Historical research guide · 0759 · 2019
The Plasma Compression Fusion Device—Enabling Nuclear Fusion Ignition
Salvatore Cezar Pais
In one minute
This is the peer-reviewed version of Salvatore Pais’s fusion reactor, published in the IEEE’s own plasma journal while he was an engineer for the US Navy. The device is a hollow duct with four charged, curved-headed cones inside it, spinning against each other in opposing pairs — Pais calls them dynamic fusors, and they are the same mechanism as his craft patents, only aimed at fuel instead of at flight. Because charge is being whipped through rapid acceleration transients, the cones throw off intense electromagnetic radiation, and that radiation does two jobs at once: it heats the deuterium fed in through holes in the cone heads, and its magnetic fields squeeze the resulting plasma into the middle. Even the duct wall works — it is charged and vibrated so plasma particles are kept off the surface and the burn is not quenched. Pais argues the arrangement maximises pressure times confinement time, the product fusion ignition actually depends on, and he closes by discussing the engineering problems of building it.
Connection
Chapter 12 is about routes to fusion that engineer the conditions rather than out-build them, and this is the referee-checked statement of Pais’s route: compress with fields generated by accelerated charged matter, not with a larger tokamak. Chapter 8 reads the Pais filings as one programme with one mechanism, and chapter 9 recognises the confined, self-organised plasma core at the centre of the device as the same object the plasmoid literature keeps describing.
From the source
The plasma compression fusion device generates energy gain by plasma compression-induced nuclear fusion, and its stated design objective is to maximise the product of plasma pressure and energy confinement time — the product ignition conditions actually depend on.Abstract, opening, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
The preferred embodiment is a hollow cross-duct of circular cross section containing two pairs of opposing, curved-headed, counter-spinning conical structures — possibly an alloy of tungsten with high capacitance — whose outer surfaces are electrically charged. Pais names the four cones the dynamic fusors, and each can be an assembly of electrified grids and toroidal magnetic coils inside a charged conical shell.Abstract, preferred embodiment, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
The mechanism is stated in one sentence: controlled motion of electrically charged matter, through accelerated vibration and accelerated spin subjected to smooth yet rapid acceleration transients, generates extremely high-energy, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation — fields of high-energy photons — which both confines the plasma and greatly compresses it.Abstract, mechanism statement, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
Quenching is designed against directly: the cross-duct inner surface surrounding the plasma core is itself electrically charged and vibrated in an accelerated mode, to minimise the flux of plasma particles, neutrals included, that reach the device surfaces.Abstract, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
The fuel is preferably deuterium gas, introduced into the plasma core through the counter-spinning cones themselves, injected through orifices in the dynamic fusor heads.Abstract, fuel injection, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
The performance claim is the one to hold in view: input power in the kilowatt to megawatt range returning output in the gigawatt to terawatt range and higher, possibly reaching self-sustained ignition burn. Pais also describes a more compact linear-duct version using only two dynamic fusors, which he says would suit fusion power generation on aircraft or on main battle tanks. What would settle it is a built duct and a measured burn.Abstract, closing claims, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 47, pages 5119 to 5124
The way in
https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2019.2942997How to cite it
Salvatore Cezar Pais (2019) The Plasma Compression Fusion Device—Enabling Nuclear Fusion Ignition doi:10.1109/TPS.2019.2942997