In space startup method for nuclear fusion rocket engines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10229756-B2
Application number	US-201414466425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2014
Priority date	Aug 22, 2013
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

The invention is for a startup system for nuclear fusion engines in space. The combustion of hydrogen and oxygen produces heat that is used by a heat engine to produce electricity. This can be supplemented by electricity from other operating engines. The exhaust from the combustion is condensed and electrolyzed to produce hydrogen and oxygen once the engine is in operation. This provides a constant source of energy for future startups. The engine is started up at partial power in electricity generation mode and this power replaces the power from the combustion as it grows. The combustor uses the same heat engine as the nuclear engine uses for power generation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing power for startup of a nuclear fusion reactor, the method comprising:
generating, in a startup system for a field-reversed configuration (FRC) fusion reactor, heat energy by combusting a fuel in one or more combustion chambers, wherein the combusting of the fuel produces a combustion product;
generating, by a heat engine, a first electrical power from the heat energy of the startup system;
heating, by one or more radio frequency antennas of the FRC fusion reactor, plasma inside the FRC fusion reactor to a temperature of at least 50 kiloelectronvolts to start a fusion nuclear reaction using the first electrical power;
generating, by the heat engine, a second electrical power from heat generated by the fusion nuclear reaction; and
producing, using the second electrical power, the fuel for the startup system from the combustion product.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the fuel is a combination of a hydrogen isotope and oxygen.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the hydrogen isotope is deuterium.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing a portion of the second electrical power in a power storage device.

5. The method of claim 4 in which said power storage device is one or more supercapacitors.

6. The method of claim 4 in which said power storage device is one or more flywheels.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the FRC fusion reactor comprises a plurality of superconducting flux coils around a reactor chamber in which an induced current is generated in response to an odd-parity rotating magnetic field, wherein the induced current generates a magnetic confinement field that magnetically confines the plasma.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
stopping the startup system from generating the first electrical power after the fusion reaction is started.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
stopping the fusion reaction after a period of time.

10. A nuclear fusion reactor system comprising:
a startup system for a field-reversed configuration (FRC) fusion reactor that generates heat energy by combusting a fuel in one or more combustion chambers, wherein the combusting of the fuel produces a combustion product;
a heat engine that generates a first electrical power from the heat energy of the startup system and generates a second electrical power from the heat energy generated by the FRC fusion reactor;
one or more radio frequency antennas that heat plasma inside the FRC fusion reactor to a temperature of at least 50 kiloelectronvolts to start a fusion nuclear reaction using the first electrical power; and
an electrolysis unit that converts the combustion product into the fuel for the startup system.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the fuel is a combination of a hydrogen isotope and oxygen.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the hydrogen isotope is deuterium.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the FRC fusion reactor comprises a plurality of superconducting flux coils around a reactor chamber in which an induced current is generated in response to an odd-parity rotating magnetic field, wherein the induced current generates a magnetic confinement field that magnetically confines the plasma.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the startup system stops generating the first electrical power after the fusion reaction is started.

15. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the fusion reaction is stopped after a period of time.

Assignees

• Princeton Satellite Systems Inc
• Univ Princeton

Inventors

• Paluszek Michael A
• Ham Eric M
• Razin Yosef
• Cohen Samuel A

Classifications

• G21B1/00 Primary

  Thermonuclear fusion reactors · CPC title

• F02B2043/106

  Hydrogen obtained by electrolysis · CPC title

• Y02E30/10

  Nuclear fusion reactors · CPC title

• G21B1/052

  reversed field configuration · CPC title

• F03H1/0093

  Electro-thermal plasma thrusters, i.e. thrusters heating the particles in a plasma (resistojets per se B64G1/415) · CPC title