Clint Seward (Electron Power Systems)

Clint Seward discovered the self-stable plasma toroid in 1985, initially calling it the Electron Spiral Toroid (EST). He founded Electron Power Systems (EPS) in Acton, Massachusetts to develop the technology. The first patent was issued in 1992 (US5773919A). NASA provided initial research funding in 1995. In 1996, the Army Research Laboratory had ten scientists review the theory and agreed the EST is a potential energy storage breakthrough. Based on this recommendation, the Army Research Office funded a project for MIT to study the stability and energy loss of the EST in 1996. The BMDO STTR contract (with DTRA as technical representative) continued the study. Seward received a NASA NIAC Phase I grant in 1999 for ESTS propulsion applications. He published the key experimental results in IEEE Access in March 2014, demonstrating 600+ ms stability in partial atmosphere with no external toroidal magnetic field confinement. A continuation patent (US10201070) was filed in 2012-2013 and issued in 2019. Seward's son, D.C. Seward, helped develop the technology over ten years. Dr. Chen and Dr. Temkin of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center worked with EPS to validate the physics.