SONOFUSION Technical Seminar

Submitted to M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology (Autonomous Institute Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING In TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

For the Academic Year 2012-13 Submitted By

SRIVIDHYA.R.NANDAN
USN: 1MS09TE061 Under the guidance of

Internal Guide: Prof. Parimala.P

Asst. Professor Dept. of Telecommunication Engg, MSRIT, Bangalore 560 054

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING, M.S.RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, (Autonomous Institute affiliated to VTU), BANGALORE 560054 April 2013 1|Page

M.S.RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(Autonomous Institute Affiliated to VTU) Vidya Soudha, Jnana Gangothri MSR Nagar, Bangalore- 560 054, Karnataka

Department of Telecommunication Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical seminar entitled Sonofusion carried out by Srividhya.R.Nandan (1MS09TE061), a bonafide student of M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, in partial fulfillment for the award of Bachelor of Engineering in Telecommunication Engineering, of the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum during the year 2012-2013. It is certified that all corrections/suggestions indicated for Internal Assessment have been incorporated in the Report. The Seminar Report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of Seminar work prescribed for the said Degree.

Parimala. P Asst. Professor Dept of TC Engg. MSRIT

Mr. K. Natarajan Professor and Head, Dept. of TC Engg, MSRIT

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DECLARATION
I, Srividhya.R.Nandan , student of B.E, Telecommunication Engineering, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore-560054, hereby declare that the Technical Seminar entitled Sonofusion has been carried out independently by me in M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore-560054 under the guidance Parimala. P, Asst. Professor, Dept of Telecommunication Engg, MSRIT, Bangalore.

I declare that the work submitted in this report is my own, except where acknowledged in the text, and has not been previously submitted for the partial fulfillment of the degree at the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum or any other Institution/University.

Place: Bangalore Date: 19/04/2013

Srividhya.R.Nandan B.E (Telecommunication Engineering) MSRIT, Bangalore- 560054

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

No work is complete with due recognition being given to persons who made it possible. My project is no exception. I would like to place on record, profound gratitude for those who have mattered the most in the successful completion of the project. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Parimala. P the internal guide and the contact faculty for his constant encouragement, continuous feedback and sparing his valuable time for discussion. I am grateful to Mr. K. Natarajan, Prof. and Head, Dept of Telecommunication Engineering for his moral support given at various stages.

I wish to express my gratitude to the B.E technical seminar coordinator Prof. Venu. K. N I also wish to express my sincere thanks to our principal Dr. S Y Kulkarni for his inspiration and support at various stages of the project. Last but not the least I would like to thank our staff members, all those who have helped me in the completion of the project.

Srividhya.R.Nandan

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ABSTRACT
Sonofusion is a new way to create fusion reactions, by applying sound waves to a deuterium rich liquid. It incorporates sound waves to implode tiny bubbles filled with deuterium vapour resulting in violent collapse between the bubbles which initiates the fusion reaction.

The idea of sonofusion (technically known as acoustic inertial confinement fusion) was derived from a related phenomenon known as sonoluminescence. In sonofusion a piezoelectric crystal attached to liquid filled Pyrex flask send pressure waves through the fluid, exciting the motion of tiny gas bubbles. The bubbles periodically grow and collapse, producing visible flashes of light. The researchers studying these light emitting bubbles speculated that their interiors might reach such high temperature and pressure they could trigger fusion reaction.

Researchers are using enormous lasers or powerful magnetic fields to trigger limited fusion reactions. We are yet to identify economically viable fusion reactor technologies that consistently produce more energy than it consume. Sonofusion technique can replace the existing nuclear fusion technology. These tiny bubbles imploded by sound waves can make hydrogen nuclei fuse- and may one day become a revolutionary new energy source.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures.................................................................................................7 1. INTRODUCTION....8 2. SONOLUMINESCENCE10 3. SONOFUSION12 4. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP FOR SONOFUSION..13 5. OTHER METHODS OF FUSION REACTIONS...21 6. EVIDENCE SUPPORTING TABLE TOP SONOFUSION DEVICE....22 7. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS.23 8. ADVANTAGES OF SONOFUSION OVER OTHER METHODS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY.24 9. APPLICATIONS OF SONOFUSION24 10. CONCLUSION25 References26

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LIST OF FIGURES
1. FIGURE 1: Acoustic cavitation (Cause of Sonoluminescence) 2. FIGURE 2:Experimental setup for sonofusion 3. FIGURE 3:Stage 1 of sonofusion (bubble cluster formation) 4. FIGURE 4:Stage 2 of sonofusion (cavitation or expansion of bubble cluster) 5. FIGURE 5: Stage 3 of sonofusion (Compression of bubble cluster and nuclear fusion) 6. FIGURE 6: Deuterium fusion reactions 7. FIGURE 7: Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction 8. FIGURE 8: Sequence of events during sonofusion

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INTRODUCTION
The standard of living in a society is measured by the amount of energy consumed. In the present scenario where the conventional fuels are getting depleted at a very fast rate the current energy reserves are not expected to last for more than 100 years. Improving the harnessing efficiency of non-conventional energy sources like solar, wind etc. as a substitute for the conventional sources is under research.

One of the conventional methods of producing bulk energy is nuclear power. There are two types of nuclear reactions, namely fission & fusion. They are accompanied by the generation of enormous quantity of energy. The energy comes from a minute fraction of the original mass converting according to Einsteins famous law: E=mc2, where E represents energy, m is the mass and c is the speed of light. In fission reaction, certain heavy atoms, such as uranium is split by neutrons releasing huge amount of energy. It also results in waste products of radioactive elements that take thousands of years to decay. The fusion reactions, in which simple atomic nuclei are fused together to form complex nuclei, are also referred to as thermonuclear reactions. The more important of these fusion reactions are those in which hydrogen isotopes fuse to form helium. The Suns energy is ultimately due to gigantic thermonuclear reaction. The waste products from the fusion plants would be short lived, decaying to non-dangerous levels in a decade or two. It produces more energy than fission but the main problem of fusion reaction is to create an atmosphere of very high temperature and pressure like that in the Sun. A new step that has developed in this field is Bubble Power-the revolutionary new energy source. It is working under the principle of Sonofusion. For several years Sonofusion research team from various organizations have joined forces to create Acoustic Fusion Technology Energy Consortium (AFTEC) to promote the development of sonofusion. It was derived from a related phenomenon known as sonoluminescence. In sonoluminescence, a process widely used by chemists, loud speakers attached to a liquid filled flask send pressure waves through the fluid, exciting the motion of 8|Page

tiny gas bubbles. The bubbles periodically grow and collapse, producing visible flashes of light that last less than 50 Pico seconds. About 20 years ago, researchers studying these light emitting bubbles speculated that their interiors might reach such high temperatures and pressures that they could trigger fusion reactions. This method called Single Bubble Sonoluminescence, involves a single gas bubble that is trapped inside the flask by a pressure field and yields light flashes during repetitive implosions. At the point where the contraction
causes extreme temperatures and pressures comparable to those found in the interiors of stars, deuterium atoms can fuse together, the same way hydrogen atoms fuse in stars, releasing neutrons and energy in the process. The process also releases a type of radiation called gamma rays and a radioactive material called tritium. The tritium produced might then be used as a fuel to drive energy-producing reactions in which it fuses with deuterium. Whereas conventional nuclear fission reactors produce waste products that take thousands of years to decay, the waste products from fusion plants are short-lived, decaying to non-dangerous levels in a decade or two. The desktop experiment is safe because, although the reactions generate extremely high pressures and temperatures, those extreme conditions exist only in small regions of the liquid in the container within the collapsing bubbles.

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SONOLUMINESCENCE
When a gas bubble in a liquid is excited by ultrasonic acoustic waves it can emit short flashes of light suggestive of extreme temperatures inside the bubble. These flashes of light known as sonoluminescence, occur as the bubble implode or cavitates. It is shown that chemical reactions occur during cavitations of a single, isolated bubble and yield photons, radicals and ions formed. In this way gas bubbles in a liquid can convert sound energy in to light.

Sound waves advance as patterns of positive and negative pressure. Hence, the traditional wisdom about sonoluminescence is that, when the negative pressure portion of a sound wave passes through a bubble in a liquid, it causes that bubble to swell in size by several orders of magnitude. When the subsequent positive pressure portion of the sound wave approaches, that large bubble is forced to shrink rapidly by a process called acoustic cavitation. In this theory, the collapse results in all the energy that went in to the expansion of the bubble being compressed in to a very small area. In other words, a proportionately huge amount of energy gets focused into a very tiny package. As a result the small amount of gas trapped inside the bubble is heated to absurdly hot temperatures, causing it to glow.

Sonoluminescence also called single-bubble sonoluminescence involves a single gas bubble that is trapped inside the flask by a pressure field. For this loud speakers are used to create pressure waves and for bubbles naturally occurring gas bubbles are used. These bubbles cannot withstand the excitation pressures higher than about 170 kilopascals. Pressures higher than about 170 kilopascals would always dislodge the bubble from its stable position and disperse it in the liquid. A pressure at least ten times that pressure level to implode the bubbles is necessary to trigger thermonuclear fusion. The idea of sonofusion overcomes these limitations.

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Fig 1: Acoustic cavitation (Cause of Sonoluminescence)

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SONOFUSION
It is hard to imagine that mere sound waves can possibly produce in the bubbles, the extreme temperatures and pressures created by the lasers or magnetic fields, which themselves replicate the interior conditions of stars like our sun, where fusion occurs steadily. Nevertheless, three years ago, researchers obtained strong evidence that such a process now known as sonofusion is indeed possible.

Sonofusion is technically known as acoustic inertial confinement fusion. In this we have a bubble cluster (rather than a single bubble). This is significant because, when the bubble cluster implodes the pressure within the bubble cluster may be greatly intensified. The centre of the gas bubble cluster shows a typical pressure distribution during the bubble cluster implosion process. It can be seen that, due to converging shock waves within the bubble cluster, there can be significant pressure intensification in the interior of the bubble cluster. Researchers estimate that temperatures inside the imploding bubbles reach 10 million degrees Celsius and pressures comparable to 1,000 million earth atmospheres at sea level. This large local liquid pressure (P>1000 bar) will strongly compress the interior bubbles within the cluster, leading to conditions suitable for thermonuclear fusion. More over during the expansion phase of the bubble cluster dynamics, coalescence of some of interior bubbles is expected, and this will lead to the implosion of fairly large interior bubbles which produce more energetic implosions.

One key to the process is the large difference between the original size of the bubbles and their expanded size. Going from 60 nanometers to 6,000 microns is about 100,000 times larger, compared to the bubbles usually formed in sonoluminescence, which grow only about 10 times larger before they implode.

The major differences between single-bubble sonoluminescence and sonofusion method is that increasing the pressure by an order of magnitude , firing neutrons at the flask to seed the bubbles on demand , and choosing a liquid rich in deuterium.

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EXPERIMENTAL SETUP FOR SONOFUSION

Fig 2: Experimental setup for sonofusion

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The essential apparatus involved are:

1. Pyrex flask. 2. Deuterated acetone (C3D6O). 3. Vacuum pump. 4. Piezoelectric crystal. 5. Wave generator. 6. Amplifier. 7. Neutron generator. 8. Neutron and gamma ray detector. 9. Photomultiplier. 10. Microphone and speaker. PYREX FLASK WITH PIEZOELECTRIC RING: The apparatus consists of a cylindrical Pyrex glass flask 100 mm in high and 65mm in diameter. A lead-zirconate-titanate ceramic piezoelectric crystal in the form of a ring is attached to the flasks outer surface. The piezoelectric ring works like the loud speakers in a sonoluminescence experiment, although it creates much stronger pressure waves. When a positive voltage is applied to the piezoelectric ring, it contracts; when the voltage is removed, it expands to its original size. DEUTERATED ACETONE: The flask is then filled with commercially available deuterated acetone (C3D6O), in which 99.9 percent of the hydrogen atoms in the acetone molecules are deuterium (this isotope of hydrogen has one proton and one neutron in its nucleus). The main reason to choose deuterated acetone is that atoms of deuterium can undergo fusion much more easily than ordinary hydrogen atoms. Also the deuterated fluid can withstand significant tension (stretching) without forming unwanted bubbles. The substance is also relatively cheap, easy to work with, and not particularly hazardous. 14 | P a g e

VACUM PUMP: The naturally occurring gas bubbles cannot withstand high temperature and pressure. All the naturally occurring gas bubbles dissolved in the liquid are removed virtually by attaching a vacuum pump to the flask and acoustically agitating the liquid.

WAVE GENERATOR: To initiate the sonofusion process, we apply an oscillating voltage with a frequency of about 20,000 hertz to the piezoelectric ring. The alternating contractions and expansions of the ring-and thereby of the flask-send concentric pressure waves through the liquid. The waves interact, and after a while they set up an acoustic standing wave that resonates and concentrates a huge amount of sound energy. This wave causes the region at the flasks centre to oscillate between a maximum (1500kpa) and a minimum (-1500kpa) pressure.

AMPLIFIER: The amplifier amplifies the signal from the wave generator and feeds it to the piezoelectric crystal to provide pressure waves to the acetone in the flask by means of alternative contractions and expansions.

NEUTRON GENERATOR: Precisely when the pressure reaches its lowest point, a pulsed neutron generator is fired. This is a commercially available, baseball bat size device that sits next to the flask. The generator emits high-energy neutrons at 14.1 mega electron volts in a burst that lasts about six microseconds and that goes in all directions.

ACTION WITHIN THE FLASK: STAGE 1 (creation of bubble clusters): Some neutrons go through the liquid, and some collide head on with the Carbon, oxygen and deuterium atoms of the deuterated acetone molecules. The fast moving neutrons may knock the atoms nuclei out of their molecules as these nuclei recoil; they give up their kinetic energy to the liquid molecules. This interaction between the nuclei and the molecules create heat in regions a few nanometres in size that results in tiny bubbles of deuterated acetone vapour. Computer

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simulations, suggest that this process generates clusters of about 1000 bubbles, each with a radius of only tens of nanometres.

Fig 3: Stage 1 of sonofusion (bubble cluster formation) STAGE 2 (cavitation or expansion of bubble cluster): By firing the neutron generator during the liquids low pressure phase, the bubbles instantly swell -a process known as cavitation. In these swelling phases, the bubbles balloon out 100,000 times from their nanometre dimensions to about one millimetre in size. To grasp the magnitude of this growth, imagine that the initial bubbles are the size of peas after growing by a factor of 100,000, each bubble would be big enough to contain the Empire State Building.

Fig 4: Stage 2 of sonofusion (cavitation or expansion of bubble cluster)

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 STAGE 3 (compression of bubble cluster and nuclear fusion): Then the pressure rapidly reverses, the liquid pushes the bubbles walls inward with tremendous force, and they implode with great violence. The implosion creates spherical shock waves with in the bubbles that travel inward at high speed and significantly strengthen as they converge to their centres. The result, in terms of energy, is extra ordinary. Hydrodynamic shock-waves create, in a small region at the centre of the collapsing bubble, a peak pressure greater than 10 trillion kPa. For comparison, atmospheric pressure at sea level is101.3 kPa. The peak temperature in this tiny region soars above 10 million degree centigrade about 20.000 times that of the suns surface.

Fig 5: Stage 3 of sonofusion (Compression of bubble cluster and nuclear fusion)

These extreme conditions within the bubbles, especially in the bubbles at the centre of the cluster, where the shock waves are more intense because of the surrounding implosions, cause the deuterium nuclei to collide at high speed. These collisions are so violent that the positively charged nuclei overcome their natural electrostatic repulsion and fuse, resulting in nuclear fusion producing neutrons, gamma rays and enormous amount of energy.

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NEUTRON AND GAMMA RAY DETECTOR (SCINTILLATIOR): The fusion process creates neutrons which we detect using a scintillator, a device in which the radiation interacts with a liquid that gives off light pulses that can be measured.

PHOTOMULTIPLIER: The sonoluminescence caused due to the compression of the bubble cluster is indicated by bursts of photons, which is detected with a photomultiplier.

MICROPHONE AND SPEAKER: After about 20 microseconds, a shock wave in the liquid reaches the flasks inner wall, resulting in an audible pop, which can be picked up and amplified by a microphone and a speaker.

FUSION REACTIONS TAKING PLACE WITHIN THE FLASK:

Fig 6: Deuterium fusion reactions Deuterium-Deuterium fusion has two probable outputs, helium and a 2.45MeV neutron or tritium and a proton.

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 IF TRITIUM IS PRODUCED:

Fig 7: Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction The total neutron output would include not only the neutrons from deuterium-deuterium fusion, but also neutrons from deuteriumtritium fusion, since the tritium produced in sonofusion remains within the liquid and can fuse with deuterium atoms. Compared with deuterium-deuterium fusion, deuterium-tritium fusion occurs 1000 times more easily and produces more energetic neutrons increasing the neutron yield by about three orders of magnitude.

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SEQUENCE OF EVENTS DURING SONOFUSION:

Fig 8: Sequence of events during sonofusion

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OTHER METHODS OF FUSION REACTIONS

There are mainly two approaches on fusion reactions other than bubble power. They are 1. Laser Beam Technique. 2. Magnetic Confinement Fusion.

LASER BEAM TECHNIQUE: In this process extremely energetic laser beams converge on a tiny solid pellet of deuterium-deuterium fuel. The result is a shock wave that propagates towards the centre of the pellet and creates an enormous increase in temperature and density. One of the drawbacks of this approach is the amount of power lasers required. This techniques main goal is not producing energy but rather producing thermonuclear weapons.

MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT FUSION: It uses powerful magnetic fields to create immense heat and pressure in hydrogen plasma contained in a large, toroidal device known as a tokamak. The fusion produces high energy by neutrons that escape the plasma and hit a liquid filled blanket surrounding it. The idea is to use the heat produced in the blanket to generate vapour to drive a turbine and thus generate electricity. It is very difficult to hold the plasma in place while increasing temperature and pressure. It is a very unstable process that has been proved difficult to control.

The above methods need some energy input in the form of electricity, high energy laser, strong magnetic field or such. The efficiency of such reactions is very small. However, Sonofusion can be used as an economically viable fusion reactor technology that consistently produces more energy than it consumes. The present nuclear fusion reactors have always required large, multibilliondollar machines, but sonofusion devices might be built for a fraction of that cost.

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EVIDENCE SUPPORTING TABLE TOP SONOFUSION DEVICE

There are two kinds of evidence that deuterium is fusing. The first is the neutron emission detected by the neutron scintillator. The device registers two clearly distinct bursts of neutron that are about 30 microseconds apart. The first is at 14.1 MeV, from the pulsed neutron generator; the second, however, is at 2.45 MeV. This is the exact energy level a neutron produced in a deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction is expected to have. These 2.45MeV neutrons are detected at about the same time that the photomultiplier detects a burst of light, indicating that both events take place during the implosion of the bubbles.

There is a second fusion fingerprint is by measuring levels of another hydrogen isotope, tritium, in the deuterated acetone. The reason is that deuteriumdeuterium fusion is a reaction with two possible outputs at almost equal probability. One possibility gives 2.45 MeV neutron plus helium, and the other gives tritium plus a proton. Thus, the build-up of tritium above the measured initial levels is an independent and strong, indication that fusion has taken place, since tritium cannot be produced without a nuclear reaction.

The desktop experiment is safe because although the reactions generate extremely high pressures and temperature those extreme conditions exist only in small regions of the liquid in the container-within the collapsing bubbles.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

FULLY SELF-SUSTAINED: To make the fusion reaction fully self-sustaining arranging the setup so it produces a continuous neutron output without requiring the external neutron generator. One of the possible ways is to put two complete apparatuses side by side so that they would exchange neutrons and drive each others fusion reactions. Imagine two adjacent sonofusion setups with just one difference: when the liquid pressure is low in one, it is high in the other. That is, their pressure oscillations are 180 degrees out of phase. Suppose hit the first apparatus with neutrons from the external neutron generator, causing the bubble cluster to form inside the first flask. Then turn off the neutron generator permanently. As the bubble cluster grows and then implodes, it will give off neutrons, some of which will hit the neighbouring flask. If all is right, the neutrons will hit the second flask at the exact moment when it is at the lowest pressure, so that it creates a bubble cluster there. If the process repeats, get a self-sustaining chain reaction.

COMPLETE ELECTRICITY-PRODUCING NUCLEAR FUSION REACTOR: A table top single apparatus yields about 400000 per second. The neutrons are an important measure of the output of the process because they carry most of the energy released in the fusion reaction. Yet that yield corresponds to a negligible fraction of a watt of power. For operating a few thousand mega watts of thermal power, in terms of neutron-per-second, output of 1022 neutrons per second needed. For this we will improve various parameters of Sonofusion process, such as the size of the liquid flask, the size of the bubbles before implosion and the pressure compressing the bubbles etc. then we installed a liquid filled blanket system around the reactor. All those high-energy neutrons would collide with it, raising its temperature. So that it heat could used to boil a fluid to drive a turbine and thus generate electricity.

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ADVANTAGES OF SONOFUSION OVER OTHER METHODS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The process is self sustainable. It is easily controllable. It consistently produces more energy than it consumes. The process is economically viable. Raw materials for the process are easily available. The entire process is environmental friendly.

APPLICATIONS OF SONOFUSION
1. Thermonuclear fusion gives a new, safe, environmental friendly way to produce electrical energy. 2. This technology could also result in a new class of low cost, compact detectors for security applications that use neutrons to probe the contents of suitcases. 3. It can lead to the development of devices for research that use neutrons to analyze the molecular structure of materials. 4. It can provide machines that cheaply manufacture new synthetic materials and efficiently produce tritium, which is used for numerous applications ranging from medical imaging to watch dials. 5. It can give rise to a new technique to study various phenomena in cosmology, including the working of neutron star and black holes.

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CONCLUSION
Nevertheless, the Holy Grail of all fusion research is the development of a new, safe, environmentally friendly way to produce electrical energy. Fusion produces no greenhouse gases and, unlike conventional nuclear fission reactors, it produces no noxious radioactive wastes that last for thousands of years. With the steady growth of world population and with economic progress in developing countries, average electricity consumption per person will increase significantly. Therefore, seeking new sources of energy isnt just important; it is necessary. Much more research is required before it is clear whether sonofusion can become a new energy source.

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REFERENCES

IEEE SPECTRUM: BUBBLE POWER by Richard T. Lahey Jr., Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, Robert I. Nigmatulin / May 2005 www.spectrum.iee.org www.null-hypothesis.co.uk www.washington.edu/research/scienceforum www.rpi.edu

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