GB874500A - Improvements in apparatus for generating thermo-nuclear energy by fusion of atom nuclei - Google Patents

Abstract

874,500. Nuclear fusion reactors. LEHNERT, P. B. Dec. 16, 1959 [Dec. 18, 1958], No. 42834/59. Class 39(4). A thermonuclear reactor comprises a container in which a ring-shaped conductor is positioned, means for energizing the conductor to build up round it a toroidal magnetic field forming a confining field for a plasma, means for generating a second magnetic field superimposed on the first magnetic field to produce a net toroidal field surrounding the conductor and having helical field lines, and means for varying the intensities of the two magnetic fields. In Fig. 1 the ring shaped conductor 1 is energized by a heavy current and is sur rounded by a toroidal coil 2; the combined magnetic fields produce a confining volume for a plasma P. An ion source 4 is arranged at the outside of the confining volume and by reducing the field strengths during injection the confining volume can be contracted so that plasma particles after moving one turn round the toroid pass inside the ion source. In an alternate arrangement, Fig. 3 (not shown), the coil 2 is replaced by one or more conductors passing through the centre of the ring 1 in a plane at right angles to the plane of the ring. The ion source 4 may be placed on the inside of the confining volume and the magnetic fields are then increased during the injection of ions.