Patents by Inventor Douglass E. Post, Jr.

Douglass E. Post, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • First wall for polarized fusion reactors
    Patent number: 4721595
    Abstract: Depolarization mechanisms arising from the recycling of the polarized fuel at the limiter and the first-wall of a fusion reactor are greater than those mechanisms in the plasma. Rapid depolarization of the plasma is prevented by providing a first-wall or first-wall coating formed of a low-Z, non-metallic material having a depolarization rate greater than 1 sec.sup.-1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1988
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Henry S. Greenside, Robert V. Budny, Douglass E. Post, Jr.
  • Use of .sup.3 He.sup.30 + ICRF minority heating to simulate alpha particle heating
    Patent number: 4584161
    Abstract: Neutron activation due to high levels of neutron production in a first heated deuterium-tritium plasma is substantially reduced by using Ion Cyclotron Resonance Frequency (ICRF) heating of energetic .sup.3 He.sup.++ ions in a second deuterium-.sup.3 He.sup.++ plasma which exhibit an energy distribution and density similar to that of alpha particles in fusion reactor experiments to simulate fusion alpha particle heating in the first plasma. The majority of the fast .sup.3 He.sup.++ ions and their slowing down spectrum can be studied using either a modulated hydrogen beam source for producing excited states of He.sup.+ in combination with spectrometers or double charge exchange with a high energy neutral lithium beam and charged particle detectors at the plasma edge. The maintenance problems thus associated with neutron activation are substantially reduced permitting energetic alpha particle behavior to be studied in near term large fusion experiments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 1983
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1986
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Douglass E. Post, Jr., David Q. Hwang, Jane Hovey
  • Nuclear diagnostic for fast alpha particles
    Patent number: H75
    Abstract: Measurement of the velocity distribution of confined energetic alpha particles resulting from deuterium-tritium fusion reactions in a magnetically contained plasma is provided. The fusion plasma is seeded with energetic boron neutrals for producing, by means of the reaction .sup.10 B (.alpha.,n) .sup.13 N reaction, radioactive nitrogen nuclei which are then collected by a probe. The radioactivity of the probe is then measured by conventional techniques in determining the energy distribution of the alpha particles in the plasma. In a preferred embodiment, diborane gas (B.sub.2 H.sub.6) is the source of the boron neutrals to produce .sup.13 N which decays almost exclusively by positron emission with a convenient half-life of 10 minutes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1986
    Assignee: The United States of America as respresented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Larry R. Grisham, Douglass E. Post, Jr., John M. Dawson