuterium. Most reports of generation of heat by these experiments indicated that the LiOD electrolyte had been used. In March, 1990, two physicists speculated that the excess enthalpy generated may come from a reaction known in nuclear physics:
Li6 + D -> 2He4 + 22.4 MeV.
The excess energy of 22.4 MeV is carried by the kinetic energy of the two helium nuclei (alpha particles), and thought to be dissipated directly in the host lattice used, which is usually palladium.
It is known that lithium reacts with hydrogen to form LiH, in which the hydrogen acts as the negative ion. This is evidenced by the fact that when this sub-stance is electrolyzed, the hydrogen is liberated at the anode. Therefore it would be expected that the close proximity of lithium-6 ions and deuterium ions within the ~094/1~4b PCT~S93/~541 2I ~340 6 palladium lattice could lead to a strong chemical bond with the deuterium acting as a negative ion and the lith-ium-6 as a positive ion. In contrast, in the case of two deuterons the coulomb force would tend to push them mutually away.
It is also known that some metals will readily accept substantial amounts of hydrogen or its isotopes into the interior of such metals and that such metals can be used to filter hydrogen isotopes from a stream of oth-er substances. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,065, granted Sep-tember 27, 1988 to R. Penzhorne et al., it is disclosed that a hot palladium membrane will filter tritium and deuterium from C0 molecules. The palladium membrane dis-closed by Penzhorne et al. was used to filter exhaust gas from a fusion reactor. In "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry"
by F. Albert Cotton and Geoffrey Wilkinson, published 1972, it is stated that one of the unique characteristics of metallic palladium and Pd-Ag and Pd-Au alloys is the high rate of diffusion of hydrogen gas through a metal membrane compared to the diffusion rates in other metals such as nickel or iridium. There is no doubt that pressure-temperature-composition curves indicate the presence of palladium hydride phases. In "General Chemistry for Colleges" by Herman T. Brisioe it is stated that as much as 900 ml of hydrogen can be adsorbed in 1 ml of finely divided palladium. This adsorbed hydrogen is very chemically active. The increased activity of adsorbed hydrogen in palladium indicates it exists in the atomic form instead of molecular form. Catalysts such as finely divided palladium increase the speed of reactions even at low temperatures. Also, finely divided nickel is a catalyst and adsorber of hydrogen. Additionally accumulator structures for packing and storing deuterium and lithium have been disclosed in the published PCT
applications PCT/US91/01067, PCT/US91/03280, PCT/US91/03281, and PCT/US91/03503 of Jerome Drexler.
The nuclear fusion of deuterium and lithium-6 is well known. For example, such a nuclear reaction can WO94/1~4~ ~ PCT~S93/12541 2~s34Q6 be obtained by bombarding a Li6 atom with a deuteron having a bombarding energy of only 20,000 volts. The fusion of Li6 and D nuclei is considered favorable in that it is aneutronic, that is, it generates no harmful neutrons. However, in order to achieve frequent and continuous fusion, extremely high temperatures, approach-ing 100 million degrees, have been considered necessary.
Some researchers have attempted to obtain room temperature fusion using muon particles as catalysts.
Luis W. Alvarez, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1968 for his work on muon-catalyzed room temperature fusion which he achieved in 1956. Although the process worked, it was extremely expensive and it was not energy efficient. Very expensive high energy particle accelerators were needed to generate the muons, and once generated, the muons lasted only about two millionths of a second. Since the lifetime of the muon particle is so brief, each particle was only able to catalyze a limited number of fusion reactions.
Lord Ernest Rutherford's experiments during the early 1900's, measuring the scattering of alpha particles passing through metals, provided the first information on the interaction between energetic alpha particles and nuclei in metallic lattices. Other early researchers who contributed to the knowledge of alpha particles interacting with nuclei in metals include H. Seiger, J.
Chadwick, and Marsden.
These early researchers used radium C' as the source of high kinetic energy alpha particles having an energy of 7.8 MeV. Since radium C' has a half life of only one microsecond it is necessary to have some radium C and radium B mixed in which emit beta and gamma rays as they decay in less than one hour to radium. Thus when radium is used to generate alpha particles, beta and gamma rays are also present which is not normally desirable.
It is an object of this invention to create a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction at ambient W094/1~K 21 5 3 4 0 6 PCT~S93/12541 .. i,,;
temperatures. Another object of the invention is to generate heat from nuclear fusion without the generation of neutrons or only a negligible number. Another object of the invention is to achieve self-sustaining chain reaction-type nuclear fusion which is energy efficient.
Still another object is to create an emitter source of high energy alpha particles which does not emit gamma rays or only a negligible number.
Summary of the Invention This object has been achieved through self-catalyzed nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium using alpha particles. This is accomplished by densely packing ions of Li6 and D into the metallic lattices of an ion accumulator structure. The metallic lattices of an ion accumulator structure allow ions of Li6 and D to enter and to be packed together in close proximity to each other or as Li6D molecules in a material such as palladium. Next, a source of energetic alpha particles, such as radium, brought into scattering proximity with the Li6 and D nuclei is used to bombard the Li6 and D
nuclei packed together in the accumulator structure. The alpha particles, Li6 and D are all Bosons which obey the Bose-Einstein statistics. The alpha particles have a sufficiently high kinetic energy such that they can penetrate the surface of the palladium for a short distance when the alpha particle source is brought near the palladium surface, thereby causing a scattering encounter of the alpha particles with the nuclei of Li6 and D, imparting motion, i.e. recoil, to one or both of those nuclei leading to a nucleus-to-nucleus compression effect of the Li6 and D nuclei within the metallic lattice. As a result, the probability that these nuclei will combine and fuse is increased. When these nuclei fuse, two highly energetic alpha particles are emitted.
The emitted alpha particles may, in the same manner described, trigger additional Li6 + D nuclear fusion W094/1~K PCT~S93/~541 2153~06 reactions and additional high energy alpha particle emissions.
Since alpha particles may be easily and inex-pensively generated, the present invention does not suf-fer from the cost inefficiencies of muon-catalyzed sys-tems. Thus, high energy alpha particles from a radioactive alpha emitter can be used only to initiate a continuous cycle of aneutronic fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, such that a self-sustained chain reaction-type nuclear fusion is achieved at ambient temperatures. Since alpha particles are generated by the fusing Li6 and D in the palladium lattices in a self-sustained manner, the palladium ion accumulator may be used as an alpha particle emitter source.
Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective view of a torus-shaped reaction apparatus in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus of Fig. 1 taken along lines 2-2.
Figs. 3 and 4 are top views of passive baffles or ion accumulator baffles in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a slurry accumulator structure in accord with the present nventlon .
Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views of insulated particulate accumulator structures in accord with the present invention.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view of a spiral accumulator structure.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of small spiral or rolled foil accumulator structures.
Fig. 10 is a plan sectional view of a portion of a reaction apparatus showing confinement of accu-mulator structures of the kind shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8 or 9 between passive baffles of the kind shown in Fig. 3.
WO94/1~4K 21 S3q o ~ PCT~S93/~541 Fig. 11 is a plan sectional view of a portion of a reaction apparatus showing rods cantilevered from baffles of the kind shown in Fig. 3.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention With reference to Fig. 1, a torus-shaped reactor structure 11, as disclosed in published PCT
application US91/03503, and containing within it alpha particle sources 44 and 53 as shown in Fig. 10 or Fig. 11 and ion accumulator structures in accord with the present invention is shown. Reactor structure 11 is sealed to prevent light water and other contaminants in the atmosphere from entering it. A fluid 13 is driven by a pump or pumps 15 through the structure. The fluid 13 is concentrated heavy water ionized by enriched lithium deuteroxide, LioD containing at least 50~ Li60D.
Deuterium gas is bubbled into the heavy water and dissolved in it. The D-D gas provides a source of negative deuterium ions due to some dissociation and ionization. In order to create thermal energy in accord with the present invention, it is necessary to pack lithium-6 and deuterium ions into a tight metallic lattice. Such a lattice is available in a material such as palladium or alloys such as Pd-Ag and Pd-Au, contained for example within the accumulator structures in the form of porous baffles 17 of Figs. 3 or 4 and the particulate slurry 29 shown in Fig. 5. To maximize this packing and to increase the amount of deuterium gas in the heavy water the internal pressure may be raised as high as one hundred atmospheres or more, which a torus-shaped structure can withstand.
Referring now to Fig. 2, a sectional view of the reactor structure of Fig. 1 taken along line 10-10 is shown exposing the porous baffles 17. Baffles 17 may be made of palladium and act as ion accumulators, as illustrated in Fig. 4, or may be inactive porous baffles, as shown in Fig. 3, used to confine the palladium parti-culate accumulator structures described below. When the WO94/1~ PCT~S93/~541 2ls3~o6 Li6 and D ions enter into the palladium lattice, the palladium lattice slightly increases in volume to accommodate them. Palladium with such an increased volume is referred to as beta palladium. The positive Li6 ion and the negative D ion can combine to form Li6D
molecule or can simply remain in close proximity. The Li6 and D nuclei in the palladium lattice also add an important new feature to the palladium lattice, in that the nuclei pair are now available to scatter incoming alpha particles. Preferably, for long-term operation, at least 30 percent of the relevant palladium lattice sites should be loaded with pairs of Li6 and D; however, loading ratios of 15 percent may be made to work.
Lattice loading ratios found to yield pressures and temperatures which are too high for the reactor vessel indicate a chain reaction proceeding too rapidly and should be avoided. The ratio of Li6 to Li7 may be lowered if temperatures and pressures indicate they will approach reactor design safety limits.
All of the baffles are porous, except for one, baffle 19, which may be open or closed, which serves to separate an inlet port 21 from an outlet port 23. Pump 15, which is representative of one or more pumps, serves to establish flow from the inlet port out to the outlet port during start-up and during fueling operations. The inlet port 21 and outlet port 23 are closed during the normal nuclear fusion cycle. With a pump, kinetic energy may be imparted to ions so that ion flow rates may greatly exceed those in a Fleischmann-Pons electro-chemical cell. After the torus is filled with the heavy water the baffle valve 19 is opened and ports 21 and 23 are closed and the fluid circulates around the torus.
Once the fluid reaches the desired temperature, heat is removed through a heat exchanger 25, a helical liquid-filled pipe wrapped about reactor structure 11. The torus reactor structure is sealed from the atmosphere and is known to withstand high pressures. It may be operated up to 100 atmospheres or even higher by applying the wo 94/16~K 2 1 5 3 ~ 0 6 PCT~S93/~541 ._ . ; . . ~
_g _ pressure through an inlet port which is sealed off after the desired pressure is reached. The high pressure greatly increases the solubility of deuterium gas in the heavy water and facilitates the loading of the lithium and deuterium into the metallic lattices of the accumu-lator structure. Pump or pumps 15 serve to establish flow through the torus. The fluid circulates around the structure 11.
The copper pipe 25 contains a heat exchange fluid medium which is flowing sufficiently rapidly to remove heat which is conductively transferred into the conductive pipe. This hot fluid may be used to drive a turbine for the generation of electricity.
In Fig. 3, the baffle 17 has an array of apertures 27 which have the advantage of allowing a greater fluid flow at reduced pressure. This baffle will confine palladium lattice structures of the type shown in Figs. 6-9 between baffles so long as the structures are bigger than the apertures of the baffle. On the other hand, in the baffle structure of Fig. 4, apertures are pinhole sized, giving rise to higher pressure in the containment vessel. The size and spacing of pinholes should be adjusted so that desired flow rates may be achieved without undue pressure. Either of these baffles may be passive and contain accumulator components between them. They may also be active ion accumulators. In this case, the accumulator contains palladium on a structure having a thickness so that the accumulator will not readily rupture.
Fig. 5 shows an alternate accumulator structure wherein metallic palladium particulates 29 form a slurry which is resident in the torus-shaped reactor represented by section 31. The particulates in the slurry have the advantage of presenting a greater surface area to the heavy water. If a slurry is used, the pinhole baffle structure previously described is used to contain the particulates. The particulates may be bare palladium particles or other forms as shown in Figs. 6-9. The WO94/164~ PCT~S93/~41 21S3~0~
palladium particulates are permeated by lithium and deuterium, just as the palladium baffle structures. If the heavy water flow is increased, the upper layers of the slurry, by sheer forces, exposing fresh underlayers which become permeated with lithium and deuterium.
Eventually, the entire slurry becomes sufficiently permeated that fusion reactions begin to yield measurable amounts of heat. Fig. 6 shows palladium particulates 33 coated with a nonconductive water porous polymer 35 which is permeable by lithium and deuterium ions. Such a polymer may be gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol. Such a coating reduces the contamination of the palladium surface and exposes the entire surface palladium for ion accumulation. The palladium particulates in either coated or uncoated form may be mixed with nonreactive ceramic particulates or silicon dioxide particulates.
The sizes of the particulates and their ratios are selected for optimum economic design, that is, maximizing the ratio of ion absorption rate to dollar investment.
In Fig. 7, the particulates 37 have a partial polymer coating 39 about approximately 50~ of the surface area. This provides a balance between uncoated particu-lates and fully coated particulates and may be used for economic design optimization in conjunction with other particulates.
Fig. 8 shows an alternative accumulator structure wherein a polymer sheet 41 is housed in the containment structure 43 which may be a section of the torus-shaped reactor. The sheet has a plurality of palladium particulates 45 adhered to the surface, in the fashion of rough sandpaper. The sandpaper-like structure is rolled into a spiral which fits into the containment structure with the center of the spiral parallel or colinear with the axis of the toroidal confinement structure. As an alternative to a single spiral occupying sections of the toroidal confinement vessel, Fig. 9 shows that small spiral strips 47 also having palladium particulates adhered to one or both sides in a WO9411~K 21 5 3 ~ o ~ PCT~S93/~541 sandpaper-like texture, may be stuffed into the containment vessel. Fig. 9 also represents rolled-up palladium foils.
Fig. 10 shows a plurality of reactor compartments 41, 43, 45 each housing accumulator structures of the type described with reference to Figs.
6-9. Radioactive radium C' particulates, which are a source of energetic alpha particles are indicated by a square, while palladium accumulator components are indicated by circles. Approximately one milligram of radioactive radium C' is sufficient to ignite a reaction among approximately 50 palladium accumulator components.
Baffles 47 are of the type shown in Fig. 3, permitting fluid flow through the baffles, but not permitting motion of accumulator structures past the baffles. The baffles themselves may or may not contain palladium accumulator structures.
In Fig. 11, baffles 47 support the cantilevered rods 51 which extend into the chamber defined between adjacent baffles. The rods position alpha emitting radium isotopes from radium C' on tips 53 thereby bring-ing the radium into a geometrically central location for activation of Li6D nuclear reactions within distributed palladium structures which fill the zones between the baffles, but are not shown. The radioactive radium continuously emits alpha particles which catalyze Li6D
nuclear reactions. The rods 51 may be fixed or extend-able or retractable.
The packing of the palladium lattice occurs over a period of time in which the moving ionized lithium-6 and deuterium containing fluid comes into ~ contact with the palladium. The lithium and deuterium ions pack the lattice interstices over a number of hours.
The affinity of negative deuterium ions for positive lithium ions allows the ions to come rather close together, perhaps chemically combining into LiD, a well known compound. In this situation, there is a very low probability requiring a very long time for lithium and WO94/1~4~ PCT~S93/~541 21$34~ 12 deuterium nuclei fusing, which ultimately happens, yielding energetic alpha particles. It is known from nuclear research that many Li6D molecules can fuse simultaneously under shock wave compression. The present invention achieves similar compression as Li6 nuclei and D nuclei are compressed towards each other in the lattice by energetic alpha particles moving through the lattice structure causing recoil of the nuclei toward one another, increasing the probability of nuclear fusion.
In this patent application specification when the term palladium is used, it is meant to include palladium metal, palladium metal on a substrate or alloys of Pd-Ag or perhaps Pd-Au which are highly adsorptive of hydrogen and its isotopes as mentioned in the prior art.
Also palladium or alloys of Pd-Ag may be coated up to a maximum preferred thickness of 20 microns and a minimum preferred thickness of 5 microns onto a silver base which would lead to a very high concentration of Li6 and D at the interface since lithium does not diffuse easily into silver. Also, for applications of these principles involving surface effects sponge nickel may be used.
Radioactive alpha particle emitters, such as radium C', can be used to initiate fusion of Li6 and D
nuclei. The alpha emitters are introduced into the reactor structure, mixed with accumulator structures in a concentration such that emitters will be in near contact to the surface of palladium structures. The following describes four different fusion ignition embodiments. A
pile of palladium-based particulates that have accumu-lated lithons and negative deuterium ions in the form ofpairs of Li6 and D nuclei may be used in conjunction with a fusion triggering arrangement. In one fusion trigger-ing embodiment, particulates of radium C' are mixed in with the palladium particulates, as in Fig. lO where the palladium particulates may be of the type shown in Figs.
5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. The 7.8 MeV alpha particles produced by radium C' will penetrate the surface of the palladium and trigger the fusion of the lithium-6 and deuterium ~094/1~4~ PCT~S93/~541 - 21S3~Q6 nuclei, creating 11.2 MeV alpha particles to trigger additional fusion reactions nearby and triggering more fusion reactions and more alpha particles. The fusion process moves through the metallic lattices around and through the particulate burning up the Li6 and D fuel and generating alpha particles for a finite period of time.
Since 11.2 MeV alpha particles can travel more than several centimeters through air or more than 100 microns through aluminum, the alpha particles generated in one palladium particulate, which is part of an accumulator structure, can travel to another palladium particulate starting the fusion reaction in that particulate. At the same time, fusion reactions further into the interior of the same palladium particulate lattice may occur as sec-ondary alpha particles are generated in all directions.
A second fusion-starting embodiment involves some alpha particle emitters comprising palladium particulates filled with fusing Li6 + D in a state of nuclear fusion positioned to be easily and safely removed from the reactor with a tool from one pile of particles and dropped into another pile of Li6 + D saturated palladium particles, starting the fusion reaction in the second pile of particles, as shown in Fig. 10 where the R
in the squares can also represent these artificially radioactive palladium particulates. Note that the only difference between the first and second embodiments is that in the first case the naturally radioactive material radium C' is used and in the second an artificially radioactive palladium particulate is used.
In a third embodiment a rod with an artificial-ly radioactive palladium tip as described in the second embodiment has its tip inserted into a bed of lithium and deuterium saturated palladium particulates or components causing the alpha particles radiating from the rod tip to initiate fusion reactions. Alternatively, radium C' may be placed at the tip of the rod. The two forms of this third embodiment are illustrated in Fig. 11 where the baffles supporting the rods 51 are removable.
WO94/16~K PCT~S93/~541 A fourth embodiment of an alpha particle fusion triggering system is illustrated by Fig. 5 where a very large number of very small palladium particulates adsorb Li6 and D from the heavy water-based fluid in which they are immersed. The pressure inside the torus section is raised to increase the amount of deuterium gas dissolved in the fluid and the D and Li6 adsorbed in the palladium.
The close proximity of the Li6 and D nuclei are known to create a finite probability such that over an extended period of time a nuclear fusion event is likely. By enormously increasing the number of particulates involved and the loading of the palladium lattice sites of each particulate with the said nuclei pairs the probability greatly increases for a first fusion event to occur and the time necessary for that first nuclear event to occur may be reduced to weeks, days or even hours. Shock and vibration of the palladium lattices and a temperature rise also increase the probability of initial random fusions. The two 11.2 MeV alpha particles produced by such a fusion can trigger more than one subsequent fusion and thereby sustaining a chain reaction.
The amount of energy resulting from the fusion reaction of Li6 + D -> 2He4 can be determined by the mass defect, or mass difference, between the constituents (Li6 and D) and the remaining nucleus (2He4) using the relation E = mc2.
The mass of the constituents and the remaining nucleus are commonly defined by atomic mass units (u).
An atomic mass unit is defined as 1/12 of the mass of the neutral carbon atom having 12 total nuclear particles.
It is known that:
lu = 1.660566 x 10-27 kg.
The energy equivalent of lu is found from the relation E = mc2:
E = (1.660566 x 1027 kg)(2.998 x 108 m~s~1)2 = 1.492 x 10-10 J = 931.5 MeV
In atomic mass units, the masses of the rele-vant atoms are known to be:
WO94/l~K 2 PCT~S93/12541 -15- ~6 Li6 = 6.01513 u D = 2.01410 u He4 = 4.00260 u Therefore, the mass defect of the nuclear reac-tion can be determined as follows:
(Li6 + D) - (2He4) = mass defect (6.01513 u + 2.01410 u) - 2(4.00260 u) = mass defect (8.02923 u) - (8.00520 u) - mass defect .02403 u = mass defect Using the energy equivalent of lu found above, the energy equivalent of this mass defect can be deter-mined:
(.02403 u)(931.5 MeV u~1) = 22.3839 MeV.
Hence, the reaction can be written as:
Li6 + D - > 2He4 + 22.4 MeV, where each of the emitted alpha particles has a kinetic energy of approximately 11.2 MeV.
The alpha particles required herein have a suf-ficiently high kinetic energy such that when they undergo noncontacting coulomb-type collisions with the nucleus of Li6 or D ions they will impart motion to the nucleus of that ion, which is commonly referred to as nucleus recoil. The initial energy of each alpha particle used to trigger the fusion reaction is preferably between 6-12 MeV.
Some of the kinetic energy and momentum of the bombarding alpha particle is imparted to the bombarded nucleus which recoils. The scattering angle of the alpha particles from a nucleus is somewhat proportional to the energy transferred. Depending on the direction of motion of the deuterium or lithium-6 recoil nucleus, some of them will approach each other and combine in a nuclear fusion reaction. The fusion of the Li6 and D ions produces additional high energy alpha particles. The particles released as a result of the fusion then bombard the nuclei of nearby Li6 and D ions causing some to recoil toward each other. Hence, more Li6 and D fusions occur and even more high energy alpha particles are WO94/1~K 2 ¦S3 46 PCT~S93/12541 produced. Thus, by initiating the fusion of Li6 and D
ions through a beam of high energy alpha particles, a continuous self-sustaining chain reaction nuclear fusion is attained. A more detailed description of the fusion process is set forth below.
It is known that alpha particles from radium C' having an energy of 7.8 MeV will easily penetrate 4 mi-crons of gold and can penetrate 100 microns of aluminum.
From this information, it can be estimated that 11.2 MeV
alpha particles produced from the fusion of Li6 and D
ions, will penetrate up to 30 microns or 300,000 angstroms of the palladium present in the accumulator structure. Since the atomic spacing or palladium atoms in palladium metal is 3 angstroms, the alpha particles would traverse approximately 100,000 palladium atom sites.
The reason that the 11.2 MeV alpha particles can traverse 100,000 palladium atoms is because they are only 0.000024 ~ in diameter and therefore easily pass through the 3 ~ diameter palladium atoms. On the other hand, a complete helium atom with its two electrons, has a diameter of 1.86 ~ and would not move very far through a palladium lattice. The nuclear reaction Li6 + D
creates energetic alpha particles, i.e. the helium-4 nucleus, not helium atoms in the lattice confinement environment of the present invention.
Thus, alpha particles penetrating the palladium loaded with Li6 and D nuclei will have non-contacting scattering encounters with the nuclei of palladium atoms, deuterium atoms, and lithium-6 atoms. These encounters with the palladium atoms will compress the nuclei-to-nuclei spacing of some of the Li6D nuclei pairs, thereby increasing the probability of nuclear fusion. The palladium lattice plays at least two important roles.
Initially it confines Li and D during scattering encounters and later absorbs kinetic energy of the fusion reaction through the alpha particle collisions with the WO94/1~K 21`S~ o~ PCT~S93112541 palladium atoms, which cause the desired heating of the palladium metal.
It is also known that alpha particles from radium C' scatter at an average angle of about 9 degrees when projected through a single layer of gold foil 4 microns thick. Only one alpha particle in a few thousand is scattered more than 90 or about 33 out of the l00,000 Pd lattice sites encountered. Adding the Li6 and D
nuclei at every Pd lattice site as mentioned above should triple the number of alpha particles scattered more than goo to roughly about one hundred. Another way of stating this is that since so few of the alpha particles are scattered 90 or more that almost the same number of alpha particles will traverse the l00,000 Pd lattice sites with or without the Li6 and D added. With the Li6 and D added at each site an alpha particle encounters about 300,000 nuclei and only one in a few thousand will be scattered more than 90 or roughly about l00.
If we conservatively estimate that at least 40~
of the alpha particle's kinetic energy is lost to scatter-ings of more than 90, the average 90 plus scattering could transfer up to about 45 KeV to the recoil nuclei.
Since a deuteron having a kinetic energy as low as 20 KeV
can cause a nuclear fusion reaction upon bombarding a Li6 nucleus, the ll.2 MeV alpha particles clearly have adequate kinetic energy to transfer to the Li6 and D
recoil nuclei to initiate a number of nuclear fusions.
Thus if every palladium lattice site were filled with a D nucleus and an Li6 nucleus it might be concluded that every ll. 2 MeV alpha particle would transfer significant recoil kinetic energy to about 67 Li6 or D nuclei.
However, this number must be reduced by a factor of about 3 to account for the fact that when an alpha particle transfers energy to a Li6 and D nuclei, only about one-third of the particles obtain a velocity directed towards the other nuclei. Of the remaining two-thirds of the alpha particles, about one-third attain a W094/1~4K 2 ~S3 ~ PCT~S93112541 velocity directed away from the other nucleus and the other one-third have a velocity that is not significantly towards or away from the other nucleus and includes those particles which leave the palladium before achieving a large number of nuclei encounters. These factors reduce the number of possible Li6 + D fusions per ll.2 MeV alpha particle to about 22. This number is further reduced if the loading of the palladium lattice sites with Li6 and D
is reduced from the l to l ratio or 100% loading used in the calculation. If for example the natural isotope ratio of commercial lithium were used with lithium-6 of about 7.5% and lithium-7 of 92.5%, the estimated fusions per alpha particle would drop from 22 to about l.65 if all palladium sites were loaded with lithium and deuterium pairs. If only two thirds of the palladium lattice sites were filled, the fusions per alpha particle would drop from l.65 to l.l.
If each of the two alpha particles produced through the fusion of a Li6 + D can catalyze one or even slightly less than one nuclear fusion reaction, a self-catalyzing nuclear fusion reaction becomes a self-sustained, continuous fusion reaction that is generally referred to as a chain reaction. The reaction is controlled through the rate of introduction of "fresh"
Li6 and D to replace the consumed Li6 and D.
If the natural lithium isotope ratio were used, as the Li6 is consumed the natural 7.5% Li6 ratio would decline eventually to 3% or lower and the chain reaction would stop. This would occur not only because the Li6 is being consumed, but also because the empty lattice sites previously holding the Li6 ions are being replenished at a ratio of 7.5% active Li6 and inactive Li7. Thus it is preferred that in the LioD more than 50% of the Li be Li6 for a long term chain reaction in a commercial fuson reactor, although Li ratios as low as 25% could work in experimental reactors. In the commercial reactor it is also preferred that in the relevant region of the palladium ion accumulators the palladium lattice sites ~094/1~4b ~ PCT~S93/~541 filled with Li6 and D pairs total at least 30% and at least 15% in experimental reactors. To achieve this the concentration of the Li60D in heavy water, the condition of the palladium ion accumulator material, the degree of Li6 enrichment of the LiOD, and the time, temperature, and pressure during the loading of the Li6 and D are selected to ensure that in at least some large regions of the palladium ion accumulator at least 30% of the palladium lattice sites are filled with pairs of Li6 and D for commercial reactors and at least to the 15% level for experimental reactors.
Claims (24)
1. An electrodeless method for generating thermal energy comprising the steps of:
forming Li and D pairs in a metallic lattice structure which admits Li and D ions from an ion source, initially bombarding said Li and D pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source such that Li and D nuclei fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, thereby forming a self-sustained nuclear fusion chain reaction, and, removing said thermal energy generated by said nuclear fusion reaction from said metallic lattice structure.
forming Li and D pairs in a metallic lattice structure which admits Li and D ions from an ion source, initially bombarding said Li and D pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source such that Li and D nuclei fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, thereby forming a self-sustained nuclear fusion chain reaction, and, removing said thermal energy generated by said nuclear fusion reaction from said metallic lattice structure.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 further defined by confining said Li and D ions in a torus-shaped reactor.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said metallic lattice is a material drawn from a class consisting of palladium, palladium-silver alloys and palladium-gold alloys.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said metallic lattice is a material drawn from the class consisting of palladium or alloys of palladium silver in the form of a coating with thickness of a maximum of 20 microns and a minimum of 5 microns on to a silver base.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said bombarding step comprises bringing alpha particle source near the surface of said metallic lattice.
6. The method of claim 2 further defined by providing said ion source in the form of an ionized fluid in said reactor containing heavy water, D2 gas and LiOD, where the Li is primarily Li6.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said high energy alpha particles have an initial energy in the range of 6-12 Mev.
8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said Li and D pairs packed into said lattice are formed from lithium and deuterium ions from said ion source in the form of an ionized fluid containing Li brought into contact with the metallic lattice, where the Li in the fluid is primarily Li6.
9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said Li in said ion source is primarily Li6.
10. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the loading of the palladium lattice sites in the relevant regions of the ion accumulators by Li6 and D nuclei pairs fills at least 15% of said lattice sites.
11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said secondary high energy alpha particles emitted from said fused nuclei transfer some of their kinetic energy to said metallic lattice.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein said formed chain reaction is aneutronic.
13. An electrodeless apparatus for the production of energy through nuclear fusion comprising:
an ion accumulator structure means for accumulating Li and D ions from an ion source and packing them into a metallic lattice, an alpha particle source, located in scattering relation to said Li and D, producing alpha particles having a sufficiently high energy to cause some Li and D
nuclei to fuse, reactor means for bringing said alpha particle sources and said Li and D packed within said metallic lattice into nuclear scattering proximity such that said alpha particles bombard said Li and D nuclei causing said Li and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, thereby producing a self-sustained chain reaction, means for removing thermal energy produced by said nuclear reaction from said ion accumulator structure.
an ion accumulator structure means for accumulating Li and D ions from an ion source and packing them into a metallic lattice, an alpha particle source, located in scattering relation to said Li and D, producing alpha particles having a sufficiently high energy to cause some Li and D
nuclei to fuse, reactor means for bringing said alpha particle sources and said Li and D packed within said metallic lattice into nuclear scattering proximity such that said alpha particles bombard said Li and D nuclei causing said Li and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions, thereby producing a self-sustained chain reaction, means for removing thermal energy produced by said nuclear reaction from said ion accumulator structure.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said reactor means comprises a torus-shaped vessel containing spaced apart, fluid permeable baffles containing said metallic lattice structures.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said metallic lattice is a material drawn from a class consisting of palladium, palladium-silver alloys and palladium-gold alloys.
16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said metallic lattice is a material drawn from the class consisting of palladium or alloys of palladium silver in the form of a coating with thickness of a maximum of 20 microns and a minimum of 5 microns on to a silver base.
17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said torus-shaped reactor vessel has said ion source in the form of an ionized fluid therein containing heavy water and LioD and D-D gas dissolved in the heavy water, where the Li is primarily Li6.
18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said alpha particles have an initial energy in the range of 6-12 Mev.
19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said metallic lattice has lithium and deuterium ions packed therein, forming Li and D ion pairs, where the Li in said ion source is primarily Li6.
20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said reactor means includes means for causing said fluid to flow.
21. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said fusing of said Li6 and D nuclei is aneutronic.
22. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the loading of the palladium lattice sites in the relevant regions of the ion accumulators by Li6 and D nuclei pairs fills at least 15% of said lattice sites.
23. A method of creating an alpha particle emitter comprising the steps of:
forming Li6 and D nuclei pairs in a metal lattice structure of an ion accumulator which admits Li6 and D ions from an ion source until at least 15% of the metal lattice is filled with said nuclei pairs, initially bombarding said Li6 and D nuclei pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source, thereby causing some of the Li6 and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions.
forming Li6 and D nuclei pairs in a metal lattice structure of an ion accumulator which admits Li6 and D ions from an ion source until at least 15% of the metal lattice is filled with said nuclei pairs, initially bombarding said Li6 and D nuclei pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source, thereby causing some of the Li6 and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions and high energy alpha particle emissions.
24. A method of creating a thermal energy source comprising the steps of:
forming Li6 and D nuclei pairs in a metal lattice structure of an ion accumulator which admits Li6 and D ions from an ion source until at least 15% of the metal lattice is filled with said nuclei pairs, initially bombarding said Li6 and D nuclei pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source, thereby causing some of the Li6 and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions, high energy alpha particle emissions and thermal energy.
forming Li6 and D nuclei pairs in a metal lattice structure of an ion accumulator which admits Li6 and D ions from an ion source until at least 15% of the metal lattice is filled with said nuclei pairs, initially bombarding said Li6 and D nuclei pairs within said lattice with high energy alpha particles from a source, thereby causing some of the Li6 and D nuclei to fuse and emit secondary high energy alpha particles which act to initiate a continuous cycle of fusions, high energy alpha particle emissions and thermal energy.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US116193A | 1993-01-07 | 1993-01-07 | |
| US08/001,161 | 1993-01-07 |
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| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2153406A1 true CA2153406A1 (en) | 1994-07-21 |
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ID=21694686
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002153406A Abandoned CA2153406A1 (en) | 1993-01-07 | 1993-12-22 | Self-catalyzed nuclear fusion of lithium-6 and deuterium using alpha particles |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2153406A1 (en) |
| IL (1) | IL108160A (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1994016446A1 (en) |
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| AU3270997A (en) * | 1997-07-14 | 1999-02-10 | Savic Trust Reg., Vaduz | Device to obtain heat energy, working medium and electrodes to be used in this device, material for working medium and electrodes |
| GB2358279A (en) * | 2000-01-07 | 2001-07-18 | Harmander Singh Brar | Controlled fusion reactor |
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| MX2011012782A (en) * | 2009-06-01 | 2012-06-01 | Nabil M Lawandy | Interactions of charged particles on surfaces for fusion and other applications. |
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| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1990013129A2 (en) * | 1989-04-10 | 1990-11-01 | Massachusetts Institute Of Technology | Fusion apparatus |
| EP0394980A3 (en) * | 1989-04-27 | 1991-08-07 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Cold nuclear fusion apparatus |
| EP0474724A1 (en) * | 1989-06-02 | 1992-03-18 | Johnson Matthey Public Limited Company | Improvements in materials |
| DE3920312A1 (en) * | 1989-06-21 | 1991-01-03 | Siemens Ag | Cold fusion of light atomic nuclei - by irradiating nuclei within hydrogen-absorbing body lattice |
| EP0531454B1 (en) * | 1990-05-25 | 1997-02-12 | DREXLER, Jerome | Distributed deuterium-lithium energy apparatus |
-
1993
- 1993-12-22 WO PCT/US1993/012541 patent/WO1994016446A1/en active Application Filing
- 1993-12-22 CA CA002153406A patent/CA2153406A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1993-12-23 IL IL108160A patent/IL108160A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
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| US10322826B2 (en) | 2016-08-26 | 2019-06-18 | Jerome Drexler | Interplanetary spacecraft using fusion-powered thrust |
| WO2018236444A1 (en) * | 2016-09-23 | 2018-12-27 | Jerome Drexler | Muon-catalyzed controlled fusion electricity-generating apparatus and method |
| US10377511B2 (en) | 2016-10-17 | 2019-08-13 | Jerome Drexler | Interplanetary spacecraft using fusion-powered constant-acceleration thrust |
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| US10793295B2 (en) | 2017-12-05 | 2020-10-06 | Jerome Drexler | Asteroid redirection facilitated by cosmic ray and muon-catalyzed fusion |
| US10815015B2 (en) | 2017-12-05 | 2020-10-27 | Jerome Drexler | Asteroid redirection and soft landing facilitated by cosmic ray and muon-catalyzed fusion |
| US10815014B2 (en) | 2018-08-24 | 2020-10-27 | Jerome Drexler | Spacecraft collision-avoidance propulsion system and method |
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Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| IL108160A (en) | 1998-02-22 |
| WO1994016446A1 (en) | 1994-07-21 |
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