Play the simulator first, then come back. The live page is https://tcreations3888.com/eif/. This paper is a bench-sized reading of that toy. “Proof-of-concept” here means the story is intelligible at the smallest scale. It does not mean a fusion result, a parts list, or a permit to build.
What this scale is for
A tabletop picture holds the whole lesson in one glance. The bus is a few named switches. The column is a drawing that tightens when a switch closes. The hotel load is already on, the way a pilot lamp is already lit. Fusion is not on the bench. The lesson is the shape of load-following: discrete breakers, an auxiliary load that never leaves, a field that lags, and an alternating tap that does not come from a turbine.
The toy the page actually runs
Every gauge on the simulator is marked toy. The line under the coupled-output gauge is the rule for this whole set: toy coupled output, not Q, not net plant power. There is no plasma in the room. The hero photograph is a mood. The column you watch is a canvas.
Five breakers, each fully on or fully off:
| Breaker | Draw |
|---|---|
| Facility lights | 8 kW |
| Hall HVAC | 22 kW |
| Diagnostic bay | 35 kW |
| Edge compute rack | 80 kW |
| Workshop mill | 55 kW |
Hotel / aux is 12 kW, always on, and it is not a breaker. A demand factor from 50% to 100% multiplies the switched loads only. Hotel stays 12 kW. Reference power in the toy is Pref = 20 kW.
Pswitched = Σ Pi × oni Pload = 12 + d × Pswitched [kW] Iz = 100 × √(Pload / 20) [kA, toy] a = 8 / (Pload / 20)^0.15 [mm, toy] Bθ = 2.5 × (Iz / 100) × (8 / a) [T, toy] Rfus = (Pload / 20)^2 [× baseline, toy] VAC = 480 × √(Pload / 20) [V, toy] f = 60 Hz locked PAC,toy = 0.14 × Pload × Rfus [kW, toy] τ = 0.5 + 0.03 × Pload [s]
Breakers flip at once. Iz, Bθ, column radius a, fusion intensity, and PAC,toy ease toward the new targets over τ. That ease is the page’s picture of electromagnetic inertia. Inductance is treated as a flywheel: the magnetic field does not snap when the bus does.
Standby is every breaker off. The bus is the hotel 12 kW alone. The column dims. Status reads STANDBY · hotel load. Iz stays above zero, because the toy never lets the axial current vanish while hotel load is on the bus.
The kiloamps and tesla are scaled for the play of the gauges. A desk does not carry this current. The proportions are what the labels are for.
One step, which is the whole tabletop lesson
Close nothing. Standby, demand factor 100%:
| Gauge | Toy value |
|---|---|
| Pload | 12.0 kW |
| Iz | 77.5 kA |
| a | 8.64 mm |
| Bθ | 1.79 T |
| Fusion intensity | 0.36× |
| VAC | 372 V at 60 Hz |
| PAC,toy | 0.60 kW |
| τ | 0.86 s |
Flip only Facility lights, 8 kW. The bus becomes 12 + 8 = 20 kW, which is exactly Pref. The targets land on the toy’s round numbers: Iz = 100 kA, a = 8 mm, Bθ = 2.5 T, fusion intensity 1×, VAC = 480 V, PAC,toy = 2.8 kW, τ = 1.1 s.
On a bench, that is the lesson. One switch. The hotel lamp was already lit. The column picture tightens a little. The gauges do not jump; they ease for about a second. The coupled-output number, 2.8 kW, sits well under the 20 kW bus. At this one step the toy does not yet show its later habit of outrunning the bus. WP-03 and WP-04 walk through that habit and say what it is: algebra in the formula, not energy gain.
Four beats, at arm’s length
- Load → current. More draw raises Iz. In this toy, Iz scales with the square root of Pload. Lights on, current up. Lights off, current eases down toward the hotel floor, not toward zero.
- Current → Bθ. The confining field in the story is azimuthal: Bθ scales with Iz / a. Stronger current, tighter column. The dashed rings on the canvas are that field. They are not a hardware drawing.
- Inertia. τ grows with Pload. A heavier bus, a slower ease. The switch itself is instant. Only the field lags.
- Direct AC. The toy locks a resonant tank at 60 Hz and scales voltage with the square root of load. The page does not model a turbine. The wave on the gauge is that lock, drawn. It is not power delivered to a wall outlet.
What tabletop does not mean here
This paper does not specify a voltage, a stored energy, an electrode gap, or a pulsed-power circuit. It does not authorize construction. A high-voltage apparatus is a different subject, and it is not taught here.
Thermonuclear conditions are not a tabletop story. The glow on the canvas is bookkeeping for Rfus. Successful reading maps to the next picture in the set, garage scale, which is still a picture and still not a home power plant.
In this set
- WP-01, this paper — tabletop. One switch against the hotel floor.
- WP-02 Garage scale — the same bank, with demand factor as the second knob.
- WP-03 University lab prototype — Lab day, the simulator’s first paint.
- WP-04 Datacenter supply scale — Spike, and why a large toy number is still a toy.
- Live simulator: https://tcreations3888.com/eif/
- Index of the four papers: https://tcreations3888.com/eif/#whitepapers
Honesty
Numbers are scaled for play. This is an educational demonstration under the MIT License, in the same spirit as the page footer. It is a concept simulator’s companion, not a plant and not a construction guide. PAC,toy is not electrical gain.