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Continuous cryopump for steady-state Mirror Fusion Reactors (open access)

Continuous cryopump for steady-state Mirror Fusion Reactors

The characteristics of Mirror Fusion Reactors, i.e., steady state operation, a low neutral gas density and a large gas throughput require unique vacuum pumping capabilities. One approach that appears to meet these requirements is a liquid helium cooled cryopump system in which a fixed portion can be isolated and degassed while the remainder continues to pump. The time to degas a rotating, fixed portion of the pumping area and the ratio of that area to the total area fixes the gas inventory in the chamber. It follows that the active pump area maintains the required neutral gas density and the time averaged degassing rate equals the gas throughput. We have built such a cryopump whereby the gas condensed (deuterium) on the liquid helium cooled panel can be transferred to a collector pump and subsequently to an exterior mechanical pump and exhausted. At panel loadings as high as .55 torr-litres/cm/sup 2/ the gas leakage during degassing is less than 8% and the degassing time is less than 10 minutes. Scaling to reactor size appears to be feasible.
Date: September 20, 1982
Creator: Batzer, T. H. & Call, W. R.
System: The UNT Digital Library