Directly coupling the two processes like that would certainly have some interesting failure modes with regard to potential and phase. If this results in DC power distribution... elephants everywhere will rejoice as Westinghouse's reign of terror ends.

Power transfer from large scale Renewables projects have already precipited HVDC [0].

There isn't an absolutely AC/DC dicotomy as it was in Edison's feud. It all comes down to using the right solution for the right problem.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current#/m...

Well feeding an HVDC line with something that doesn't already naturally generate AC (like a wind turbine) would be a better fit. But it would be a little strange to not fully exploit the other thing that distinguished the DC system from AC: distributed generation vs centralized generation. What was once necessary due to transmission inefficiency is now desirable due to transmission inefficiency :) (among other things). I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for the breadbox sized fusion reactor, though I wouldn't turn up my nose to a residential fission option.

Yeah. This is something you can do only when the outputs of a fusion reaction are mostly charged particles moving quickly. If most of the energy comes out in neutrons, as in deuterium-tritium fusion which most fusion reactor attempts are using, you have to run the resulting energy through a heat engine to produce electricity.

Which is why Helion is going for direct conversion, given their mostly aneutronic design.

I don't think that idea can be made to practically work, due to space charge limits.

I don’t doubt something will cause problems, given this is 1-20 megavolts at (for a gigawatt reactor) 50-1000 amps, but I’m not sure what issue you’re describing here. Can you elaborate?

Space charge is the accumulated effect of the charge of ions or electrons altering the electric field. It limits current flow in vacuum tubes, and also limits the current density (and hence thrust density) of ion engines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_charge#Space-charge-limi...

> (I still have ideas, but no time),

You do have the money?

Easily, fusors are Highschool-project cheap.

That's the headline, but you'd need about $10k of kit if you're handy at digging through trash to put one together.