RU2813817C1 - Device for implementing nuclear fusion reactions in system using colliding beams - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: nuclear physics and high energy density technology.

SUBSTANCE: invention can be used to carry out nuclear fusion reactions. The device includes an annular vacuum chamber with two external accelerators of charged particles, ensuring the formation of counter flows of charged particles of the same sign in the volume of the annular chamber. The wall of the annular vacuum chamber is made of dielectric material, and around the chamber, along the inner and outer circumference of the annular chamber, there are, respectively, internal and external metal ring electrodes configured to connect to a high voltage source and forming a ring capacitor.

EFFECT: increase in luminosity due to an increase in the concentration of particles in colliding beams.

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Description

Technical field

The invention relates to the field of nuclear physics and high energy density technology and can be used to increase the intensity of nuclear reactions and carry out energetically favorable nuclear fusion reactions.

State of the art

Colliding beams are two beams flying towards each other and colliding accelerated charged particles. This is the main experimental method for studying the structure of matter and fundamental interactions at ultra-short distances. Colliding beam systems (CSBs) are known - installations in which collisions of colliding beams of charged particles occur.

For example, from the publication https://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/114/617.htm basic information is known about colliding beam accelerators (CBAs), in which colliding beams of charged particles collide ( elementary particles and ions) accelerated by an electric field to high energies. The main characteristic of a system with colliding beams is a quantity that determines the number (N) of events of the type under study per unit time and is called the luminosity of the installation. The luminosity parameter characterizes the experimental capabilities of the installation using colliding beams. To effectively study interaction processes with a cross section d = 10 ^-26 –10 ^-32 cm ² , the luminosity value L is 10 ²⁸ –10 ³² cm ^-2 sec ^-1 . This is achieved by accumulating the circulating current of beams of charged particles and reducing the cross section of the beams using special magnetic focusing in straight gaps, as well as using electronic or stochastic cooling methods to reduce the transverse component of the momentum of colliding beams.

From RF patent No. 2546960, a device for conducting a controlled nuclear fusion reaction is known, containing an evacuated annular channel with a wall made of a material capable of electrification, having a longitudinal axis in the form of a convex smooth line, and two injectors of accelerated ions of light elements installed with the possibility of introducing into the specified channel of these ions in the same or opposite directions, while the specified channel is equipped with an electrically conductive shell adjacent to its outer surface or an electrically conductive coating applied to this surface, which is an electrode for connecting to an external voltage source.

The disadvantage of the known solution is that n - the concentration of ions in the specified channel cannot exceed the value:

$$n=\frac{2E_{PR.}{\epsilon }_0}{Re}$$

where E _pr. is the electrical strength of a “material capable of electrification” (i.e. its breakdown voltage), ε ₀ is the electrical constant, R is the channel radius, e is the elementary charge. Thus, even with a channel diameter of 1 cm, the maximum permissible ion concentration in the channel cannot exceed 2 10 ¹⁸ m ^-3 , which is 50 times less than the ion concentration in the chamber of the International ITER Installation. Accordingly, the specific power released during the fusion reaction will be 2500 times less than the specific power that is planned to be obtained at ITER, which reduces the possibility of practical application of the known solution.

The solution closest to the claimed one is disclosed in the source G.I. Budker, “Accelerators with colliding particle beams.” UFN, 1966, T.89, No. 4, P. 533. In accordance with this source of information, charged particles (electrons, hadrons) are accelerated with the help of boosters (accelerator-injectors) and injected into the SVP ring. The beam particles are isolated from the walls of the installations and kept in a given orbit using a magnetic field.

The disadvantage of this solution is the relatively low luminosity, which is limited by the maximum achievable number of particles in the beams, which in turn is limited by the instability that arises when the beams meet.

Currently, the maximum luminosity of the SVP does not exceed 10 ³⁴ cm ^-2 s ^-1 . This luminosity is sufficient for conducting studies in which individual events (collisions) are recorded, but is completely insufficient for using SVPs for technological purposes to obtain macroscopic amounts of matter or energetically favorable nuclear fusion reactions. For these purposes, the luminosity of the hovercraft must be increased by at least 8 orders of magnitude. The currently existing SVPs do not have industrial applications and are used exclusively for research purposes precisely as a result of the low luminosity values of the SVPs.

Thus, the technical problem solved by means of the claimed invention is to create an industrially applicable device for carrying out nuclear fusion reactions in systems using colliding beams, with a high specific thermal output, i.e. installation with increased luminosity, which will provide a specific output power at the level of 10 ⁷ - 10 ⁸ W/m ³ .

Brief disclosure of the invention

The technical result achieved by using the claimed invention is to ensure an increase in the luminosity of the hovercraft as a result of an increase in the concentration of particles in the colliding beams.

The specified technical result is achieved by the fact that in a device for carrying out nuclear fusion reactions in a system using colliding beams, including an annular vacuum chamber with two external accelerators of charged particles, ensuring the formation in the volume of the annular chamber of counter flows of charged particles of the same sign, which are ions of reacting elements, According to the technical solution, the wall of the annular vacuum chamber is made of dielectric material, while around the chamber along the inner and outer circumference of the ring, internal and external metal ring electrodes are placed, respectively, made with the ability to connect to a high voltage source and forming a ring capacitor. The device is equipped with a protective casing, inside of which there is a ring chamber with a ring capacitor. Glass can be used as the dielectric material of the annular chamber. The outer and inner ring metal electrodes are located in the same plane. The plane of placement of the ring electrodes is parallel to the plane of the ribbon beam of charged particles sliding along the dielectric wall of the annular vacuum chamber.

The nuclear fusion reaction is carried out in counter-propagating ribbon beams sliding along the dielectric wall of the annular vacuum chamber, which are formed due to the fact that the initial beams of accelerated ions are pressed against the inner wall of the annular vacuum chamber by the electric field of the annular capacitor.

The declared technical result is achieved by using the effect of controlled “guiding” to isolate beams from the wall of the vacuum chamber, in which self-isolation of beams of accelerated charged particles (ions, electrons) occurs during their extended sliding interaction with the surface of the dielectric wall (N. Stolterfoht, Y. Yamazaki, Guiding of charged particles through capillaries in insulating materials. Physics Reports. 2016, V.629, P.1–107).

Brief description of drawings

The claimed invention is illustrated by the following circuit diagram, shown in Fig.1.

The positions on the diagram indicate:

1. Vacuum system

2. Charged particle accelerators

3. Beam control system

4. Ring vacuum chamber SVP (hereinafter: SVP chamber)

5. Ring capacitor

6. Ribbon sliding beams (LSB)

7. Protective housing

Carrying out the invention

The inventive device contains an annular vacuum chamber 4 , the walls of which are made of dielectric material (for example, glass). System 1 is connected to the chamber to create a vacuum in the working volume of the annular chamber. The vacuum system can be implemented, for example, in the form of a vacuum pump connected to the annular chamber via pipes. The chamber is also connected to two charged particle accelerators 2 . Linear accelerators can be used as such accelerators, described, for example, in the following source of information: https://www.dvfu.ru/upload/medialibrary/6e4/wh5wfiefg4av17xd030afgpfdzk8l300/Kulchin_Accelerators%20charged%20particles%20and%20synchrotron%20radiation.pdf . Beams of accelerated ions or electrons pass through system 3 for controlling charged particle beams. The schematic diagram of the beam control system consists of two flat capacitors located one behind the other, on an axial line that coincides with the axis of beam propagation, but the electric fields of these capacitors are perpendicular to each other. By changing the voltage on the capacitors, the direction of beam propagation is changed. The perpendicularly directed electric fields of these flat capacitors make it possible to regulate the direction of movement of the beams in two mutually perpendicular planes (Electrostatic accelerators of charged particles / Edited by Academician A.K. Walter M.: Gosatomizdat. 1963. 302 pp.).

On the outside of the annular chamber SVP 4 , a ring capacitor 5 is formed in the form of external and internal electrodes located along the outer and inner circumferences of the chamber . The electrodes of the ring capacitor are equidistant to the chamber and to each other. Metal plates bent in the shape of rings can be used as electrodes. Each ring of a ring capacitor is an electrode. The plane in which the electrodes form a ring is parallel to the plane in which the opposing beams inside the chamber form closed rings. The electric field of the ring capacitor must have a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the counterpropagating beams. With the help of the electric field of this capacitor, counter-propagating ion beams are pressed against the inner surface of the annular vacuum chamber of the SVP, along which they slide towards each other. The electrodes of the ring capacitor are connected to a high voltage source, which makes it possible to obtain an electric field strength in the capacitor (and, consequently, in the volume of the SVP ring vacuum chamber) sufficient to press beams of charged particles to the wall of the SVP ring vacuum chamber - 10 ⁵ - 10 ⁶ V/m . These electrodes are insulated to prevent short circuits. The annular chamber - the vacuum chamber of the SVP with external electrodes of the ring capacitor is placed in a protective housing 7 , made, for example, of metal.

The inventive device for carrying out nuclear reactions is a colliding beam system in which the nuclear fusion reaction is carried out in colliding beams sliding along the internal dielectric surface of the SVP annular vacuum chamber. Beams of reacting ions sliding along the surface of the dielectric wall are formed using the transverse electric field of a ring capacitor located around the annular vacuum chamber of the SVP and pressing the beams to the surface of the dielectric wall of the annular chamber. Minimum radiusr _min SVP chamber rings are determined by the formula:

$$r_{\min }=\frac{2W}{E_{PR.}}$$ ,

WhereW – beam energy in eV,E _etc. – electrical strength of the dielectric from which the SVP chamber is made (i.e. its breakdown voltage). At beam energy 100 keVr _min will be 2 mm.

The operation of the proposed device is carried out as follows. Using a vacuum system 1 connected to the annular vacuum chamber of the SVP, a vacuum is created in the volume of this chamber with a residual pressure of no higher than 10 ^-6 Torr. Beams of accelerated ions, obtained using accelerators 2 and having energy sufficient to carry out the required nuclear reaction, are introduced into the volume of the annular vacuum chamber SVP 4 towards each other along the electrodes of the annular capacitor 5 using the beam control system 3 . In the volume of the SVP vacuum chamber 4, beams of accelerated charged particles are pressed by the electric field of the ring capacitor 5 to the inner dielectric surface of the SVP vacuum chamber. Due to the “guiding” phenomenon, the beams are isolated from collision with the dielectric wall and ribbon sliding beams (RSBs) 6 are formed, sliding along the surface of the dielectric wall. Counter LSPs 6 collide with each other in the volume of the SVP chamber with the occurrence of the necessary nuclear reaction. Collisions of colliding beams in the device occur multiple times, since beam particles that did not react during a single passage through the volume of the SVP chamber take part in subsequent beam collisions without settling on the dielectric coating. The maximum total concentration of particles in colliding beams in the SVP is limited by the electrical strength of the dielectric from which the SVP vacuum chamber is made.

Physically, the processes occurring in the claimed device during its operation are explained as follows.

The SVP chamber is evacuated to a residual pressure of no higher than 10 ^-6 Torr. Two beams of charged particles (ions, electrons) having a charge of the same sign and possessing the energy necessary to carry out a given reaction are directed into the SVP chamber towards each other from external accelerators. A constant voltage of such polarity is applied to the metal electrodes of the ring capacitor so that the electric field created by the capacitor presses the beams to the inner surface of the dielectric wall of the SVP chamber. Due to the charged particles of the beams falling on it, the dielectric wall acquires an electric charge of the same sign as the particles of the beams. Due to the above-mentioned “guiding” phenomenon, a gradient force begins to act on the beam particles located in the volume of the SVP chamber, repelling them from the charged dielectric wall. In this case, there is no energy exchange between the beams of charged particles and the dielectric wall of the SVP chamber, to which the particles of the counter beams are pressed by the electric field of the ring capacitor, and the beams make multiple turns in the SVP chamber. Since during the movement of accelerated beams in the SVP chamber there is no loss of energy from the particles of the beams due to their isolation from the wall due to the “guiding” phenomenon, the particles of the oncoming beams will repeatedly collide with each other, and during the collision the specified nuclear reactions will occur. These reactions can be used to synthesize the nuclei of other elements or to produce nuclear fusion energy. In the claimed device, the “guiding” is controllable over the entire permissible voltage range, which the dielectric wall of the SVP chamber can withstand without electrical breakdown. The parameters of the nuclear reaction are controlled by changing the electric field strength of the capacitor and the current of the injected beams.

An increase in luminosity and, accordingly, an increase in the intensity of nuclear reactions by several orders of magnitude compared to the known values in the inventive device will be achieved by increasing the concentration of charged particles in colliding beams by 4-5 orders of magnitude. Since the beams of charged particles in the claimed device are pressed by the electric field of the ring capacitor to the dielectric wall and are simultaneously isolated from contact with it due to the “guiding” phenomenon, the beams will move in a narrow near-surface layer, i.e. will be “ribbon beams of charged particles” sliding along the dielectric surface of the wall of the SVP chamber. The maximum concentration of charged particles in the SVP chamber is limited by the electrical strength E _of the dielectric from which the wall of the SVP chamber is made _. . The thickness of the ribbon sliding beam (LSB) can be estimated as equal to the average distance between the particles of the sliding beam:

,

where a is the thickness of the LSP, e is the elementary charge, E _{pr .} – electrical strength of the dielectric, E – field strength of the ring capacitor, ε ₀ – electrical constant. Accordingly, the concentration of charged particles in the LSP will be:

.

Modern dielectric materials have electrical strength up to E _{ave .} ~ 10 ⁸ V/m. Thus, the concentration of particles in the LSP is up to 10 ²³ m ^-3 . As is known, the luminosity of an SVP at an equal concentration n in colliding beams is directly proportional to n ² (G.I. Budker, Accelerators with colliding particle beams. UFN, 1966, T. 89, No. 4, P. 533.). For comparison, consider two hovercraft with a rectangular section chamber. When comparing the concentration of particles of beams n _eq in the SVP, the beam particles of which are uniformly distributed throughout the volume (prototype), with the concentration of particles n in the SVP on the LSP (the claimed device), the following conclusions were obtained: with equal beam cross-section width and equal luminosity values of the SVP, an equivalent uniform by volume of the device, the concentration of charged particles in the claimed device will be:

,

where S _sk. – cross-sectional area of the sliding beam, S _eq. is the cross-sectional area of the equivalent beam, a is the thickness of the LSP, b is the distance between the electrodes of the ring capacitor, So, when , n _eq. ~ 10 ²⁰ – 10 ²¹ m ^-3 . This concentration of charged particles is 4–5 orders of magnitude higher than the concentration currently achieved in the SVP with magnetic isolation of particles from the wall. Thus, the corresponding luminosity obtained in the inventive device, which makes it possible to obtain SVP on LSP, will exceed the known one by 8 - 10 orders of magnitude, which will allow the use of this device not only for research purposes, but also in the industrial complex.

For example, when carrying out a nuclear fusion reaction in a SVP device of the proposed design:

d + t = ⁴ He + n + 17.6 MeV

a specific output thermal power of up to 10 ⁸ W/m ³ can be obtained (which corresponds to the specific power of an internal combustion engine) with a specific power expended on the reaction of ~ 10 ⁵ – 10 ⁶ W/m ³ , i.e. an energetically favorable nuclear fusion reaction can be carried out.

The claimed device can also carry out other energetically favorable nuclear fusion reactions.

For example, environmentally friendly reactions that do not have a neutron yield:

p + ¹¹ B = 3 ⁴ He + 8.7 MeV or

d + ³ He = ⁴ He + p + 18.4 MeV.

Thus, the inventive device provides an increase in the concentration of accelerated charged particles in colliding beams. Compared with the prototype, the proposed invention provides an increase in the maximum achievable concentration of charged particles in interacting beams of accelerated charged particles by 4-5 orders of magnitude and, as a consequence, an increase in the intensity of nuclear reactions, which allows us to consider such a device to satisfy the requirements of the “industrial applicability” criterion, including including allowing for energetically favorable nuclear fusion reactions.

Claims (6)

1. A device for carrying out nuclear fusion reactions in a system using colliding beams, including an annular vacuum chamber with two external accelerators of charged particles, ensuring the formation in the volume of the annular chamber of counter flows of charged particles of the same sign, representing ions of reacting elements, characterized in that the wall is annular The vacuum chamber is made of dielectric material, while around the chamber along the inner and outer circumference of the ring there are, respectively, internal and external metal ring electrodes, made with the ability to connect to a high voltage source and forming a ring capacitor. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the nuclear fusion reaction is carried out in counter-propagating ribbon beams sliding along the dielectric wall of the annular vacuum chamber, which are formed due to the fact that the initial beams of accelerated ions are pressed against the inner wall of the annular vacuum chamber by the electric field of the annular capacitor cameras. 3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is equipped with a protective casing, inside of which there is a ring chamber with a ring capacitor. 4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that glass is used as the dielectric material of the annular vacuum chamber. 5. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the outer and inner ring metal electrodes are located in the same plane. 6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the plane of placement of the ring electrodes is parallel to the plane of the ribbon beam of charged particles sliding along the dielectric wall of the annular vacuum chamber.