Fusor

For other uses, see Fusor (disambiguation).
A homemade fusor

A fusor is a device that uses an electric field to heat ions to a temperature at which they undergo nuclear fusion. The machine induces a potential difference between two metal cages, inside a vacuum. Positive ions fall down this voltage drop, building up speed. If they collide in the center, they can fuse. This is one kind of an inertial electrostatic confinement device – a branch of fusion research.

A Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor is the most common type of fusor.[1] This design came from work by Philo T. Farnsworth in 1964 and Robert L. Hirsch in 1967.[2][3] A variant type of fusor had been proposed previously by William Elmore, James L. Tuck, and Ken Watson at the Los Alamos National Laboratory[4] though they never built the machine.

Fusors have been built by various institutions. These include academic institutions such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison,[5] the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[6] and government entities, such as the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority.[7][8] Fusors have also been developed commercially, as sources for neutrons by DaimlerChrysler Aerospace[9] and as a method for generating medical isotopes.[10][11][12] Fusors have also become very popular for hobbyists and amateurs. A growing number of amateurs have performed nuclear fusion using simple fusor machines.[13][14][15][16][17][18] However, fusors are not considered a viable concept for large-scale energy production by scientists.

  1. ^ "Biography of Philo Taylor Farnsworth". University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  2. ^ Robert L. Hirsch, "Inertial-Electrostatic Confinement of Ionized Fusion Gases", Journal of Applied Physics, v. 38, no. 7, October 1967
  3. ^ P. T. Farnsworth (private communication, 1964)
  4. ^ "On the Inertial Electrostatic Confinement of a Plasma" William Elmore, James Tuck and Ken Watson, The Physics of Fluids, January 30, 1959
  5. ^ Ion Flow and Fusion Reactivity, Characterization of a Spherically convergent ion Focus. PhD Thesis, Dr. Timothy A Thorson, Wisconsin-Madison 1996.
  6. ^ Improving Particle Confinement in Inertial electrostatic Fusion for Spacecraft Power and Propulsion. Dr. Carl Dietrich, PhD Thesis, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007
  7. ^ "Preliminary Results of Experimental Studies from Low Pressure Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Device" Journal of Fusion Energy, May 23, 2013
  8. ^ "Experimental Study of the Iranian Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Device as a Continuous Neutron Generator" V. Damideh, A. Sadighzadeh, Koohi, Aslezaeem, Heidarnia, Abdollahi, Journal of Fusion Energy, June 11, 2011
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference DC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Phoenix Nuclear Labs meets neutron production milestone", PNL press release May 1, 2013, Ross Radel, Evan Sengbusch
  11. ^ http://shinemed.com/products/ Archived 2019-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, SHINE Medical Technologies, accessed 2014-01-20
  12. ^ "NEUTRONGENERATOR: NSD-GRADEL-FUSION". www.nsd-fusion.com. Neutron generators of the latest technology with multiple possible applications
  13. ^ Hull, Richard (24 Apr 2013). "The Fusor List". The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium.
  14. ^ "Fusion on a Budget". IEEE Spectrum. March 2009.
  15. ^ "THE HAYLETT NUCLEAR FUSION PROJECT". Archived from the original on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-09-15.
  16. ^ Amanda Kooser (March 5, 2014). "13-year-old builds working nuclear fusion reactor". CNET.
  17. ^ Danzico, Matthew (2010-06-23). "I built a nuclear reactor in NYC". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
  18. ^ "How to Build a $1000 Fusion Reactor in Your Basement". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2021-07-14.