Belgian Fusor build

[stevenvanruijssevelt]

Hi all

It has been a long time sinds i have posted an update on my fusor project, that doesn't mean a haven't been searching the forum.

Vacuum:

Using a 6 inch cylindrical chamber with two cf dn 40 port, one cf dn 63 port and one cf dn 100 port plus an nice big vieuwport. A dual stage vacuum pump as a backing pump that gets me to 38 mtorr as a backing pump for my csv diffusion pump that gets me to 0.00 mTorr ( maxed my kurt j lesker pirani vacuum gauge). Used cf copper gaskets on every flange. I have a varian angle valve for controlliing the vacuum. Custom made cf flange and gasket for the diff pump due to the odd size of it.


High voltage

I am using the 60 kv chinese precipator power supply witch so for got me to about 22 kv 5 mA. measurements done with a analog mA gauge and a 40 kv high voltage probe. Grid made of thungsten wire in different sizes and shapes. home made high voltage feedtrough.

Deuterium source

making my own deuter gas with a pem cell. Sending it true a dryer to a small reservoir that i can use during runs.




Currently working on neutron detecion



thats it for now! thanks guys

[Richard Hull]

Great work Steven!! Looks like you have been busy and have all the materials needed to do fusion. I have added your name to the Plasma club listing.
I wish you all the best in getting your system to produce fusion. The big hurdle of gas production and getting a reliable neutron detector lay ahead.

Richard Hull

[stevenvanruijssevelt]

thanks Richard

I hope to do fusion in my fusor this year if i find some time to finish it. The Russian neutron tube i bought was damaged in transport. It is chrushed on one end. so i have to find a new one.

One other thing i need to adress is the shielding! getting 50 to a 100 miliroentgen in front of my huge vieuwport. bought some lead and a gopro for monitoring.

I have been on a trip to TUE in the netherlands last month. They have a Fusion masterclass at the University of eindhoven. A short meeting with the professor endend up in a whole day playing in there labs. Had a absolute blast there. The main fusor they had is a 120 kV spherical fusor 600 mm diamether. And all sorts of other plasma related setups.

Got some thin thungsten wire and a sort of plastic squares that can be used for neutron detection. After exposing them to a neutron source u can see neutron traces after etching the plastic. Never seen this type of neutron detection before!

some images from my visit and the "loot" of the day.

[Richard Hull]

Wow, the fusor is in a number of university labs! That fusor is very fabulous! It is of a size and construction that will allow many advanced ideas in a teaching and laboratory experimental situations to fascinate and inspire students. I can't express my joy in seeing that big universities all around are building fusors in their nuclear physics departments and thank you for sharing with all at fusor.net the images from your visit to their lab.

I can see that you are not only good at taking and focusing your images, but had enough experience with a fusor setup to know just which images to post so that all here might see the entire system in stages.

I was really impressed with that ladder array. Was that the ballast for the supply!!?

I note on the NIM bin photo that they have the start up and shut down sequence procedure printed out. A good idea. Such things are critical in a multi-user environment.

I also noted the lapped over lead sheeting on the big sphere for x-ray protection.

They have a lot of other plasma and magnetic systems for experimental work as well. The gauge of the wire to the magnets tell me they really gobble up a lot of electrical power. But, if you want the Gauss, you have to pay for every field line when creating them electrically.

Richard Hull

[John Futter]

Steven
Check out the history on this site
I posted an experiment I did about tens years ago on damage tracks in polycarbonate plastic from neutrons
I think I used ethyl alchohol to develope the tracks afterward.
youstill have to use a moderator to thermalise the nuetrons iused wax blocks each side of ther plastic

[John Futter]

Steven
Check out the history on this site
I posted an experiment I did about tens years ago on damage tracks in polycarbonate plastic from neutrons
I think I used ethyl alchohol to develope the tracks afterward.
youstill have to use a moderator to thermalise the nuetrons iused wax blocks each side of ther plastic

[stevenvanruijssevelt]

yes richard that was the balast for the 120 kv power supply. We only tested with argon gas but pushed it well beyond 70 kV 50mA. It put on quite a show.

The fusor and all its necessities where to heavy for us to stand around it with more then two persons. mainly because the shielding was quit heavy.

We learned about the electron beam vs normal iec fusion differences and talked about grid shapes in cylindrical fusors. A cylindrical fusor should get a greater amount of neutrons with a cylindrical grid according the professor. So i will put this to te test once i get things going. Also talked about neutron detection true neutron interacting with a boron partical and giving of an alfa which we can detect and other detection methods. Pachen's law, spectroscopy...

Sadly they have to downsize the class for a unnown reasen (probabely because the budget is spend on iter and the netherlands also have differ for testing parts for iter. which are expensive costs for small country's).

I had a very educational day. got all the info i need to finish my project.

[stevenvanruijssevelt]

thanks john

i will take a look at that. Maybe i will give it a try and make a litlle report on the outcome. the guys from Eindhoven had u couple of used one's and you could see the tracks.

[John Futter]

Found it
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5974

also this migfht be an option
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6064&hilit=silver#p34508

[stevenvanruijssevelt]

when i have reliable neutron detection i will compare it to the results with the squares. This is maybe a"easyer" an cheaper way of detecting neutrons. And they can be used after years of storage aswell. Which can not be said about bubble detectors.