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General Fusion

Three technical Challenges to help transform the world’s energy supply

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General Fusion is transforming the world’s energy supply with clean, safe and abundant fusion energy. The company ran a pilot of three Challenges with InnoCentive, each of different Challenge types and each focusing on different technical fields – plasma science, mechanical engineering and engineering physics. General Fusion ended up making a total of $36,500 in awards to six Solvers, gaining valuable ideas from places they wouldn’t usually look and receiving increased media interest in both the company and the Challenges.

Challenge 1 – Method for Sealing Anvil under Repetitive Impacts against Molten Metal

  • Background: General Fusion was seeking a new method to seal a metal cylinder and the metal surface of the cylindrical hole.
  • Solutions: The Theoretical Challenge received 64 submissions from 17 countries.
  • Result: General Fusion awarded $20,000 to MIT-trained mechanical engineer and inventor listed on 35 patents. The company has since contracted the Solver to integrate his design into the company’s specific setup.

Challenge 2: Data-Driven Prediction of Plasma Performance

  • Background: General Fusion was interested in identifying patterns in experimental plasma shot data, asking Solvers to produce an algorithm capable of early prediction of overall shot performance. The Challenge included a live leader scoreboard and Solvers were provided with extensive data from one of General Fusion’s experimental plasma injectors.
  • Solutions: The RTP Challenge received 16 submissions from 11 countries.
  • Result: General Fusion awarded a total of $6,500 to two Solvers, one from Italy and one from Canada. The latter was a technical Oscar winner for his work in Hollywood image processing – General Fusion are currently discussing possible future collaboration opportunities with them.

Challenge 3: Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device

  • Background: General Fusion was looking for a method to quickly and reliably induce a substantial current to jump a 5-10 cm gap within a few hundred microseconds.
  • Solutions: The Ideation Challenge received 46 submissions from 18 countries.
  • Result: General Fusion awarded a total of $10,000 to three Solvers – two from the USA and one from Canada. The solutions were novel ideas that General Fusion had not previously considered.

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