Steam-powered piston system sparks nuclear fusion plasma in Canada (interestingengineering.com)

submitted 3 months ago by otter@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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Learned about it from this post: https://lemmy.ca/post/40592484

In a global first, Richmond, Canada-headquartered fusion energy company General Fusion achieved the first-ever plasma in a reactor driven by steam.

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[-] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Intriguing design idea.

I would have thought it was a fusion combustion engine.

But its more of a single piston creating a huge ton of heat, then the heat being used to generate electricity, which is then used to power the piston again.

Imagine how unstable a fusion combustion engine would be?

The premise would be that you'd have 3 pistons, each feeding a crank shaft connected to a generator.

You'd also have this underwater or some other coolant as to siphon the heat away, maybe add a turbine to the shaft to help move the liquid away from the pistons.

The first combustion either blows up everything, rips the shaft apart, or provides just enough force to force the next piston to combust.