Neutron Club Application - Ameen Aydan

[Ameen Aydan]

Hi all!

I'm excited to finally show my my results of my reactor. This culminates about 2.5 years and hundreds of hours of work since I first embarked on the challenge and I'm happy to say that I saw it through to the end. It's been an educational experience and I've learned a lot more than I first anticipated. I'm eager to show you all my results and the system I've worked hard on to perfect.

I'm also sorry about the long read...

Vacuum system:

It consists of a 6-way, 4.5" conflat cross. My backing pump is a two stage Alcatel 2002B. After plasma cleaning and putting a vacuum on it for about a week, I manage to pull 15 mTorr on my chamber after a few seconds. Afterwords, I use my TPU050 that bottoms out my MKS901P gauge (<10e-5 Torr). I said I had a bad bellow valve on my backing pump but I kept it anyway and the slight leak issue I mentioned in this post viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13592 never actually was an issue. The sapphire leak valve that i repaired was leaking slightly, so I fixed it by adding an o-ring that made a better seal with the plate. I also had an excessively dirty system because after I baked (with a torch) and cleaned the chamber with a low voltage plasma, the vacuum improved. I removed all the vacuum grease as was suggested and there are no connections that use viton seals. Everything is cooled with a fan setup.

Backing pump: Alcatel 2002B Two stage
High vac pump: Pfeiffer TPU050
Gauge: MKS901P with computer interface


Power supply:

As per this post viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13446, my power supply is a modified Xray transformer. It weighs over 300lb and can easily pump out over 100KV between the anode and cathode with 240V. I control it from a 6 metre distance and use a variac with a 10 amp fuse. Because the transformer is centre tapped and runs on 240V, I use a 500W voltage doubling transformer to double my 120v outlet. The variac is connected to a GFCI and when paired with the fuse and distance, the supply is as safe as I could get it to be. The power supply is grounded to the chamber and directly to the wall outlet.

I use a handmade feed through and so far it hasn't failed me up to 35kv. I haven't pushed it above that because I don't want to make more X-rays than necessary and my probe and wiring can't go above it. I use a bowl of canola oil on my feedthorugh to suppress corona, since that was becoming an excessive issue. I use a 40KV probe for voltage and a 10ohm 50 watt resistor for current measurement.

HV supply: Modified Xray transformer
Control: 10 amp Variac
Safety: GFCI and 10 amp fuse
Current and Voltage measure: 10 Ohm resistor & 40kv probe


Deuterium system:

I used Mark Rowley's idea of a syringe to store my gas and a PEM cell with pure heavy water to produce my gas. A repaired sapphire leak valve for my gas control and after practising with helium for a few days, I've managed to get my pressure in a good place during operation.

Neutron detection:

My setup uses a Ludlum model 12 and a moderated He3 proportional detector. The moderator is a HDPE and surrounds the tube, which is an LND 25185. The operating voltage is 1200v and it has gamma rejection. The detector came calibrated using a 241AmBe source (12Mev neutron source). This detector reads in uSv/hr but still makes click noises. I get an average background count of 1.3 cpm (over 5 min.) when listening to those ticks. The detector is placed about 16cm from the chamber. I currently have no X-ray detectors setup. Here it is:

Here is a full look at the set up:

Current, Voltage, Pressure (on screen), Temperature (top right) and Neutrons

Keeping my distance. View of plasma is on computer screen on the cooler

Operation:

This took a couple days and many hours to get right. I noticed many things and Richards FAQ's were very helpful in this aspect. First off, getting the pressure right so the voltage and current could be at the proper level was difficult. One important note was the more I opened my bellow valve, the more I could increase the pressure while maintaining proper power and getting more neutrons. Another was the current draw; In that I blew around 8 fuses while getting adjusted. Afterwords, I noticed that my pressure would increase up to 3 mTorr after running for 15 seconds. This is was obviously the walls being cleaning out. It was only after a few days that I noticed this problem subsiding. Finally, I manged to reach optimal running conditions and achieved a good plasma. Here is my best results:

Best run:

This is where I had the best numbers yet and the most stable operation. I first filled three 10 ml syringe full of deuterium and proceeded to find a good operating pressure. When I started admitting gas, I was only getting around 6 mTorr for stable power input and blew a fuse trying to light my plasma at 28KV. I also wasn't getting many neutrons and too little current (1-3 mA), so I opened up the bellow valve more and brought the pressure up to around 9 mTorr. The plasma at this pressure wasn't lighting, even at 30KV, so brought the pressure to about 15 mTorr and noticed that now my current was way too high and the grid had started glowing brightly. Eventually, I found 11.5 mTorr gave me the best voltage and current. I quickly swapped out my empty syringe and began counting. I was wasting about 2.5ml per minute so I had to go fast. That's when I lit the plasma at 24kv and recorded the following operation notes, with the help of my friend. I ran the fusor till I had no more gas left in the syringe.

Time: 1 minute 16 seconds
Pressure: 11.5 mTorr (stable)
Voltage: 31KV (between 29KV and 32 KV range)
Current: 10mA (between 8mA and 11mA range)
Temperature: 87.2 degrees C
Neutrons detected: 21 uSv/hr

This was my best run. I got about 21uSv/hr

Here are other photos of the detector in that operation:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

This is a photo of the grid. I can't seem to see the poissor but I believe that's because the mesh screen was making the photo unclear. In any case you can clearly see the star I was producing and I think it just looks amazing.

Myself and my system:

That has concluded a long journey and I'm happy to finally have the privilege to say that I fused an atom. I made this system not just as a fusion reactor but for many high vacuum experiments to come. I still plan to contribute some amount of research to this forum in my free time and I'll do my best to optimize the system as well as find a use for these neutrons. In my opinion, this experience has just begun and I think I've proven I'm worthy to take that long hike up that high mountain.

Hope you enjoyed the read!
Ameen Aydan

[Quaid Hawkins]

Wow great work! I can't confirm or deny your results but it's impressive nonetheless. I'm glad the neutron detector came in and worked without too many hitches.

Do you have any numbers with and without the moderator?

Will you try and improve the system or leave it at that and move on to other projects?

Cheers,
Quaid

[Richard Hull]

He has a rem ball. The white sphere.

Ameen you are now in the neutron club. Thanks for the fine images and data. You system is a good example of what can be done by slow stepping your way through each system victory.

Richard Hull

[Ameen Aydan]

Hi all,

Sorry about the late reply! I've been distracted by my school work and other personal projects.

Thank you guys so much for all the help over the years I spent building this. It's taken much more than sleepless nights and hard days at work to get this project finally done. Obviously, this hard work won't be lost to nothing. I am planning other project, although not fusor related. Possibly a linear accelerator or an ion source. This system was designed without the thought of vacuum conductance and other important perimeters in mind. As of yet, I'm still thinking of what I can do to improve the pumping speed and possibly using a titanium grid to improve the neutron output.

Right as of now, I'm constrained with time and money. I have university to look forward to and where I live grade 12 is the year that counts the most, or at all for that matter. I don't think any system improvements will be made until my next big break, money and time wise.

Another focus I've had was using the project to launch a youtube channel. I love educating and I know how to whip up an entertaining yet informative video. Even in my classes, I always resorted to making videos rather than a poster or PowerPoint.

As of now, the future is unknown. But just so that Mr. Hull isn't disappointed, I can confirm that this isn't my final endeavour on these forums or with this fusor. I will do my best to help others with the insight I've gained over the years and try to contribute to this amateur effort as much as possible.

Happy Fusing!
Ameen Aydan