Collaboration with fusion companies
Since 2023, the IPP has been working specifically with promising private fusion companies whose approaches are technologically and methodologically compatible with its own research activities. This collaboration between an established research institute such as the IPP and young companies is intended to accelerate the development of fusion power plants.
In the field of tokamaks, this involves the US company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). CFS was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and is building SPARC, a compact high-field tokamak with high-temperature superconducting coils. With SPARC, which is similar in size to ASDEX Upgrade, a fusion energy gain of Q>1 is to be achieved from 2027 onwards.
The IPP is cooperating with CFS in the following areas, among others:
- Qualification of SPARC components in the GLADIS test stand.
- Integrated modelling of SPARC plasmas in preparation for operation.
- Development and testing of special operating regimes such as QCE (Quasi-Continuous Exhaust), for which SPARC uses ion cyclotron heating (ICRH).
In return, the IPP will have the opportunity to participate in SPARC operations and contribute its expertise to the scientific design and evaluation of the experiments. In doing so, the IPP aims to validate and optimise its scientific ideas and concepts at SPARC with regard to reactor suitability under high-field conditions.
Proxima Fusion is a start-up founded in Munich in 2023, whose founding team includes former doctoral students and postdocs from the IPP. The company focuses on optimised, quasi-isodynamic stellarators modelled on Wendelstein 7-X and also intends to use high-temperature superconductors to generate the magnetic cage.
The collaboration with the IPP encompasses various joint activities in the BMBF project FPP-MC to solve fundamental questions of magnetic fusion on the path to a fusion reactor with the following objectives:
- Development of the Stellaris reactor concept, a high-field stellarator that aims to offer a balanced combination of good plasma confinement performance, MHD stability and practical constructability.
- Planning a smaller fusion demonstrator, Alpha, which, with Q>1, is intended to demonstrate the performance of the concept and test key technologies such as HTS 3D magnetic coils.
Gauss Fusion is a German-based company founded by European industrial partners with extensive experience in the construction of fusion components. By 2045, Gauss Fusion aims to build a commercial gigawatt-scale stellarator power plant without any intermediate steps via a demonstrator. Here, the IPP is primarily assisting in optimising the quasi-isodynamic stellarator design in order to combine the best possible plasma properties with technical requirements such as feasible coils and a stable structure.