Author: pulsotron

Yesterday we began the Electrical Generation tests.

To make them we had to pass Spanish Militar police controls due to the Covid quarantine.

Also, it was made measurements of the generated magnetic field, but the sensor enclosure was dismantled and it had to be glued (it was unglued in order to have access to the sensor coils).

Now with the two oscilloscopes in parallel and energy recovery coil and all the sensors close to the target, there is very small space for new sensors

This is the proposal: a high-pressure line, a low pressure and several electro valves. All can be used at the same sequence but there is a regulator to adjust liters/minute accordingly the patient weight

Tests number S3012-3015 were performed during this week in spite of the coronavirus

The new power supply is not enough stable and was retired. The second one does not give enough current and the 3rd blown 3 of the fuses, I have only one and can not buy more because of the quarantine.

Also, the main dc/dc suffered a short cut and died but that doesn’t matter because the entire arc-sensor where burn and the 4 expensive calibrated PT100 did not survive, but fortunately, they sent valuable information before dying. The short cut of the DC/DC was provoked because the recovered energy voltage was really very high and entered in short-circuit with the DC/DC and the power supply. That is very good notice, so the next tests will be centered on the arc sensor but must survive. The arc sensor can not be reinforced with more robust metal parts in the short term due to querantine restrictions.

New sensors are installed along a robust arc surrounding the target, the main idea is to measure output electromagnetic and optical/particle radiation energy.

In a first test, a high power electromagnetic bilayer plasma expansion was detected.

The optical energy output was very low as long as the copper layer covered the arc did not increase its temperature very much.

Unfortunately, the power supply suffered a short circuit during installation and the fuse was blown. The new power supply does not work and the third does not give enough current, so the test could not be repeated.

In another way, the Miranda reactor structure was finalized

During the 5th test campaign, the array of sensors finally survived the huge explosion generating megabits of data. We will have to automate the reading of them. Next week a second data acquisition equipment will allow us to capture data from another 4 sensors at 1 Giga sample/second, and we hope to install new sensors to measure generated power with or without thermonuclear fuel. In addition, we have received inert gas equipment to work with precision binocular to load fuel in the Argon atmosphere. Another inert gas equipment is manufacturing. Additionally, Miranda reactor components and alpha-particle shielding components have been commissioned. I barely have time to upload a small capture of the last essay but unfortunately is not a very good image to be taken with an old high-speed camera. We are also in negotiations with a German company interested in building targets serially. That could help us to achieve the pressure obtained in the Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb (but with a much lower fuel). In addition, the technological institute that works with us is analyzing the data from the previous tests but the coronavirus is working again that.

Another new is that the Pulsotron-3 was presented in Irin in the Go-Mobility congress in the middle of several coronavirus alerts.

We call it “the sensor destroyer”, as it destroys all unfortunate sensors that try to survive to its powerful plasma ball.

After hard work, it was repaired the Pulsotron-3. Only 2 tests were performed because the sensor optical front-end was removed in the second test and must be repaired.

In the 3rd test campaign, it was made two tests, with great success as it was measured the storage of magnetic energy in the target to allow use it to compress the target to make fusion.

As can be seen in the attached plot in the yellow line it was measured the capacitor bank voltage drop. It can be seen how its discharge 1/2 of the voltage (about a 75% of the energy) in the target before it begins to emit energy es can be seen in the other channels that represents the light acquired by an array of photodiodes pointing using accurate optics to the center of the target and also two longer distances. it can be seen how the plasma ball increasing starting about 1 microsecond after the beginning of the discharge

It was similar to the results obtained in the following 3005 test. Both tests were done with the help of new High Voltage probes.

Also, a better electromagnetic design reduced a lot of electrode erosion.

The new Pulsotron actually generates electromagnetic waves of up to 13 kiloteslas, unfortunately, the waves evaporate insulation parts of the Pulsotron-3, so during the charging of the capacitor bank during the test number 3006, several blasts in three different parts so we had to turn it off. Thanks to several security systems, no one was injured. The main power supply, the measurement systems, and the control system were not affected because we designed a High Voltage unit resistant to short circuits.

In the attached images it was seen in the previous test how a cloud of fire is generated that burns eroded plastics of the internal parts.

Also, it was obtained from a laboratory camera an image of one of the internal blast

Actually the team is working hard to make Pulsotron-3 in service as fast as possible. This problem and the problems we had before allows us to learn and improve a lot the z-pinch technology use to build a working  electric generator as fast as possible

Targets 3001-3003 were tested. The main idea is to check if the plasma ball is contained inside the reaction chamber enough time to make ignition. Also, it was checked two sensors.

It was built carefully an array of photodiodes and electrical power of them carefully inserted in optical parts aligned with the plasma ball to measure accurately the expansion of the plasma ball. The whole system was mounted inside a small structure made in a 3-d injection machine. To maintain that instrument close to the plasma ball a structure was mounted, we name it  “diagnostic tower”. Unfortunately, in the first shot, the 3-d injection enclosure was destroyed and blown away in less than 50 microseconds, as can be seen in the high-speed video captures:

But it was a disaster as we needed the plasma ball expansion data, so we had to improvise, so we used a similar instrument made for Pulsotron-2, fortunately, its batteries still worked, then a new diagnostic tower was made in a hurry cutting extruded aluminum profiles. In the shot 3002, the old sensors were exposed to a lot higher light levels than the Pulsotron-2, so they were saturated, so it was increased the scope scale and tested again in test 3003 that was successful.

After the tests several megabytes of sensor data are now being processing

A new borosilicate body arrived at the laboratory. It was built in a Sevilla specialized company. Actually we are building coils to be attached to the new reactor body. The coils will be connected to the main capacitor bank using some of the most powerful Silicon Carbide SCRs built especially for us in a Chinese company