SBIR Phase I: Hypervelocity Gradient Field Fusion

Award ID: 2304408

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is a more rapid lower-cost development path to a commercially attractive highly modular fusion power plant. Although early stage in its conceptual development, this technology has the potential to leapfrog past current fuel cycle models to provide cheaper, advanced aneutronic fuel systems that reduce or eliminate neutron reaction products and may also eliminate the need for tritium. The abundance of fusion fuel from seawater could provide strategic energy security and economic security to the U.S. and allied nations by phasing out need for hostile foreign fossil fuel suppliers. The commercial impact of this project includes grid based clean fusion energy is literally could extend to a $T+ market if expanded to meet global power demand, with a market pull driven by the need for clean abundant inexpensive energy. This technology will support a wide range of science and engineering jobs, and manufacturing jobs in both the energy and aerospace industries. This project will perform computational modeling and analytical calculations to show scientific and engineering feasibility prior to a focused follow-on experimental development program. This SBIR Phase 1 project proposes to research and develop a new, simpler, and cheaper approach to fusion energy for grid based electric power. In this approach, a small fusion fuel capsule is accelerated to 10 km/s and injected into the throat of a strong magnetic field coil where it is symmetrically crushed to ignite and burn the gaseous fusion fuel contained within. While conceptually appealing and straightforward, some key components are partially unproven and require extensive research to show feasibility. First, the fuel capsule implosion and resulting fusion burn are not yet studied in sufficient detail to understand the potential plasma physics problems, including plasma-wall interactions, end losses, preheat, and overall energy yield and gain. Second, the novel railgun design needs development with a plasma armature and distributed power input using mass-produced moderate voltage capacitors and solid-state switches in order to achieve the estimated 10 km/s required to induce fusion and long life-time components. Extensive computational modeling and analytical calculations and design will be performed to de-risk the concept and establish a point design for a Phase 2 experimental validation of the concept. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Mara E. Schindelholz