Download or read book Fusion Neutron Production Using Deuterium Fuel in an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Device at 10 to 200 Kilovolts written by Aaron N. Fancher and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work details the advancement and understanding of fusion neutron generation capabilities using a deuterium fueled spherical gridded inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device operating up to 200 kV at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The goal of this work was to extend the experimental and theoretical understanding of gridded IEC operations to previously unachieved 200 kV cathode operation and to investigate long term trends in the neutron production rate performance. To support this experimental investigation, hardware with the capability to reliably sustain 200 kV operation was successfully developed by constructing a resistively divided 2-stage high voltage vacuum feedthrough. Repeated measurements of the neutron production rate under fixed experimental conditions were performed over the span of 100 operational runs, which showed an upward trend in the neutron production rate performance. An investigation into the impact of impurity gas in the chamber during operation showed the reduction of impurity gas in the system and an increase in neutron production rate are correlated. An estimation of the neutron production rate increase over these runs due to embedded fusion reactions in the chamber wall showed a fuel density build up near the surface by the implantation of fast neutral deuterium particles leaving the system can plausibly account for the upward trend in neutron production rate measurements. Parametric studies measured the neutron production rate with variations in the device cathode voltage (10-200 kV), cathode current (30-100 mA) and chamber pressure (0.2-1.7 mTorr D2), and comparisons with a theoretical model are made. The results of this study showed the neutron production rate scales linearly with current as expected with a beam-target fusion regime and scales in a complex manner with voltage and pressure. Comparisons made to a theoretical model of the neutron production rate using an integral transport code showed the absolute neutron production rate prediction by the model is a factor of 7.8 lower than experimental measurements. A new record for steady-state D-D neutron production rate of 3.8x108 neutrons/s has been achieved in a gridded IEC device at a cathode voltage of 200 kV, cathode current of 100 mA, and chamber pressure of 1.0 mTorr D2.