International Data Corp. announced that Tech-X Corp. is a winner of the Innovation Excellence Award for the Outstanding Application of HPC Computingfor Business and Scientific Achievements.
Scientists at Tech-X Corp. modeled a complex power-loss mechanism that contributes to inefficiencies in the microwave heating of fusion plasmas. This research helped identify when parasitic slow-wave losses near the reactor edge are likely to occur. Detailed simulations of microwave antenna operation in MIT’s Alcator C-Mod fusion experimentwere carried out using the VSim software. The simulation animations may be viewed on the Tech-X YouTube channel's VSim Playlist. Such modeling, in addition to augmenting scientific understanding of existing experiments, can be used predictively to explore operation scenarios in future devices.
Physical prototyping of fusion reactor configurations is not financially feasible. The ITER fusion reactor facility, currently under construction in France, is a multibillion-dollar international project with first experiments scheduled in the 2020s. In collaboration with other DOE-funded researchers, Tech-X scientists will use VSim to help develop and refine predictive models for wave-plasma interactions in the reactor core and edge of the ITER experiment.
The same VSim software that runs on HPC supercomputers can be used for commercial, manufacturing, and education applications on out-of-the-box technical workstations and small parallel clusters.