The United States of America As Represented by the United States

Stephen C Jardin

Masaaki Yamada

Harold P Furth

Thomas H Stix

Alan C Janos

Uffe R Christensen

Janardhan Manickam

Ray C Grimm, Deceased

Morrell S Chance

Mitcheo Okabayashi

Michio Okabayashi

The inductively formed spheromak plasma can be maintained in a highly stable and controlled fashion. Steady-state operation is obtained by forming the plasma in the linked mode, then oscillating the poloidal and toroidal fields such that they have different phases. Preferably, the poloidal and magnetic fields are 90.degree. out of phase.

Steady-state inductive spheromak operation

For toroidal magnetic confinement devices the second region of stability against ballooning modes can be accessed with controlled operation. Under certain modes of operation, the first and second stability regions may be joined together. Accessing the second region of stability is accomplished by forming a bean-shaped plasma and increasing the indentation until a critical value of indentation is reached. A pusher coil, located at the inner-major-radius side of the device, is engaged to form a bean-shaped poloidal cross-section in the plasma.

System and method of operating toroidal magnetic confinement devices

This invention relates to passive conducting loops for stabilizing a plasma ring against unstable tilting and/or shifting modes. To this end, for example, plasma ring in a spheromak is stabilized by a set of four figure-8 shaped loops having one pair on one side of the plasma and one pair on the other side with each pair comprising two loops whose axes are transverse to each other.

Stabilizing windings for tilting and shifting modes

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.

Method and apparatus for the formation of a spheromak plasma

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Princeton, NJ, United States of America

Stephen C Jardin