ENN Fusion Technology Overview Minsheng Liu (刘敏胜), July 12, 2022 Hebei Key Laboratory of Compact Fusion, Langfang, China ENN Fusion Technology R&D Center (ENN-FTRC) Established in 1989, ENN Group is a Chinese conglomerate committed to establishing modern energy systems and improving quality of life. - Employees: 40,000+ - 4 Publicly Traded Companies: * ENN Energy Holdings 新奥能源 (02688.HK) * ENN Ecological Holdings 新奥股份 (600803.SH) * ENC Digital Technology 新智认知 (603869.SH) * Tibet Tourism 西藏旅游 (600749.SH) - 3 In-House Institutes: * Energy Research Institute * Digital Research Institute * Institute of Life S&T The ENN Energy Research Institute is ENN's innovation engine that is committed to addressing humanity's energy challenges. - Team: 500+ Researchers - Partners: MIT, UCLA, University of Tokyo, Tsinghua University, Peking University, ... - Innovation Platform: State Key Laboratory for Coal-based Low Carbon Energy, Hebei Key Laboratory of Compact Fusion, International Scientific and Technological Collaboration Base, Post-Doctoral and Academician Work Station, ... - Intellectual Properties: Issued Patents 1600+, Utility Patents 800+ To Embrace a Carbon-free Future with Disruptive Innovations Technologies of Low-carbon and Carbon-free Energy: - Low-carbon Energy (3-10 years): * Clean Coal Gasification: Catalytic Coal Gasification, Coal Hydrogasification, Pulverized-coal and Slurry Gasification, Chemical Looping Gasification. * Deep Geothermal Energy: Geothermal Exploration, Low-cost Drilling, Geothermal Reservoir Stimulation, Power Generation via Super Hot Rock. - Carbon-free Energy (10-30 years): * Advanced Energy Materials: Superconductive Materials, Fusion Materials, Cathode Materials, Thermoelectric Materials. * Compact Fusion: Cost-effective Fusion Research, Ion-Direct Power Generation Experiment, Compact Fusion Device Development. ENN Fusion Core Concepts: - Compact & Simplified (Spherical Tokamak) - Clean: Aneutronic, Tritium-free (p-11B reaction: Proton + Boron-11 -> 3 Alpha particles/Helium) - Low Unit Cost & Mass Produced - Phase I: Screening & evaluation (2-4 yrs, 2018-2022) [Conduct Scientific Feasibility Study] * Create technology roadmap * Investigate confinement concepts * Conduct experiments on small and medium-sized fusion devices * Build a multidisciplinary team * Identify key technical problems - Phase II: Physics validation (10-12 yrs) [Address Engineering Challenges] * Theory validation on experimental platforms * Develop key skills * Collaborate with experts around the world to solve challenging technical problems - Phase III: Project demonstration (5-8 yrs) [Address Engineering Challenges] * Continue to tackle technical issues * Develop power generation solutions - Phase IV: Industrial Demonstration (5-8 yrs) [Improve Cost Effectiveness] * Achieve cost-effective power generation Fusion Routes: - Fusion Fuels: D-T Fusion, D-He3 Fusion, P-11B Fusion. - Approaches: * Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF): Stellarator (W7-X, LHD), Tokamak [Conventional Tokamak (ITER, JET, DIII-D, EAST, HL-2M), Spherical Tokamak (NSTX, MAST, EXL/玄龙, High Field Low Aspect Ratio Tokamak TE/STEP)], FRC, Magnetic Mirror. * Magnetic Inertial Confinement Fusion (MICF) * Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) * Gravity Confinement Fusion - Research Focus to Increase fusion triple product n*tau*T and Lower the ignition threshold for p-11B fusion reaction: * Measurement of p-B cross sections * Triggering an avalanche reaction * Energy deposition by alpha particles ENN has designed and built the first medium-scale Spherical Tokamak experimental device EXL-50. On August 8, 2019, the first solenoid-free plasma discharge was produced on EXL-50. Parameters & Technical Goals: - Plasma Current Ip: 500 kA - Toroidal Field BT: 0.46 T - Major Radius R: 0.58 m - Minor Radius a: 0.41 m - Elongation k: 1.8-2.2 - Triangularity delta: 0.1-0.4 - Plasma Density: 10^19 m^-3 - Ion Temperature Ti: 1 keV - Pulse Length td: 5 s In-vessel improvements: plasma facing component, ICRF antennae, ECRH mirrors, closed LSN divertor, and a number of diagnostics internal components. Key sub-systems on-site: - ECRH Gyrotrons - LHW - 13.56 MHz ICRH - 3-26 MHz ICRH - XCS, EUV, VUV - AXUV - TS Laser Room & TS Collector Lens - Movable Probe Components of the in-vessel wall: - Tungsten-coated upper-plate - Tungsten-coated divertor - Tungsten-coated limiter - Pure tungsten limiter - Tungsten-coated column Toroidal Field Coils Parameters: - Turn: 12 - Current: 100 kA - Magnetic field: 0.41 T (at R=0.58m) - Materials: CuZr, CuAg - Weight: 13 t - Cooling: water - Ripple: <1.6% (at R=1.51m) - Temperature rise: 70 °C - Pulse flattop time: 5 s Poloidal Field Coils Parameters: - PF1 / PF2: R = 1.908 m, Z = ±0.963 m, dR = 0.147 m, dZ = 0.224 m, Turns = 22, Current = 17.3 kA - PF3 / PF4: R = 1.335 m, Z = ±2.107 m, dR = 0.147 m, dZ = 0.224 m, Turns = 22, Current = 17.3 kA - PF5 / PF6: R = 0.445 m, Z = ±2.107 m, dR = 0.147 m, dZ = 0.224 m, Turns = 22, Current = 17.3 kA Divertor target plate structure. - The 2.45GHz/15kW RF system produced the first plasma in 2019 and then was used for discharge cleaning, ECR boronization, and pre-ionization at full field. - Now the 2.45GHz/200kW RF heating system is used as Lower Hybrid Current Drive System. - The ECRH system is used for plasma start-up, heating and current drive. - The EXL-50 device will be equipped with one 28GHz/50kW/30s system, four 28GHz/400kW/5s systems and one 50GHz/500kW/2s system by the end of 2022, when the total gyrotron output power is expected to reach 2.9 MW. - The installed systems have delivered up to ~500kW/3s. - One equatorial, three upper and two top launchers have been equipped for flexible position and injection angle control. - A 50GHz ECRH system is being prepared to produce high density discharge, thus overcome the cut-off density of 28GHz (9.7x10^18/m^3) ECW. - Architecture: HVPS / Secondary PS / Control Sys / Protection Sys / Measurement Sys / Vacuum Sys / Water Cooling -> Gyrotron -> Transmission Line -> Antenna -> Plasma. A 13.56MHz/40kW system with one 40kW solid-state generator and a 3-26MHz/100kW system with a 100kW broadcast transmitter has been installed in the EXL-50. - 13.56MHz/40kW/5s ICRF system - 3~26MHz/100kW/5s ICRF system Main Parameters of 1.5MW NBI for EXL-50 Tokamak: - Ion source type: Multi-cusp bucket ion source - Number of grids: 3 - Number of ion sources: 2 - Acceleration parameters: 50kV/40A/5s - Beam Convergence angle: 2x3.2° - Grid convergence angle: 178° - Beam focal length: 5366 mm - Neutralization efficiency: >55% - Proton ratio: >70% - Pumping speed: 1x10^6 l/s - Residual ion deflection: magnetic deflection - Injection angle: 55.3° - Number of filaments: 16 Installed Diagnostics (Black) & Under Construction (Blue): - Langmuir probe (150°-S2-500) - Multi-channel Interferometer (150°-U-70&L-70) - Single-channel Microwave Interferometer, Transmitter & Stray EC Power Measurement, #3 (180°-S2-500) - Fast camera #1, Stray EC Power Measurement #2, Infrared Camera, Visible Spectrometer Array #2, H_alpha Arrays, VUV Spectrometer (120° ports) - Soft X-ray Array (90°-S2-500) - Visible Spectrometer Array #1, Stray EC Power Measurement #1, Color Camera, H_alpha Measurement, EUV Spectrometers (60°-S2-500) - Single-channel Microwave Interferometer Receiver, Stray EC Power Measurement #5, AXUV Arrays (330° ports) - X-ray Crystal Spectrometer (300°-S2-500) - Hard X-ray Array #1 & #2 (270°-S2-500) - Fast camera #2, Thomson Scattering (240° ports) - Hard X-ray Array #3 (210°-L1-400) - Stray EC Power Measurement #4, Laser-driven Ion-beam Trace Probe (210°-S2-500) - Portable: 2-channel Hard X-ray Measurement, High-energy Hard X-ray Measurement - Plasma Current progress: Achieved transient 172 kA, quasi-stationary up to 150 kA using microwave systems. - Comparison with QUEST and EXL-50 experimental achievements across pulse duration and current levels. EFRC-0 (July 2018): - Uses Rotating Magnetic Fields (RMF) - Components: Divertor 1 & 2, Mirror 1-4, Vacuum systems 1 & 2, Chamber, RMF antenna FC coil, RF source, Control system. A New FRC Designed in 2020: EHL-1 (ENN He-long #1), a magnetized targeted fusion (MTF/MIF) approach based on field-reversed-configuration (FRC). - Device layout: ~20m long, consisting of Divertor, Formation, Acceleration / translation, Deceleration, and Merging / Liner compression stages. - A Liner Compression experiment without plasma was carried out in June, 2020. - Founding time: Feb. 2018 - Our people: Around 100 researchers with 40% holding PhD degree - Honor: Authorized as Hebei Key Laboratory of Compact Fusion - Promote an efficient and agile p-B fusion R&D effort, be a member of fusion community - Learning by doing, drawing from expertise in fusion, high-energy particles, laser, materials - Engage experts from schools, laboratories, industries, power companies, private enterprises - Partnering institutions include Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ASIPP, USTC, SIOM, IMP (CAS), and international institutions across the USA, UK, EU, Japan, Australia. - ENN Symposium on Compact Fusion Technologies (April 19-20, 2018 | Langfang, China, organized by ENN Energy Research Institute and Society of Nuclear Fusion and Plasma Physics, CPS) - Academic exchanges, conferences, and Open Day talent recruitment events ('聚英才 变未来'). 'Develop Fusion Energy, Benefit Mankind for Generations!' Group photograph of the ENN fusion engineering and research team in front of the EXL-50 device. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION Contact: Dr. Minsheng Liu ([email protected]) Vice President of ENN Energy Research Institute, Director of ENN Fusion Technology R&D Center