A Novel Approach to Fusion
Electric Fusion Systems has a novel patent-pending approach to hot fusion that is simple, portable, energy-efficient and has the lowest physics risk. It’s aneutronic fusion, no neutrons, no radiation, safe, clean, and low cost.
Electric fusion uses a pulsed process, dancing between fusion and fizzle, while electrically extracting energy with every cycle. Just 0.04 liters of fuel can deliver 200-megawatt hours of electricity. No need to make steam for a gas turbine to generate electricity; electric fusion is inductively coupled to power transformer coils that generate power directly for the grid. Our liquid metal fuel is ultra-dense, more conductive than mercury, and when triggered with an electrical arc fusion occurs. The electric arc impacts the fusion fuel bursting it into plasma and in the presence of alpha sources and triggers a fusion chain reaction until it fizzles out. It is aneutronic fusion.
Our Fusion Fuel is the Key Ingredient
In short, lithium-ammonia has weird properties. Remarkably, in going from a dilute to a concentrated regime, the overall density of the fuel is found to decrease by about 30% by changing its molecular bonding into a tight tetrahedral structure. It also exhibits electron tunneling that lowers the coulomb barrier. Finally, the valence electrons of Li(NH3)4 are in a Rydberg-like state where the odd electron is at a higher quantum number (orbital) whose main density lies quite far outside the hydrogen atoms on ammonia.
A New Direction
Electric Fusion’s technology is a different approach to fusion. Our designs are cyclical, using a conductive metallic dense fuel, external alpha sources to catalyze the fusion process, and finally electric current to push massive amounts of electrons through the fuel to ensure fusion. This is possible because of the conductivity of the fuel-plasma, its Rydberg like atoms and the electron screening that lowers the coulomb barrier to improve fusion probabilities.
In our roller-bag sized electric fusion generator, delivering kilowatts we use the above fuel and process in a sealed cartridge with a specialized switching power supply that controls the rate of fusion reactions and power output level. You might think of it as an electrical transformer, but instead of an iron core it has a fusion driven plasma core electrical transformer.
What’s important to know about Rydberg atoms are their peculiar properties including an exaggerated response to electric and magnetic fields all of which helps our fusion design approach.