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United States Statutory Invention Registration (19) 11 Reg United States Statutory Invention Registration (19) 11 Reg. Number: H627 Peng 43) Published: Apr. 4, 1989 (54 SPHERICAL TORUS FUSION REACTOR Waldrop, "Compact Fusion: Small is Beautiful,” Sci ence, vol. 219, pp. 154-156, Jan. 1983. 75 Inventor: Yueng-Kay M. Peng, Oak Ridge, Hagenson et al., "Compact Reverse Field Pinch Reac Tenn. tors,' Los Alamos Nat. Lab., LA-10200-MS, Aug. 73) Assignee: The United States of America as 1984. represented by the United States Primary Examiner-Deborah L. Kyle Department of Energy, Washington, Assistant Examiner-Richard L. Klein D.C. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-David E. Breeden; Stephen 21 Appl. No.: 783,604 D. Hamel; Judson R. Hightower 22 Filed: Oct. 3, 1985 57 ABSTRACT 511 Int. Cl."................................................ G21B 1/00 A fusion reactor is provided having a near spherical 52 U.S. C. ..................................... 376/142; 376/133 shaped plasma with a modest central opening through 58) Field of Search ........................ 376/121, 133, 142 which straight segments of toroidal field coils extend that carry electrical current for generating a toroidal (56) References Cited magnet plasma confinement fields. By retaining only the U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS indispensable components inboard of the plasma torus, 3,778,343 12/1973 Coppi et al. ........................ 376/133 principally the cooled toroidal field conductors and in 4,263,097 4/1981. Ohkawa .............................. 376/133 some cases a vacuum containment vessel wall, the fu 4,268,353 5/1981 Powell et al. ... 376/142 sion reactor features an exceptionally small aspect ratio 4,330,864 5/1982 Ohyabu ............. ... 376/142 (typically about 1.5), a naturally elongated plasma cross 4,363,776 12/1982 Yamada et al. ... ... 376/133 section without extensive field shaping, requires low 4,392,98 7/1983 Gaines ............... ... 376/133 strength magnetic containment fields, small size and 4,430,600 2/1984. Sheffield et al. .. ... 376/133 high beta. These features combine to produce a spheri 4,472,344 9/1984 Loftstalt ............ ... 376/133 4,543,231 9/1985 Ohkawa .............................. 376/142 cal torus plasma in a unique physics regime which per 4,560,528 12/1985 Ohkawa .............................. 376/133 mits compact fusion at low field and modest cost. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 12 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets 53-72993 6/1978 Japan ................................... 376/133 OTHER PUBLICATIONS A statutory invention registration is not a patent. It has Stacey, Jr. et al., “A Tokamak Exp. Power Reactor,' the defensive attributes of a patent but does not have the Nucl. Tech. vol. 30, Sep. 1976, pp. 261-298. enforceable attributes of a patent. No article or advertise Coppi, "Comments Plasma Phys. Cont. Fusion,' vol. 3, ment or the like may use the term patent, or any term No. 2, pp. 47-62, 1977. suggestive of a patent, when referring to a statutory in Katsurai et al., "Studies of Conceptual Spheromak Fu vention registration. For more specific information on the sion Reactors,” Nuclear Fusion, vol. 22, No. 11, pp. rights associated with a statutory invention registration 1407-1419, 1982. see 35 U.S.C. 157. 2 AXIS U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 1 of 8 H627 BAD CURVATURE ... REGION BAD CURVATURE REGION CURVATURE : REGION 8 seas CURVATURE 2 AXIS REGON z AXIS Fig.2 (PRIOR ART) Fo. 1 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 2 of 8 H627 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 3 of 8 H627 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 4 of 8 H627 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 5 of 8 H627 SPHERICAL TORUS 2 SPHERICAL Tokamas TO KAMAK SPHERICAL PNCH O ASPECT RATIO (R/d) F d. 7 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 6 of 8 H627 x' M - A -- / ho ENERGY SOURCE U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 7 of 8 H627 U.S. Patent Apr. 4, 1989 Sheet 8 of 8 H627 H627 1. 2 and limited risk in reaching adequate plasma and engi SPHERICAL TORUS FUSION REACTOR neering performance. This invention, which is a result of a contract with SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION the U.S. Department of Energy, is in the field of fusion In view of the above need it is an object of this inven reactor designs and more specifically relates to compact tion to provide a compact toroidal-type fusion reactor torus fusion reactor designs. with an improved cost risk-to-benefit ratio. Another object of this invention is to provide a com BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION pact torus fusion reactor with dramatic simplification of Although the tokamak is the leading magnetic fusion 10 plasma confinement design. approach worldwide, its design embodiment and associ Yet another object of this invention is to provide a ated physics have not been attractive to the potential compact torus fusion reactor with low magnetic field commercial users of magnetic fusion. Serious design and small aspect ratio stable plasma confinement. concept development for a device to carry out ignition In accordance with the principles of this invention and burn physics and/or fusion engineering develop 15 there is provided a compact toroidal-type plasma con ment in magnetic fusion has been in progress for several finement fusion reactor in which only the indispensable years. Prominent concepts and associated reference components inboard of a tokamak type of plasma con material include the following: Engineering Test Facil finement region, mainly a current conducting medium ity (ETF), ETF Design Center Team, Engineering Test which carries electrical current for producing a toroidal Facility Mission Statement Document, ORNL/TM 20 magnet confinement field about the toroidal plasma 6733, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1980); Interna region, are retained. The result is a plasma confinement tional Tokamak Reactor (INTOR), INTOR Group, region having an aspect ratio (A) of less than 2, a beta of Nuclear Fusion 23, 1513 (1983); Fusion Engineering greater than 20%, high plasma current and low mag Device (FED), Fusion Engineering Device Design netic field (1) less than 3T) which produces a highly Description, ORNL/TM-7948, Oak Ridge National 25 stable toroidal-type plasma with natural elongation Laboratory (1981); and the Toroidal Fusion Core Ex resembling a sphere with a modest hole through the periment (TFCX), "The Toroidal Fusion Core Experi center, suggesting the name of spherical torus. ment (TFCX) Studies', paper IAEA-CN-44/H-I-3, A typical example of ignition and burn spherical torus presented at the Tenth International Conference on made in accordance with this invention may have a Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Re 30 magnetic field strength of 2T at the plasma center has a search, London, England, Sept. 12-19 (1984). The esti major radius of 1.5 m, a minor radius of 1.0 m, a plasma mated, direct total cost of each of these systems is about current of 14 MA, a fusion power of 50 MW, an average $1 billion or more with perceived high risk in achieving beta of 24%, and a plasma thermal energy content of 30 the stated performance goals, Thus, continued progress MJ. of fusion can be enhanced if a design can be found 35 which provides a more favorable cost risk-to-benefit BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS ratio (i.e., an embodiment with small unit size and lim FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the relative shapes and sizes ited risk in reaching adequate plasma and fusion engi of a conventional tokamak plasma and a spherical torus neering performance). plasma, respectively, together with a comparison of the Major factors that contribute to the larger size and magnetic confinement field lines on the q=2 surfaces. higher cost of the aforementioned design studies can be The portion of the field lines in the good curvature traced to a combination of physics assumptions, engi region are dashed. neering criteria, nind conventional tokamak wisdom. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of a The conventional wisdom of tokamak operation and spherical torus plasma confinement scheme in accor prudent engineering suggests the inclusion of a solenoid 45 dance with the basic plasma confinement principles of for inductive current drive, nuclear shields inboard of this invention. the plasma torus for protection of inboard coils and FIG. 4 is a graph of the nested magnetic field lines of insulators, and a separate first wall and vacuum bound a spherical torus illustrating the natural elongation of ary. These items tend to increase the major radius of the the plasma cross section at an aspect ratio of 1.5 with torus and aspect ratio (major radius divided by the 50 only poloidal vertical field coils. minor radius of the torus), which, in turn, leads to mod FIG. 5 is a graph as in FIG. 4 illustrating a strongly est values of average beta (the plasma pressure divided elongated plasma by adding poioidal field shaping coils by the magnetic field pressure containing the plasma, above and below the torus. typically up to about 5% for aspect ratios of about 3). In FIG. 6 is a graph of spherical torus plasma confine the physics area, the assumed plasma energy confine 55 ment flux surfaces (solid and dotted lines) and the ment efficiency at reactor conditions leads to large mod-B (B) surfaces (dashed lines). A near-omnigene plasma major and minor radii (about 3 meters or more ous region is formed to the right of the heavy dashed and 1 meter or so, respectively) and plasma current of 6 line. The plasma paramagnetism leads to parallel flux to 12 megamperes (MA) when intermediate values of and mod-B surfaces in the outboard region making magnetic field between 4 and 6 tesla (T) are employed. 60 charged particle drift orbits parallel to the flux surfaces For ignition devices with significant burn, a typical (near -omnigeneity), mitigating trapped particle effects design has about 100 cubic meters in plasma volume, and improving neo-classical confinement.
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