足夠的能量就能使原子進行核融合
When nuclei collide at high enough speeds to overpower their electrostatic repulsion, they can get close enough to be overcome by a stronger attractive force, called the strong nuclear force, and they snap together.
當原子核以足夠高的速度互相碰撞以克服它們的靜電排斥力時，他們就可以戰勝強核力的吸引力，並且融合在一起。
The denser the plasma, the more likely it is that nuclei will collide,the hotter the plasma, the faster the charged particles move, and the faster a particle is moving, the more kinetic energy it has.
等離子體越熱，帶電粒子運動越快，等離子體的密度越大，原子核間碰撞的可能性就越大，其動能就會越大。
When two light nuclei combine to form one heavier element, the reaction is known as nuclear fusion.
當兩個輕原子核結合成一個較重的元素時，這種反應稱為“核融合”。
核融合的三種技術
In fusion there’s three key groups of approaches:
在聚變中，有三組關鍵的方法：
- In “magnetic fusion”, the goal is to contain a very hot plasma in a steady magnetic field for a long time, until it ignites and forms a self propagating fusion reaction.
- 在“磁聚變”中，他的目標是要長時間穩定磁場中的高溫等離子體，直到它點燃並形成自蔓延融合反應。
- In “inertial confinement fusion”, it relies on achieving higher plasma densities, and fusion by rapidly compressing and heating tiny targets filled with fusion fuel , most often using high energy lasers, and each shot takes place in one billionth of a second.
- 在“慣性約束聚變”中，依賴於實現更高的等離子體密度，並通過快速壓縮和加熱充滿聚變燃料的微小目標來進行核融合，大多數情況下使用高能激光，且每次射擊都在十億分之一秒內發生。
- And there’s a third type of fusion called “Magneto inertial fusion” that takes both worlds, magnetically confine and contain a plasma like we do in our field reverse configuration , rather than trying to hold on to it for a very long time, you compress and heat it,add energy through compression.
- 還有第三種類型的聚變，稱為“磁慣性聚變”，他結合了其他兩個方法，使用磁場限制和維持等離子體，就像我們在FRC中所做的那樣，與其試圖長時間保持它，不如通過壓縮並加熱它來增加能量。
Helion目前的成就
- 2020年Helion第六代Trenta原型機已經完成超過一萬次的高能量脈衝。
- 長達 16 個月來幾乎每天都在運作。
- 第一家實現核融合設備電漿溫度達1億度的民間企業。
- 電漿維持1毫秒、壓縮場域大於10特斯拉(T)。
The Plasma Accelerator等離子加速器
Helion’s plasma accelerator raises fusion fuel to 100 million degrees,
Celsius and directly extracts electricity with high-efficiency pulsed approach。
Helion 的等離子加速器將聚變燃料提高到 1 億攝氏度，並以高效脈衝方式直接提取電能。
1.Formation形成
Deuterium and helium-fuel is heated to plasma conditions.
Magnets confine this plasma in a “Field Reversed Configuration(FRC)”.
聚變燃料的氘和氦，會透過加速器被加熱到等離子狀態。
而磁鐵會將這種等離子體限制在“場反向位形 (FRC)” 中。
The first stage of the process is “formation” , tiny amounts of Helion’s fusion fuels deuterium and helium-3 are injected as a gas into the formation chamber and superheated into a plasma using oscillating magnetic fields just like a microwave, Once the fusion fuels are in a state of plasma, it’s time to begin adding energy.
該過程的第一階段是”形成”，微量的 Helion 聚變燃料氘和氦-3以氣體形式注入形成室，並像微波一樣使用振盪磁場將其加熱成等離子體，一旦聚變燃料處於等離子體狀態，就可以開始增加能量了。
When Helion’s electromagnets fire, they induce an electric current that flows in a loop inside the donut of plasma, as the current flows around the plasma, it generates its own reversed magnetic field which wraps the plasma.
當Helion的電磁鐵啟動時，它們會感應出電流，該電流會在甜甜圈狀的等離子體內循環流動，當電流在等離子體周圍流動時，它就會產生自己的反向磁場來包裹等離子體。
The magnets invert the plasma’s magnetic field on itself into a toroidal structure called a “field reversed configuration”, in an FRC, “field reverse configuration”, you can actually compress, heat, move and translate that fusion fuel.
這種用磁鐵將等離子體自身磁場反轉為環形結構的過程，稱為“磁場反向位形FRC”，而在FRC中，你可以壓縮、加熱、移動和轉化這些聚變燃料。
In our systems, we have these electromagnets, that we run large currents, mega amps of current to compress and heat the fusion fuel,and to get that mega amps of current, we use capacitor banks.
在這個的系統中，我們用這些電磁鐵產生數兆安培的電流，來壓縮和加熱聚變燃料，而為了獲得兆安培的電流，我們使用電容器組來達成。
The capacitors are charged for a few seconds, storing electrical energy, and then in less than one thousandth of a second, that energy is discharged into electromagnets wrapped around the device.
當電容器充電幾秒鐘儲存電能後，會在不到千分之一秒的時間內，將能量釋放到包裹在設備周圍的電磁鐵中。
2.Acceleration加速度
Magnets accelerate two FRCs to 1 million mph from opposite ends of the 40-foot accelerator. They collide in the center.
( 1英尺=30.48公分；40英尺=1.219公尺；1英里=1.61公里)
磁鐵從一個 1 英尺的加速器兩端，將兩個FRC加速到 100萬英里/小時後，讓他們在中心互相碰撞。
After FRC’s are formed on both ends, magnets fire sequentially accelerating them toward each other at over 1 million miles per hour, So much like squeezing a toothpaste tube of toothpaste, it’s called “peristaltic acceleration” ,you increase the magnetic field behind the fusion fuel and it applies a pressure and that accelerates that plasma.
在兩端形成 FRC 後，磁鐵會以超過 100 萬英里/小時(161萬公里/小時)的速度向彼此加速，就像擠牙膏一樣，當尾端被推擠時，牙膏就會被噴出去，這現象又被稱為“蠕動加速”，你增加了聚變燃料後面的磁場，給它施加了一個壓力，從而加速了等離子體。
Electromagnets accelerate the FRC’s out of the initial injector system, into the main fusion compression chamber where they merge to become one large unified FRC, and so that they actually collide into each other superheating, converting all that kinetic energy, and all that directed velocity into heat into thermal energy, super heating the fusion fuel and getting it primed to begin compressing and getting fusion reactions out of it.
電磁鐵將兩端的 FRC 從初始噴射器系統加速，進入到主聚變壓縮室，在那裡它們會合併成一個大型的 FRC，因為他們高速相互碰撞，所以此時所有動能和加速度都會轉化為熱能，並準備好開始壓縮聚變燃料來從中進行融合反應。
3.Compression壓縮
When the FRCs collide in the center of the system, they are further compressed by a powerful magnetic field until they reach fusion temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius.
當 FRC 在中心碰撞時，它們會被強大的磁場再進一步壓縮，直到達到 1 億攝氏度的聚變溫度。
In the center of the device, the machine’s magnetic field is rapidly increased, compressing the plasma with a powerful force over 10 tesla, because field reverse configuration is high beta and high pressure, so every time you use a magnetic field, to compress and heat your Fusion fuel, the fuel pushes back on you, like squeezing a balloon。
在設備的中心，機器的磁場會迅速增強，因為 FRC 高壓高貝塔的條件下，會以超過 10 特斯拉的強大力量來壓縮等離子體，所以每次在使用磁場來壓縮和加熱聚變燃料時，燃料就會回推回去，有點像用手壓氣球的感覺一樣。
So as you compress that balloon, increasing temperature and pressure inside the balloon, it gets hotter, it gets more dense, and fusion starts.
所以當你壓縮那個氣球(離子體-電漿)，增加氣球內部的溫度和壓力時，它就會變得更熱，密度變得更大，然後融合開始。
4.Fusion融合
At this temperature, the deuterium and helium-3 ions are moving fast enough to overcome the forces that would otherwise keep them apart and they fuse. This releases more energy than is consumed by the fusion process. As new fusion energy is created, the plasma expands.
在這溫度下，會使 氘 和 氦-3 離子產生足以突破強核力的移動速度，讓原子間能夠分開彼此，過程中所釋放的能量會大於聚變所消耗的能量，且隨著聚變能的產生，等離子體會膨脹。
At 100 million degrees celsius, the deuterium and helium-3 atoms are moving fast enough,when they collide, they have enough energy to overcome their electrostatic repulsion and get close enough to fuse into Helium 4.
在 1 億攝氏度時，氘 和 氦-3 原子有足夠的動能，所以當它們碰撞時，它們有足夠的能量來克服它們的靜電排斥力並融合成 氦-4。
where you have this core that’s over 100 million degrees, and you can imagine any material next to that wall won’t survive, it will melt, But Fusion systems operate under a vacuum, and the fusion core is insulated from vacuum boundary, so the plasma doesn’t touch the wall.
核心那裡的溫度超過 1 億度，你可以想像任何材料在那裡面都會融化，但是呢~聚變系統是在真空下運行，因此聚變核心會透過真空邊界來與邊壁絕緣，所以離子體並不會接觸到牆壁。
5.Electricity Recapture電力回收
As the plasma expands, it pushes back on the magnetic field. By Faraday’s law, the change in field induces current, which is directly recaptured as electricity. This clean fusion electricity is used to power homes and communities, efficiently and affordably.
當等離子體膨脹時，他會順勢推向磁場兩端，根據 “法拉第定律”，磁場的變化會產生電流，而這些電流將會被直接轉化成電能，這種乾淨的核融合電力擁有高效且經濟的方式，能夠為家庭和社區來提供電力。
“在一個封閉線圈內，磁場的變化會產生感應電壓和感應電流”
All these fusion reactions within the plasma convert matter into new energy which strengthens the plasma’s magnetic field, as the plasma’s magnetic field gets stronger it pushes back on the magnetic field of the machine causing a change in the machine’s magnetic flux,this change in flux induces current in the machine’s coils which is directly recaptured as electricity and returned to the capacitors that originally charged the magnets aroundthe machine and delivered to the grid.
等離子體中的所有這些聚變反應會將物質轉化為新能量，從而增強了等離子體的磁場，隨著磁場變強，它會反推機器的磁場，導致機器的磁通量發生變化，而這種磁通量的變化會在機器的線圈中感應出電流，該電流會被直接重新捕獲為電力，並返回到最初為機器周圍電磁鐵充電的電容器，然後再輸送到電網使用。
So our goal is to compress and heat the fusion fuel right till it begins to ignite, and then turn it off, expand it, get that electricity out of the system, put in new fuel and repeat the process.
所以我們的目標是壓縮和加熱聚變燃料直到它開始點燃，接著關閉機器、讓反應物膨脹，再從系統中取出電力，放入新燃料並重複這個過程。
Unique-與其他人不同之處
The same way we’ve been doing it since the 1800’s . Using heat to generate steam, that spins a turbine connected to a generator. Other thermal power sources such as fossil fuels, geothermal, biofuels, and concentrated solar power all rely on basic electromagnetic induction to convert rotational energy into electricity.
自從 1800 年代以來大家一直使用一樣的方式來獲取能源，就是利用熱量產生蒸氣，再讓連接發電機的葉片渦輪機旋轉，例如化石燃料、地熱、生物燃料和太陽能，都是依靠基本的電磁感應將旋轉能轉化為電能。
Our method is , The change in flux induces current in the machine’s coils which is directly recaptured as electricity and returned to the capacitors that originally charged the magnets aroundthe machine.
而 Helion 的方法是，透過機器內磁通量變化所產生的感應電流，將該電流直接轉化為電力並返回到最初為機器周圍的磁鐵充電的電容器中。
Fast-核融合是一種快速產生能量的方法
The sun is earth’s largest source of energy.
太陽是地球上最大的能源。
Plants convert sunlight into chemical energy with photosynthesis, and we release it by burning fossil fuels.
植物通過光合作用將陽光轉化為化學能，而我們通過燃燒化石燃料釋放它。
“核聚變可以省略燃料轉變成可利用資源所需的時間過程”
Pulse system-脈衝系統
What a pulse system really enables us to do is to dial what we call a repetition rate,So I can change it, if you want to think about an engine, the RPM of that engine ,So that I can turn up or down the power depending on what is needed for the load.
脈衝系統最大的優點是可以調整重複速率，就像一台引擎轉速一樣，我們可以跟根據負載需求來調整功率。
Fuel-聚變燃料的生產
Although Deuterium is abundant on earth, but helium-3 is incredibly rare,So to get helium-3, one thing Helion has done is we have patented a process to take deuterium,which is found in all water on Earth, clean and safe, fuse that together to make helium-3,then take another deuterium fuse that together to make helium-4.
雖然 氘 在地球上儲量豐富，但是 氦-3 卻極為稀有，因此為了獲得 氦-3，Helion獲得了一項技術專利，透過提取地球上所有水中都存在的 氘，將其融合在一起來製造出 氦-3，然後再採用另一個氘當媒介一起製造 氦-4。
Measuring-怎麼測量這些數據?
Some of the most important things when we’re building these fusion systems,these fusion fuels over 100 million degrees is the diagnostics,How are you measuring what you’re actually creating?
當我們在建造這種聚變系統時，最重要的事情就是你要如何診斷這些聚變燃料是否有達到 1 億度，和那些融合出來的產物。
We inject an infrared laser into here,And as just like a index of refraction, because you put a straw in water and it bends the light as it passes through the water, so you can see a straw kind of bend,Same thing happens in a fusion plasma, where the laser passes through and it bends in the plasma and then we collect it, and by measuring the offset and by measuring the bend, we can measure how many particles that pass through in the process.
我們會利用注入紅外激光來測量偏移和彎曲率，就像折射率一樣，當你把一根吸管放在水里，所以你可以看到光線穿過水時，吸管會有點彎曲，同樣的事情也會發生在聚變等離子體中，透過收集這些數據，我們可以測量在這個過程中有多少粒子通過。
We have neutron detectors that measure any neutrons that are made,We have alpha particle detectors that directly measure the fusion particles, the charged particles that come off the fusion reaction.
對於測量聚變產物本身，我們有中子探測器來測量產生的任何中子，和能夠直接測量聚變粒子的阿爾法粒子探測器。
Future-擴展方向
Many experimental approaches to fusion necessitate large scale and high capital costs,And even though fusion scales really well, so as you go up in radius of the fusion system,you get tremendously more energy out, that’s great and the cost goes down,But the commercial practicality also goes down, So what we imagine is Gigafactories of fusion systems, small scale, where we can mass produce these at low cost and it ends up rather than building big giant one off, boutique fusion power plants.
許多聚變技術都需要大規模跟龐大的成本，雖然規模越大能夠獲得更多的能量，但是這也代表在商業實用性上也下降了，所以我們想做的是聚變系統的小型超級工廠，我們可以在那里以低成本大規模的量產這些系統，而不是建造一個一次性的龐大聚變發電廠。
The need for clean baseload electricity is huge,And we at Helion, don’t think fusion replaces renewable energy,It’s an addition.
對純淨電力的需求是巨大的，而 Helion 並不認為核聚變會取代可再生能源，而是一種補助。
Security-安全性
Fusion uses minute amounts of fuel at any given time, and you can immediately stop the reaction by cutting off the fuel supply.
他們在每次的補充都是使用微量燃料，所以你可以通過切斷燃料供應立即停止反應。
Challenges-核融合中面臨的挑戰
In fusion, we know how to heat a fusion fuel ,we know how to put energy in, and we’ve watched fusion reactions happen for a long time.
在核聚變中，我們知道如何加熱核融合燃料，我們知道如何輸入能量，而且我們已經觀察核融合反應很長一段時間了。
One of the biggest challenges is , you need to get more energy out than you put in.
真正的挑戰在於你需要獲得比輸入更多的能量。
- Helion expects that Polaris will demonstrate the production of net electricity by 2024. (第七代反應爐北極星（Polaris）)
- Helion預計 Polaris 將在 2024 年之前展示淨電力的生產。