Method and apparatus for the formation of a spheromak plasma
- Princeton, NJ
- Lawrenceville, NJ
An inductive method and apparatus for forming detached spheromak plasma using a thin-walled metal toroidal ring, with external current leads and internal poloidal and toroidal field coils located inside a vacuum chamber filled with low density hydrogen gas and an external axial field generating coil. The presence of a current in the poloidal field coils, and an externally generated axial field sets up the initial poloidal field configuration in which the field is strongest toward the major axis of the toroid. The internal toroidal-field-generating coil is then pulsed on, ionizing the gas and inducing poloidal current and toroidal magnetic field into the plasma region in the sleeve exterior to and adjacent to the ring and causing the plasma to expand away from the ring and toward the major axis. Next the current in the poloidal field coils in the ring is reversed. This induces toroidal current into the plasma and causes the poloidal magnetic field lines to reconnect. The reconnection continues until substantially all of the plasma is formed in a separated spheromak configuration held in equilibrium by the initial external field.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ
- DOE Contract Number:
- EY-76-C-02-3073
- Assignee:
- United States of America as represented by United States (Washington, DC)
- Patent Number(s):
- US 4436691
- OSTI ID:
- 864912
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Method and apparatus for the formation of a spheromak plasma
Method and apparatus for the formation of a spheromak plasma
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