General Fusion Challenge: Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device

General Fusion is seeking a method to quickly and reliably induce a substantial current to jump a 5-10 cm gap within a few hundred microseconds. 

This is an Ideation Challenge with a guaranteed award for at least one submitted solution.

The Seeker engineers and operates devices that inject magnetized plasmas into a conductive chamber. During this process a 500 kA current flows around the plasma on the chamber wall. The Seeker desires a method to entice the current to jump across a 5-10 cm gap in the neck of the plasma device within a few hundred microseconds in order to form a closed loop around the plasma. 

This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:

• There is a guaranteed award.  The awards will be paid to the best submission(s) as solely determined by the Seeker. The total payout will be $10,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $1,000. 
• Submission forwarding occurs during the Challenge.  Since submissions will be forwarded to the Seeker throughout the Challenge, please make sure you upload only a finished proposal. You can submit an updated version of your proposal only as a new submission. If you submit an updated version of your proposal, please clearly indicate the new items and/or edits compared to your previous submission. This will allow the Seeker to quickly find the new information and determine how it improves your submission. 
• The Solvers are not required to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to the Seeker.  Rather, by submitting a proposal, the Solvers grants to the Seeker a royalty-free, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to use any information included in this proposal.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on April 14, 2016.  Late submissions will not be considered.

After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the Winning Solution(s). All Solvers that submitted a proposal will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.

About the Seeker

General Fusion is developing the fastest, most practical, and lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy. Established in 2002, the company and its 65 employees are supported by a global syndicate of leading energy venture capital funds, industry leaders, and technology pioneers. 

Fusion energy holds immense promise as a clean, safe and abundant energy source. Fusion generates neither pollution nor greenhouse gases and is fueled by hydrogen isotopes which are easily extracted from seawater and derived from lithium, in abundant supply. There is enough fusion fuel to power the planet for hundreds of millions of years. 

General Fusion’s Magnetized Target Fusion system uses a sphere, filled with molten lead-lithium that is pumped to form a vortex. On each pulse, magnetically-confined plasma is injected into the vortex. An array of hammers around the sphere impacts and drives a pressure wave into the center of the sphere, compressing the plasma to fusion conditions. 

For more information on General Fusion, visit http://www.generalfusion.com/.