Wendelstein 7-X – from concept to reality
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it in stellarator and fusion threads as an understandable look at the design and engineering challenges.
What it is
A CAD-based animation from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics showing how the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator is configured and what its fusion research aims to achieve. It runs about 11 minutes.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2015 to 2017.
What Hacker News said
Recommends amckenna · 2015-10 · on “First New U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Two Decades to Begin Fueling in Tennessee”
Actually there are potentially some large breakthroughs in fusion power depending on how the new Wendelstein 7-X does when it is turned on later this year. Stellarators are pretty cool and if they prove viable could lead to a big shift in the field away from tokamaks which have stalled in efficacy improvements. Here is an article about it: [LINK] And here is a great video showing the design in amazing detail: [this video]
Recommends sawwit · 2015-12 · on “The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is now in operation”
Here is a time lapse video of the 9 year construction, quite fascinating to watch: [LINK] YouTube mirror: [LINK] A more technical video explaining how it works: [this video]
Recommends saganus · 2016-12 · on “Confirmation of the topology of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator’s magnetic field”
How the hell do you test such a monstrosity? I mean... I know that testing complex software projects is a pain in the ass. But... this? I mean... how do you even begin to plan where all the wires and other elements go and then test that it's a sound design? I'm guessing they do a lot of simulations and such, but what if something fails? how much do you have to backtrack to fix a potential bug? It just boggles the mind. I had no idea these things were so complex. Thanks for the links. Edit: This video explains the elements quite in an understandable way [0] [0] [this video]
Recommends nitrogen · 2017-06 · on “Artistically shaped magnets may make stellarators easier to manage than ITER”
Look for videos about the reactor on YouTube. Like this one. [this video] Also search HN for previous articles.
Recommends okket · 2017-06 · on “Artistically shaped magnets may make stellarators easier to manage than ITER”
The engineering challenges and their solutions are described in detail in this video: "Wendelstein 7-X - from concept to reality" (10m30s) [this video]
Cites jakeogh · 2015-10 · on “Wendelstein 7-X – a fusion reactor with a twist”
Wendelstein 7-X - from concept to reality: [this video] Im Zeitraffer: Zusammenbau von Wendelstein 7-X: [LINK] (best @ 0.56x)
Cites jakeogh · 2015-11 · on “Germany is turning on its monster stellarator”
Wendelstein 7-X - from concept to reality: [this video] Im Zeitraffer: Zusammenbau von Wendelstein 7-X: [LINK] (best @ 0.56x) Previously: [LINK] More: [LINK]
Cites justifier · 2015-11 · on “Germany is turning on its monster stellarator”
the first video claims a magnetic field strength of 2.5 Tesla(o) roughly that of an MRI(i) can anyone speak to sort of considerations that lead to this value? 2.5T seems insignificant considering the events it will be confining how sensitive is the field to magnetic interactions outside of the device? (o) [this video] (i) [LINK]