FR2660102A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PRODUCING FUSION ENERGY FROM HEAVY WATER. - Google Patents

Abstract

The device comprises a combustion chamber (10), means (20) for injecting a mass of fusible material into this combustion chamber, means (30) for producing an electric discharge by means of which it is possible to cause to pass into the material thus injected a current such that the Ampere force developed inside the fusible material sets up conditions therein suitable for triggering a fusion reaction, and means for recovering the energy produced by this fusion reaction.

Description

Method and device for producing
fusion energy from heavy water
The present invention relates to a method and a device for producing fusion energy from heavy water.

 The techniques which have so far been explored in the hope of a possibility of producing fusion energy in a controlled manner are essentially based on two concepts: one is the concept of confinement, as in the Tokamak system where the one carries out the confinement of a plasma along the axis of a torus, and the other is the concept of inertial implosion of a mass of fusible material using a laser beam or else a beam charged particles, usually light ions.

 These various research avenues, however, have so far not resulted in the production of fusion energy, even at the experimental stage.

 The present invention proposes to produce fusion energy by relying on a third concept, entirely different from the previous two and requiring only a relatively simple apparatus in addition to the extremely complex and costly installations of the systems tested up to now.

One of the starting points of the invention is the attempt of theoretical explanation of a certain number of experiments of electric discharge in water, reported by P. Graneau in particular in a communication to the 1988 International Tesla Symposium of Colorado College in July 1988, titled Space Disposai of Weapon
Grade Plutonium with the Water-Arc Launcher.

 This document presents in particular a device called a water-arc gun (water-arc gun) essentially comprising a metal tube forming a cannon, containing water and a projectile.

An electrode is placed at the bottom of the tube and connected to one of the electrodes of a capacitor bank (typically forming a capacity of a few microfarads charged to a few tens of kilovolts), the other electrode of which is connected to the metal tube. When the capacitor bank is discharged, the flow of current through the liquid medium constituted by the volume of water creates in this medium a considerable internal pressure, called nasal electrody pressure, which can eject the projectile at propulsion speeds of several hundred meters per second: in fact, the laboratory version described in the above-mentioned document makes it possible to reach a pressure estimated at 2675 bars for a cannon of 1.25 cm in diameter and 10 cm in length).

 Surprisingly, the water core remains cold, which excludes any possibility of accounting by thermodynamics for the kinetic energy acquired by the projectile.

 Furthermore, it is found that the cohesion of the water core remains such that it can, as such, act as a projectile and easily pierce metal plates several millimeters thick.

 To explain the operation of the arc gun in water, and therefore understand the existence of the high pressures it allows to generate, the most satisfactory way seems to be that of the explanation by the Coulomb part of the force of Ampere between current elements.

 Indeed, this concept of the strength of Ampère had been proposed in the last century (see in particular A.-M. Ampère, Memoir on the determination of the formula which represents the mutual action of two infinitely small portions of voltaic conductors , read at the Académie des Sciences on June 10, 1822) on an empirical basis, but its existence had not been supported by theory, taking into account in particular the fact that it had hitherto been believed that it contradicted Maxwell's laws. The laws proposed by Ampère indeed made it possible to explain the forces brought into play between the elements of current. They have just proved to be perfectly compatible with the theory of Relativity (Lorentz force).

The absence of contradiction - and therefore the probable reality of Ampère's forces - has in fact just been recognized by M. Rambaut and
JP Vigier as not contradicting Relativity, in an article which they published in Physics Letters A, volume 142, nO 8-9 of December 25, 1989, page 447 and entitled Tlze Simultaneous Existence ofEM Grassmann-Lorentz Forces (Acting on Charged Particles) and
Ampère Forces (Acting on Charged Conducting Elements) Does not
Contradict Relativity Theory.

In addition, it was recently shown, as reported in an article by M. Rambaut and JP Vigier entitled Ampère Forces
Approximation Considered as Collective Non-Relativist Limit of the
Sum of All Lorentz Interactions Acting on Individual Current Ele mentis: Possible Consequences for Electromagnetic Discharge Stabil- ity and Tokamak Behavior, being published in Physics
Letters A, that to understand the origin of this force we had to consider the non-relativistic limit of the Lorentz force. Indeed, according to this conception (which is verified by experience on a macroscopic scale), the current element is constituted by an ion and an electron, the ion being the current support element represented by l The electron itself can be either an ionized atom, a molecule with a positive charge, or an aggregate of molecules whose total electric charge is equal to the elementary charge e.

Generally, the interaction energy between two current elements thus defined is equal to the sum of the interaction energies of the electron-electron, ion-electron and ion-ion pairs.

The energy H of an electron interacting with the potential of another electron consists of two terms: one depending only on the Coulomb potential of the other electron, the other depending only on the vector potential A of the other electron (underlined characters representing vectors):
H = e + [mOc2 + (pc - A e) 2] l / 2
It has also been recognized (Cynthia Kolb Whitney, On the Lienart-Wiechert Potentials, in Hadronic Journal, volume 11, 1988, page 257), that the full form of the Lienart-Wiechert potential due to an electron of speed ss created a universe potential (, O such that, with the standard notations of the Lienart-Wiechert formula: # = (e. #) / (K0.r) A = (0.e. #. ss) / ( C0.r)
with :: = vIc # = (1-ss2) -1/2
y being the speed of the electron,
c being the speed of light in a vacuum, and
r being the distance between the two current elements.

At the non-relativistic limit, we obtain a first expression of
H, that is:
H = e..r + m0c2 + (epcA) / m0c2.

As pc can be replaced by mOc2rg, and rpar (1+ ss / 2), the final expression of the energy of an electron in the field of another electron has the expression:
H = e (1 + ss2 / 2) - (0e2 / c0r) ss1.ss2.

The second term can be called the Neumann potential at the level of the ion-electron current elements. By assuming that the Fermi volume characterizing the speed distribution of electrons in a macroscopic conductive element is spherical, in the absence of applied voltage, the current flow results in the deformation of the spherical speed distribution, as shown in figure 1. We can simply show that the mean value wN of the second term of H is:
WN = - (0e2 / C0r) ssm.ssn,
ssm and ssn being the relativistic speeds (ratio between the real speed and that of the light) of displacement of the electrons, respectively for the element of current m and for the element of current n.

We obtain the energy of a current element m in the presence of the current element n by replacing e2 by the product of the sums 6mdm and Andean charges of the free electrons in the conductors of length dm and dn (am and an are the charges per unit length of the current elements m and n). However, the products Gmdm.ssm and # ndn.ssn being numerically equal to the electric charges displaced per unit of time, they can be replaced by the values of the currents. We thus obtain the differential element of the formula that Franz Neumann proposed in 1845. This formula expresses the energy WN of a circuit traversed by the current im in the presence of another circuit traversed by the current in (with = (dm , dn)):

 This expression, symmetrical in m and n, also expresses the energy of a circuit traversed by the current i n in the presence of another circuit traversed by the current im.

The expression of this energy between two circuits implies the existence of the AFA Ampere force between two current elements im.dm and in.dn, as demonstrated by Franz Neumann himself:
#FA = - [(oim.dm i, .dn)! c, r2] (2 cos E - 3 cos ol, cos an),
the angles being those defined by FIG. 2.

However, this Ampere force, created by the vector potential due to the relative movement of electrons, is only part of the interaction. If we neglect, as a first approximation, the movements of the ions, the other part of the Hamiltonian is only due to the Coulomb term at the level of the ion-electron couples. The Coulomb energy of electron 1 in the presence of electron 2, or of electron 2 in the presence of electron 1, has for approximation, for low speeds:
[e2 / KOr]. [1 + (ss1-ss2) 2/2].

 The Coulomb energy between ions is, conventionally: e2 / KOr.

As for that of ion-electron couples, it is:
(e2 / KOr). (2 + ss12 / 2 + ss22 / 2).

The sum of these Coulomb energies is reduced to an expression wc which is identical, except for a multiplicative constant, to the Neumann potential at the level of the ion-electron current elements: Wc = - (e2 / KOr) ssm ssn-
The AFC force which corresponds to w, between ion-electron couples therefore has the same form as the AFA Ampere force, but to a multiplicative constant:
AFc = AFA (c0 I 0Ko) - c2 / co
As, in units cgs, c0 = 1, Ko = 1 and o = 1 / c2, the ratio of forces is equal to the square of the speed of light.

 In a solid medium like copper, this force acts on the crystal lattice and, as long as the molecular bonds are maintained, it is only possible to observe the force of Ampère itself, that is to say dependent on the potential vector due to the movement of electrons.

 On the other hand, in a liquid medium the molecular cohesion forces are weaker and the phenomenon can be observed; this is how, in pure water, the existence of this force was established.

However, its value measured using the previously defined coefficient is generally of the order of a few 103 to 6,103 N / A2, whereas it would be, for the same geometry, of the order of 5 to 10
N / A2 in a rail gun. On a practical level, the ratio t between the purely Ampere force and the Coulomb force, such as:
AFC = t. AFA, therefore has a value of the order of some 102 to some 103; i this value of t, low compared to c2, seems essentially to be explained by the low value of the ionization rate T of water:
C = t / c2.

With the values quoted, T is of the order of 10-19 to 10-18,
n results from these calculations that the Ampere force is in fact constituted by the non-relativistic limit of the Einstein-Lorentz forces and that it is not incompatible with the existence of the Lorentz force, contrary to what we had always estimated so far.

 In the same conductive medium, the Ampère force produces in particular a transverse attraction between parallel current elements and a longitudinal repulsion between collinear current elements.

 In a liquid conductive medium (or a plasma), the Coulomb part of Ampère's force is preponderant.

 Consequently, if one supposes that the force of Ampère applies to elements of current delimited by a cylindrical surface of elementary section perpendicular to the average speed of displacement of the electrons, one will have a deformation of the sphere of Fermi ( representative of the speed distribution of the ions in the liquid medium) under the action of the potential applied to the terminals of the circuit.

 The ions are however not linked (unlike a current propagating in a solid conductor, where the ions undergo the attraction of the crystal lattice), it is then necessary to take into account the Coulomb potential created by each element of current.

We can then demonstrate that the Coulomb part of Ampère's force is entirely in agreement with experimental reality, notably the law, until now empirical, according to which the integral as a function of time of the force which s exerted in the liquid medium is proportional to the square of the peak value of the current passing through this medium.

 The basic idea of the present invention consists in using as the liquid medium receiving the high intensity electric discharge no longer water H20 but heavy water D20, that is to say water in which the hydrogen atom contains not only a proton but also an additional neutron.

 Indeed, the Ampere force developed by this electrical discharge will compress the heavy water to a considerable pressure - which would otherwise be very difficult - to a value sufficient to produce a fusion reaction.

 More specifically, the method of the invention essentially consists in: ejecting a mass of heavy water; produce an electrical discharge allowing a current of intensity to pass through the heavy water thus ejected such that the Coulomb part of the Ampere force developed within the heavy water creates therein a pressure suitable for triggering a fusion reaction ; and recover the energy produced by this fusion reaction.

 It will be noted that the fusion obtained by implementing the principle of the invention is a cold fusion, insofar as it is absolutely not necessary to raise the temperature of the heavy water to considerable values, as one must do so when based on the concepts of confinement or inertial implosion; the invention in fact makes it possible to trigger the fusion reaction in cold heavy water in the liquid phase, for example in a heavy water droplet.

 In addition, two recent experiments have shown the possibility of creating fusion reactions between deuterons by the impact of heavy water molecules on titanium already loaded with deuterons.

 The first experience, which is reported in an article by R. J.

Beuhler, G. Friedlander and L. Friedman published in Physical Review
Letters, volume 63, no 12 of September 18, 1989, page 1292 and entitled Cluster-Impact Fusion has shown that, if titanium and heavy water are used simultaneously, fusion reactions are more easily obtained: indeed , it is found that the collision of aggregates of heavy water molecules on a titanium target containing absorbed deuterons then effectively provides fusion reactions.

Another experience, reported in a correspondence from
BV Deijaguin, AG Lipson, VA Kluev, DM Sakov and Yu. P.

Toporov, published in Nature, volume 341, No. 12 of October 12, 1989, page 492 and entitled Titanium Fracture Yields Neutrons?, Showed that titanium shavings stirred in heavy water produced a flow of neutrons when they were subjected to a mechanical action, the absorption of deuterons by titanium allowing the production of a fusion reaction.

 Therefore, in the process of the invention as stated above, a volume of heavy water containing, for example, suspended titanium dust can produce a fusion reaction with a discharge current much less than that which would be necessary to start the fusion reaction in heavy water alone.

 Other metals, notably palladium, similarly exhibit the property of fixing the D20 ions to form aggregates allowing easier triggering of the fusion reactions.

 The invention proposes, as a variant, according to a particularly advantageous characteristic, of adding heavy water to a fusion activator from the group comprising titanium and palladium (these two metals possibly being combined), so as to help triggering of the merger.

To implement the method set out above, the invention provides a device comprising: a combustion chamber; means for ejecting into this combustion chamber a mass of heavy water; means for producing an electric discharge allowing a current of intensity to pass through the heavy water thus ejected such that the Coulomb part of the Ampere force developed within the Heavy water creates therein a pressure capable of triggering a reaction of fusion; and means for recovering the energy produced by this fusion reaction
Very advantageously, the means for ejecting the heavy water comprise an arc gun in the water.

 Preferably, before the initiation of the fusion reaction, a screen is formed around the heavy water ejected, in particular by injection of a liquid, by other arc-in-water guns arranged at the periphery of the combustion, towards the point where the fusion of the ejected heavy water will start.

 Preferably also, the means for producing the electrical discharge making it possible to pass a current through the ejected heavy water comprise means for producing an arc by application of a high voltage between two electrodes arranged in the enclosure on the one hand and on the other. other from the point where the fusion of the ejected heavy water must be initiated.

 Energy recovery can be carried out in several ways, which are known per se, in particular: thermodynamically, from the hot source formed by the plasma produced by the fusion reaction; magnetohydrodynamically, from the ejected plasma produced by the fusion reaction; or even chemically, by dissociation of water into hydrogen and oxygen by the plasma produced by the fusion reaction.

 In the particular case of energy recovery by magnetohydrodynamics, it is possible to produce energy in the form of an alternating current, with a device comprising: two combustion chambers, arranged opposite each other and on the other side of a common exhaust nozzle; means for alternately ejecting, in each of these combustion chambers, a mass of heavy water; means for producing, in each of these combustion chambers, an electric discharge making it possible to pass through the heavy water thus ejected a current of intensity such as the Coulomb part of the Ampere force developed within the water heavy there creates a pressure capable of triggering a fusion reaction; and means for recovering by magnetohydrodynamic energy produced by this fusion reaction, these means comprising a secondary circuit surrounding the common exhaust nozzle, so as to collect at the terminals of this circuit a voltage pulsed at the rate at which alternate , in the two combustion chambers, the ejection of the heavy water and the production of the discharge in the ejected heavy water.

 We will now describe an example of implementation of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, in addition to the aforementioned Figures 1 and 2:
- Figure 3 is a schematic view of the production device
tion of fusion energy according to the invention, and
- Figure 4 illustrates an improved embodiment per
putting production at the output of an alternating current.

#
The device of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 3, is essentially composed of a combustion chamber 10 of sufficient thickness to confine the explosion produced by the fusion reaction. A heavy water droplet is injected into this combustion chamber 10 using a water arc cannon 20 (or a similar device), at a typical speed of the order of 1000 m / s.

 More specifically, the water arc gun 20 is a device of the same type as that described by Graneau in the aforementioned document, but in which the projectile is replaced by a simple heavy water droplet. This device comprises a metal tube 21 constituting a first electrode, and into which heavy water D20 is introduced via an injection pipe 22. The bottom of the tube comprises an axial rod 23 forming a second electrode, isolated from the tube by a sleeve appropriate insulator 24. The rod 23 is connected to a base plate 25, and the tube 21 and the base plate 25 are connected to the two armatures of a capacitor 26 selectively switched on by a switch 27, the closure of which goes producing the discharge in the heavy water droplet of the energy accumulated in this capacitor 26 and the corresponding ejection of this droplet from the tube 21 to the interior volume of the combustion chamber 10, via an opening 11.

 When the heavy water droplet reaches the center of the combustion chamber, a high voltage generator 30 is triggered so that a very high current flows through the heavy water droplet. The current in the heavy water droplet is chosen high enough for the Coulomb part of the Ampère force to create there a sufficient pressure to trigger the fusion reaction, possibly taking into account the concentration of titanium emulsion contained in the droplet .

 For pure heavy water (without activator), the calculation gives a necessary peak intensity of the order of 5.106 to 107 A. This value is certainly high, but since it must only be a peak value, there n It is not useful that the current is established for a very long time. This current could therefore result from the discharge of a capacitor bank forming a very high voltage source, since the discharge time of such batteries (which can typically be of the order of a few tens of nanoseconds) is much greater than triggering time of the fusion reaction (of the order of 103 s).

 Furthermore, since the current must pass through the combustion chamber to reach the heavy water droplet, it is necessary to create an arc, and the generation of the high current must therefore be carried out under very high voltage. Thus, for a combustion chamber of two meters in diameter in which a vacuum has been created, a minimum voltage of 6.106 V is necessary.

 Such voltage and current values can be obtained with known type Marx generators in which a capacitor bank is charged in parallel and discharged in series, so as to deliver a high voltage (typically, greater than 6.106 V).

 The generator 31 delivers this voltage between an anode 32 and a cathode 33 arranged at two diametrically opposite points of the combustion chamber 10 so that the discharge can pass through the droplet when the latter reaches the center of this combustion chamber.

 More precisely, the voltage wave produced by the discharge of the capacitors is initially applied to the cathode 33 in order to create a plasma there from which large current densities will then be easily extracted. In a second phase, the electrons are accelerated to an energy given to them by the voltage applied between the anode 32 and the cathode 33, which creates a plasma on the anode 32.

Finally, in a third phase, the two plasmas come together to create a conduction channel 34 which will enter the droplet of heavy water when it will pass through the center of the combustion chamber. The current passing in this conduction channel will create in the droplet the current allowing to start the fusion reaction in accordance with the theoretical explanations given above.

In order to reduce the erosion due to the neutrons and the gammas produced by the fusion, a spraying device is provided which temporarily creates a screen of a liquid L (typically water
H2O) between the explosion point (the center of the combustion chamber) and the wall.

 This spraying device is advantageously composed of a plurality of water arc cannons 40, similar in their structure to the water arc cannon 20, and serving to propel water nuclei at the time of passage of the current in the heavy water droplet, so as to come between the plasma and the wall of the combustion chamber.

 The operating commands of the water arc cannon 20 injecting the heavy water droplet and those of the water arc cannons 40 injecting the water screen must be suitably shifted in time so that the water screen interposed between the fusion plasma and the wall of the combustion chamber is homogeneous.

 The recovery of the energy released by the fusion reaction can be done in several ways.

 A first way is to recover the energy thermodynamically.

 In this regard, in addition to its role of protecting the walls of the combustion chamber, the water screen interposed between the fusion plasma and the wall of the combustion chamber can also serve to recover the energy produced, essentially consisting of fast neutrons and gammas. The interaction with these neutrons and these gammas will then create a colder plasma which will be usable without inducing any problem of excessive wear, for example in a heat exchanger of conventional structure.

 It will be noted that, because of the high temperature of the hot source (the water of the screen heated by the fusion reaction), it is possible to obtain an excellent thermodynamic yield.

 A second way of recovering the energy produced by the fusion reaction consists in using the high temperature of the plasma in the exhaust nozzle 13 to dissociate (with an extremely high yield) of water into hydrogen and oxygen, this dissociation being performed in an enclosure surrounding the exhaust nozzle. The hydrogen is then separated from the oxygen by standard industrial methods.

 A third way of recovering energy, which can also be combined with the thermodynamic path, consists in proceeding by magnetohydrodynamic path.

 One can then directly obtain electrical energy, in a manner known per se, from the plasma ejected at high speed, through an opening 12 diametrically opposite to the heavy water injection opening 11, in a nozzle. 13 (this high-speed plasma flow is symbolized by the arrow 14).

 One can even provide a device, illustrated schematically in Figure 4, for producing a pulsating alternating current.

 This device comprises two combustion chambers 10, 10 ′, placed opposite one another, into which heavy water D20 is injected alternately (each of these combustion chambers being provided with all the elements illustrated in FIG. 3, which have not been included in FIG. 4 for the sake of simplification).

 These two combustion chambers will alternately produce a high speed plasma which will be injected into a common central nozzle 13 via the respective openings 12, 12 ′, the effluents being recovered in a condenser 16 by a system of quick valves 15, 15 ′ and 17, 17 '. A secondary circuit 50 surrounding the nozzle 13 delivers the alternative electrical energy.

 The central nozzle can also be fed on each side by several combustion chambers in order to more easily obtain an alternative channel of usual frequency (50 or 60 Hz). Shifting the functioning of several similar devices over time can also make it possible to obtain polyphase electric generators.

Claims (16)

 1. A process for producing fusion energy from heavy water, characterized in that it consists in:  - eject a mass of heavy water,  produce an electric shock allowing to pass  in the heavy water thus ejected a current of intensity such that  the Coulomb part of the Ampère force developed at  within heavy water creates a pressure to trigger it  a fusion reaction, and  - recover the energy produced by this fusion reaction.  2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ejection of heavy water is carried out by an arc gun in water.  3. The process of claim 1, in which the heavy water is added with a fusion activator from the group comprising titanium and palladium.  4. The method of claim 1, wherein, before the initiation of the fusion reaction, a screen is formed around the ejected heavy water.  5. The method of claim 4, wherein the screen is a screen formed by injecting a liquid towards the point where the fusion of the ejected heavy water will start.  6. The method of claim 5, wherein the injection of the liquid is carried out by water cannons.  7. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy recovery is carried out thermodynamically, from the hot source formed by the plasma produced by the fusion reaction.  8. The method of claim 1, wherein the recovery of energy is carried out by magnetohydrodynamics, from the ejected plasma produced by the fusion reaction.  9. The method of claim 1, wherein the recovery of energy is carried out chemically, by dissociation of water into hydrogen and oxygen by the plasma produced by the fusion reaction.  10. A device for producing, by implementing the method of claims 1 to 9, fusion energy from heavy water, characterized in that it comprises:  - a combustion chamber (10),  - means for ejecting into this combustion chamber  a body of heavy water,  - means (30) for producing an electrical discharge per  putting to pass in heavy water thus ejected a neck  rant of intensity such as the Coulomb part of the force  Ampere developed in heavy water creates a pres  suitable for triggering a fusion reaction, and  - means to recover the energy produced by this reaction  tion of fusion.  11. The device of claim 10, wherein the means for ejecting the heavy water comprises a water arc gun (20).  12. The device of claim 10, further comprising means for forming, before the initiation of the fusion reaction, a screen around the ejected heavy water.  13. The device of claim 12, in which the means for forming the screen around the heavy water comprise means for injecting a liquid towards the point where the fusion of the ejected heavy water will start.  14. The device of claim 13, in which the means for injecting the liquid intended to form the screen comprise a plurality of water arc cannons (40) arranged at the periphery of the combustion chamber.  15. The device of claim 10, in which the means (30) for producing the electric discharge making it possible to pass a current through the ejected heavy water comprises means for producing an arc by applying a high voltage between two electrodes (32, 33) arranged in the enclosure on either side of the point where the fusion of the ejected heavy water must be initiated.  16. A device for producing, by implementing the method of claim 8, fusion energy from heavy water in the form of an alternating current, characterized in that it comprises:  - two combustion chambers (10,10 '), arranged opposite  on either side of a common exhaust nozzle (13),  - means for ejecting alternately, in each of these  combustion chambers, a body of heavy water,  means for producing, in each of these chambers,  combustion, an electrical discharge making it possible not to  be in the heavy water thus ejected a current of intensity such  that the Coulomb part of the Ampere force developed  within the heavy water creates a pressure to trigger it  a fusion reaction, and  - means to recover by magnetohydrodynamics  the energy produced by this fusion reaction, these means  comprising a secondary circuit (50) surrounding the nozzle  common exhaust, so as to collect at the terminals  of this circuit a voltage pulsed at the rate at which alter  in the two combustion chambers, the ejection of  heavy water and heavy water discharge production  ejected.