ECOFusion: An electron-cooled, colliding-beam, cellular approach to harnessing fusion power

A cellular system for achieving particle-beam fusion-based energy is described. The system uses multiple electron-cooled, overlapping storage rings to enable colliding-beam fusion in the overlap regions. Particles are continuously fed into the storage rings, and the electron cooling systems continuously correct the ion beam trajectories, compensating for various scattering events that occur in the system. Large currents are built up in the ion storage rings via beam stacking, using the electron cooling process to continually merge new ions into the stored beams. The rate of fusion reactions that occur in the overlap regions between the storage rings can be increased by focusing to enable power outputs of interest for fusion-based power reactors.