2021: NSF Awards SBIR Phase II Grant to Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc.
On December 8, 2021, Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant of $995,712.00 from the National Science Foundation to continue development of a plasma heat engine for efficient production of fusion energy. Since February of 2019, company president and CEO Dr. Richard Nebel and Dr. William Gibson at TPTI have been developing an experimental device, funded by a previous Phase I grant, which makes use of an oscillating plasma concept. The device is comprised of specialized equipment which TPTI has built over the past decade at their Los Alamos, New Mexico headquarters.
Read More Building on the success of its Phase I award, TPTI will continue to refine this new concept for fusion power. Confining plasma has always been a significant challenge in the development of fusion energy, but this new approach is radically different from other fusion systems. The concept utilizes a heat engine technique that always maintains the plasma distribution function in thermodynamic equilibrium. A magnetic field is generated by coils and electrodes which shape the plasma into rotating rings. The rings are in a potential well, with the radial rotation fastest near the ends of the chamber. When the rings move towards the center, they collide axially at maximum velocity, and some particles can fuse together. This creates Helium-4 which can be collected by a Direct Energy Converter to produce electricity. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce aneutronic fusion energy in a system that is small, simple and inexpensive. This system will produce power that is as clean as renewable energy while simultaneously removing the need for energy storage that is required for intermittent sources like wind and solar power. Since the system is small, axial, and aneutronic (using fuels such as P-B11), it also has applications for manned space flight. The low radiation levels allow for minimal shielding along with high power density. This could enable more direct flights to other planets, which minimizes the exposure of astronauts to the radiation encountered in outer space. Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. is a small company specializing in applied plasma science. Dr. Richard Nebel (TPTI CEO) has over 40 years of experience in plasma theory, plasma simulation, and plasma experiments. He worked for 30 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as a staff member and as group leader for the plasma theory group (T-15). He also served as president and CEO of EMC2 (an electrostatic fusion research company) for 3 years. He previously participated in earlier work at LANL on oscillating plasmas. The U.S. National Science Foundation is a federal agency that supports research and education across all fields of science and engineering, currently with an $8.5 billion budget. Each year, the NSF’s America’s Seed Fund program awards $200+ million in research and development (R&D) funding to about 400 startups across the United States.A New Approach to Fusion Power
About Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc.
About NSF and America’s Seed Fund
2019: Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. Receives SBIR grant from NSF
On February 1st, 2019, Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant of $224,780.00 from the National Science Foundation to develop a plasma heat engine for efficient production of fusion energy. The project, which is under the direction of Dr. Richard Nebel, makes use of an oscillating plasma concept invented by a TPTI vice-president as well as experimental technology which TPTI has built over the last eight years at our Los Alamos, New Mexico headquarters.
Read More Confining plasma has always been a significant challenge in the development of fusion energy, but Tibbar’s approach is radically different from other fusion systems. The proposed concept, first proposed a decade ago, utilizes a heat engine technique that always maintains the plasma distribution function in thermodynamic equilibrium. The primary focus of this SBIR is to demonstrate that the desired harmonic oscillator potential well can be formed and that oscillating plasma rings can be maintained and oscillated in the desired potential well. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce aneutronic fusion energy in a system that is small, simple and inexpensive. This system will produce power that is as clean as renewable energy while simultaneously removing the need for energy storage that is required for intermittent sources like wind and solar power. Since the system is small, axial, and aneutronic (using fuels such as P-B11), it also has applications for manned space flight. The low radiation levels allow for minimal shielding along with high power density. This could enable more direct flights to other planets, which minimizes the exposure of astronauts to the radiation encountered in outer space. Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. is a small company specializing in applied plasma science. Dr. Nebel (TPTI CEO) has over 40 years of experience in plasma theory, plasma simulation, and plasma experiments. He worked for 30 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as a staff member and as group leader for the plasma theory group (T-15). He also served as president and CEO of EMC2 (an electrostatic fusion research company) for 3 years. He is well suited for this project, having participated in earlier work at LANL on oscillating plasmas. America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.5 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7.8 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. For more information, visit seedfund.nsf.gov.A New Approach to Fusion Power
About Tibbar Plasmas Technologies, Inc.
About the NSF’s Small Business Programs
2017: Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. to Attend the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit
Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc. will be one of a select group of energy innovators at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit. From February 27th to March 1st in Washington, D.C., the Summit will display the latest cutting edge technologies and bring entrepreneurs together with investors to help turn ideas into reality.
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As an ARPA-E award winner receiving 3.5 million in funding, TPTI will be featured in the Technology Showcase at this year’s Summit. Each exhibitor in the Showcase is vetted to insure that only the most promising technologies are on display. Company president Dr. Richard Nebel will man our booth and spread the word about our new HVDC plasma-based electrical transformers. Tibbar transformers will provide efficiency due to a more compact size and fewer moving parts compared to the current technology (solid state electronics).
In addition to providing a venue to display the latest energy innovations, the Summit will bring together America’s brightest scientists and entrepreneurs with investors. By following a tech-to-market model, attendees can increase their chances of creating marketable products from their prototype inventions. This networking opportunity will help us find additional sources of funding to transition from prototype to production models.
Anyone interested in attending can visit the Registration page to sign up. We hope to see you there!
2015: Business News
Los Alamos based company, Tibbar Plasma Technologies Inc, announced today that it was awarded $3.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding will be used to develop plasma-based AC-DC electrical transformers for High Voltage DC Electrical Transmission.
Read More“Plasma-based electrical transformers have the potential to reduce the cost of transforming power by a factor of 2x-10x. This is a disruptive technology that will make long distance transmission of electricity a lot more affordable. This is particularly important for states like New Mexico that are developing renewable energy to export to more populous states,” said Rick Nebel, owner of Tibbar Plasma Technologies Inc.
Tibbar Plasma Technologies is a company dedicated to developing plasma technologies for commercial applications. Its staff is composed of plasma theorists, plasma experimentalists, engineers and technicians. Many of its employees are retirees or former employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Tibbar Plasma Technologies received this competitive award from ARPA-E’s OPEN 2015 program, which serves as an open call to scientists and engineers for transformational technologies outside the scope of ARPA-E’s existing focused programs. Through both open and focused solicitations, ARPA-E funds technologies that display technical promise and commercial impact but are too early for private-sector investment.
Tibbar Technologies will develop an AC-DC transformer that uses no capacitors or semiconductor switches. The device will rely on helical coils that induce output current and voltage through electrodes at the ends of plasma. The resulting devices have the potential to be half the cost and yield power densities 10x higher than state-of-the-art transformers, potentially providing an innovative new enabling technology for HVDC transmission.
For additional information about ARPA-E, visit the ARPA-E website.
View the original Los Alamos Daily Post article.