Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

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Richard Hull
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Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

I often report a long string of facts and figures for this warm up. It often takes as long as 12 days of conditioning to peak out fusor V operation. It is going well as I operate the fusor each day.

The first day, 9/15, I barely squeezed out 28,000 TIER! This was using a maximum pressure of 3.9 microns of D2 at 38kv with 11.8ma.
Yesterday, 9/19, I was up to 332,000 n/s TIER. This was at a pressure of 8.2 microns, 42kv at 12ma.

As usual, it is all about how much gas I can load up into the walls over time. I can usually load up to a point allowing a running pressure of 15 microns. While the anisotropic beaming with B.O.T is a factor, I figure the released loading and increased pressure allows for a good deal of velocity space fusion.

I used my new downgraded multiplier of 8.5 times my 3He one minute count. See this FAQ update at:

viewtopic.php?t=14303

The conditioning continues right up to the event 10 days from now on Friday evening gathering on the 30th.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Emma Black
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Emma Black »

It's very cool how predictable the conditioning seems to be, especially on the pressure side of things. Is each run effectively clearing out and replacing other gases that have been absorbed by the stainless steel with D2?
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

No. Before ever starting the first run back on the 15th, I used air, and via bombardment, heated the entire shell of the fusor to 130 degrees C. for about one hour using only the fore pump. This should have easily removed all the water and tramp gases. All the while, the TC gauge was at 8 microns with the baratron on the chamber itself reading 6 microns. No movement after about 10 minutes of the fore pump. Likewise, as the temperature hit 100 C I saw not pressure increase due to water vapor in the system.

After one hour I turned on the turbo and the pressure dropped in the chamber to the 10e-5 torr range. over the next 10 minutes, no more drop in pressure was noted on the baratrons. The fusor and all it lines were clear.

So again, no. Continued runs do not cook out more material. Wall loading of D2 is what is happening. All runs from the 15th until today were short time runs. I can go from the moment of start up to 10e-5 in the fusor within 7 minutes, on average! Total run time to maximum is less than 20 minutes with the fusor shell temp never exceeding 60 deg C. Then shutdown.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Emma Black
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Emma Black »

7 minutes, wow. With the massive diff pump here its a good 30 before anything even thinks about happening.

As always thank you for answering a slightly daft question - using an air and high temperature pre-run bake out makes sense. After reading the FAQ, I was unsure if the lattice inside the steel kept on liberating other stuff as D2 was very energetically forced in during fusion runs.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

Nice thought, but as the early runs load in D2, it is also knocked out. However it appears to be a net gain in D2 loading over time with my 6-inch sphere. I do note that at the end of a peak run which I snap off the fusor HV the pressure immediately rises a bit, especially after about the 5th day. Apparently, after shut down of the hot chamber, as it gets more fully loaded, some wall gas pops out due to thermal conditions.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Richard Hull
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

Run today 9/20 fusor V.... Time: No pumps on to 10e-5 then to 8.9 microns of D2 44kv @11.5ma in 8 minutes flat. Tier 455,600 n/s
At turn off 15 minutes after pumps on, fusor chamber temp 55 deg C.
Getting there......

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Richard Hull
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

Today 9/21: 10.3 microns D2, 43.8kv @12.1ma TIER 594,200 n/s Rhodium activated to 1106 cpm! I just wish I had a couple of square inches of the foil but that would now cost about $1900.

Note: the neutron background count over 10 minutes averaged 7.5 cpm the neutron count over one minute at maximum above was 69,900 cpm
The background for the GM counter for the rhodium activation taken over a 10 minute run was 51cpm.
Good increase as the days of conditioning go by.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Richard Hull
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

From this point on, now that fusor V is really tuning up well, just refer to this post for daily updates.
It is obvious from this data since the 15th, that the voltage and current mean absolutely nothing in my case as all peaks ended with around 40kv and 10+ma....It is all about the quantity of the fusion fuel, (pressure). It is a triad and all must be there in abundance.

All of us must have to have some minimum voltage to even detect fusion with some ease. 1micron of gas at 100kv and 2ma can do a decent amount of fusion. but more fuel and current at 100KV would do much more. Such is the case here. I had the voltage and the current from day one reducing my issue to simply more fuel.

I noted this before, but it is quite pronounced now. The other day when I cut power at peak operation, the pressure on the baratron instantly popped up by about 1.5 microns. Tonight it popped up by almost 3 microns from 11.1 to 14 microns.

9/22....42.4 kv....13ma...11.1 microns ..... TIER 705,600 n/s .......Rhodium activation 1392 cpm ..... 65 deg C. chamber temp
9/23....43.1.......13.8....12.5.................TIER 904,400 n/s ............................... 1513 cpm .....48
9/24....43.5.......14.3....13.2.................TIER 990,300 n/s ....Rhodium act. failed GM counter issues...69 deg C
9/25....41.7.......15.......14...................TIER 1,114,300 n/s..............................1789 cpm 51 deg C. MegaMark!

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
User avatar
Richard Hull
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Posts: 14992
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Re: Fusor V warmup for HEAS #33 demo

Post by Richard Hull »

The above mega mark report will be my last in this thread as I will now just station keep the fusor until Friday and Saturday, operating it each day at reduced levels just to keep it juiced and goosed until the event. I attach the excel graph of yesterdays Rhodium activation.

9/28/22 hit 1,251,200 TIER!

Richard Hull
Attachments
RhodiumActivation9-25-22.JPG
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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