Power the Core of a Star: Enabling Economically Viable Fusion

The core magnet of a levitated dipole reactor floats in a vacuum, detached from any support or external systems, meaning it must carry all the components that make its operation possible. For any power plant, regular and prolonged down-time is a killer, but especially so for baseload power.

LDX and RT-1 made critical advances in developing the underlying science, but the key challenge remained: how do you keep the core magnet cold and energised during operation in a dipole power plant?

OpenStar has patented technologies that solve both of these problems:

A ‘flux pump’ is a superconducting power supply technology that is incorporated into the core magnet structure. It keeps the magnet charged during operation, overcoming small losses of energy that build up over time.

A cryogenic ‘slushy’ housed in a reservoir onboard the magnet keeps the magnet cold during operation. This reduces the time spent cooling down the magnet and enables a high duty cycle for the overall plant.

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Core Ideas

OpenStar has developed key technologies for enabling our fusion reactors to operate competitively as a baseload power source.
‘Flux pump’ power supply technology keeps the magnet energised during operation.
Cryogenic ‘slushy’ keeps the magnet cold.

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In Detail

OpenStar’s core magnet is powered by a superconducting transformer-rectifier power supply, colloquially referred to as ‘flux pump'. Our magnets use high-temperature superconducting (HTS) material, which allows us to construct incredibly strong magnets. While HTS magnets have an extremely low electrical resistance, they still have some electrical resistance due to joins in different lengths of the tape. This means that as the magnet operates, the small amount of electrical resistance causes the magnet to lose energy over time.

The flux pump is able to provide enough power to the magnet to overcome this resistance, and enables the core magnet to remain energised during operation.

Another key innovation developed by OpenStar is the use of a cryogenic solid-liquid solution, or ‘slushy’. For operation, the magnet is cooled down to just below 30 kelvin (-240°C) - as it levitates and supports plasma, the magnet absorbs heat from the fusion reactions and needs to be re-cooled periodically. Thermal cycling, when an object goes through continuous cycles of heating and cooling, is a concern as it can cause damage over time – minimising thermal cycling is critical. Additionally, the shorter amount of time it takes to re-cool the magnet means the reactor can be operating for a greater proportion of time.

The cryogenic ‘slushy’ enables a rapid docking procedure, where used slushy is pumped out of reservoir channels, and new slushy is quickly pumped right back in, reducing thermal fatigue by providing a constant temperature thermal sink, and keeping reactor downtime to a minimum.

Power the Core of a Star: Enabling Economically Viable Fusion

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