Benjamin Rhodes has had quite a few Blue Hair Moments that have had a positive impact in general. When he stumbled across an old MIT project to produce silicone chips with microscopic gas-turbine engines to produce power he locked himself into his lab for two weeks straight, leaving the operations to a fuming Gina Langley, a puzzled Jess Ayanami, and an indifferent R. Ruri Hoshino.
Those two weeks, however, bore fruit in the Gas-Turbine Power Supply Chip: a mass-produced silicon chip with capabilities envisioned by MIT, only vastly improved. Running off of nothing more complex than kerosene, one chip could produce 150 watts of power for 120 hours using a mere 250ml of kerosene (or about 8.5 ounces).
The design is pure hard-tech, although refined to a very fine point to deliver such a huge level of efficiency. Generally, nanofacs are the preferred manufacturing method, but a 'waved CNC machine that is properly suited and motivated can do just as well. Benjamin, seeing that this was something that could add a massive boost to safety margins of any space-faring operation, made the designs public for anyone to manufacture. Of course, this made certain that would-be mass producers of such chips would remain healthily competitive for as long as there was demand to support the market.
So... whatcha guys think?
blackaeronaut Wrote:Benjamin Rhodes has had quite a few Blue Hair Moments that have had a positive impact in general. When he stumbled across an old MIT project to produce silicone chips with microscopic gas-turbine engines to produce power he locked himself into his lab for two weeks straight, leaving the operations to a fuming Gina Langley, a puzzled Jess Ayanami, and an indifferent R. Ruri Hoshino.
Those two weeks, however, bore fruit in the Gas-Turbine Power Supply Chip: a mass-produced silicon chip with capabilities envisioned by MIT, only vastly improved. Running off of nothing more complex than kerosene, one chip could produce 150 watts of power for 120 hours using a mere 250ml of kerosene (or about 8.5 ounces).
The design is pure hard-tech, although refined to a very fine point to deliver such a huge level of efficiency. Generally, nanofacs are the preferred manufacturing method, but a 'waved CNC machine that is properly suited and motivated can do just as well. Benjamin, seeing that this was something that could add a massive boost to safety margins of any space-faring operation, made the designs public for anyone to manufacture. Of course, this made certain that would-be mass producers of such chips would remain healthily competitive for as long as there was demand to support the market.
So... whatcha guys think?
According to Wikipedia Kerosine holds 33 megajoules per liter, that means 250ml will contain ~8.25 million Joule.
150 watts is 150 Joules per second, so 120 hours of 150 Watts is 150*120*3600 = 64.8 million Joules.
Did I make a mistake or did you misplace a decimal point ?
Is that power output measured at the shaft, or after it's been run through a generator? I wouldn't mind having one of those for my laptop. Already runs hot and sounds like a Jet... why not make it official. Sounds great for continuous constant power output.
How big're we talking for one of these, anyway.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Eh, I'm futzing it. If you can come up with good figures, then have at it.
blackaeronaut Wrote:Eh, I'm futzing it. If you can come up with good figures, then have at it.
hmm... 40% efficiency sounds very good for hardtech...
30 MJ/liter... 150 Watt...
30M / 150 / 3600 * 40% = 22 hours
"150 Watts for one day from one liter kerosine" sounds like a good thing.
This is The Wave we're working with here. It can make a reactor go off of coca cola and 7-up syrup (cola/uncola reaction). 40% efficiency is relatively tame.
blackaeronaut Wrote:This is The Wave we're working with here. It can make a reactor go off of coca cola and 7-up syrup (cola/uncola reaction). 40% efficiency is relatively tame.
I was talking about an end product without handwavium in it... ^^
Something even Noah Scott would like.
Oh, I know. I was actually thinking of the future development. This would be the Gen1 chips. Later on, Gen6 around 150 years down the line, probably about 70% efficient and starting to supplant actual auxiliary power sources.
blackaeronaut Wrote:Oh, I know. I was actually thinking of the future development. This would be the Gen1 chips. Later on, Gen6 around 150 years down the line, probably about 70% efficient and starting to supplant actual auxiliary power sources.
As long as the hardtech variant does not break CoE...
"Wait... we're getting into manufacturing now?" Nene asked, looking rather skeptical.
"Sure are," Jeph admitted, pulling up a file on his PDA, and handing it over. "Just imagine what we can do with our mining equipment refit to run using these."
Nene looked over the data, at first skeptically, and then with a very manic looking smile gradually replacing the raised eyebrow. "Wow. Oh. Wow. We could lighten the tools, and remove the tethers for the more powerful stuff."
"Very much so. I figure we can set up a small little factory here, erect a new dome, the whole nine yards, and start turning these things out. With enough excess capacity we can sell to most of the rest of the Jovian operations around us." He smirked a little. "As soon as I get an idea of how well the manufacturing will work, I'll see if I can also sell further out."
"And it's purely hard, outside of the manufacturing equipment?"
"It sure is. If we get to making these soon enough, maybe we can even supply to Stellvia." Jeph smiled a little more eagerly. "Either straight parts, or set up to be retrofit to existing tools and systems. Not that I expect it to supplant our main business, but it never hurts to diversify."
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
blackaeronaut Wrote:This is The Wave we're working with here. It can make a reactor go off of coca cola and 7-up syrup (cola/uncola reaction). 40% efficiency is relatively tame.
You did say "pure hard-tech", though...
HRogge Wrote:I was talking about an end product without handwavium in it... ^^
Something even Noah Scott would like.
Yep, and Noah would make his own once Ben releases the plans.
("How?" C'mon, Doug's been through Fenspace, The Girls have followed him, and parts of the Whole Fenspace Catalog have been redacted because Noah wants to use that particular data as a trade secret. We're all intelligent people here, we can do the math...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I am excessively amused by the idea of silicone chips. I didn't know rubberized quartz was a semiconductor, BA...
Looking at the papers, I think that without handwaving for Unobtainium or using exotic materials described in the WFC, it'll be more like a block than a chip. (Of course, it'll be a very small block; probably small enough that it could be installed in existing chip package types (dual inline package, quad flat pack, or pin grid array) such that only manufacturers need know this.)
Part of me believes that the idea behind Fenspace making them isn't that they're really efficient hardtech... it's that it's one of the technologies Fen can use Handwaved manufacturing processes on the hardtech to basically blow out the development curve. Purer forms of silicon, with far fewer manufacturing errors. Not to mention the design aids from Handwaved computer hardware.
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Proginoskes Wrote:I am excessively amused by the idea of silicone chips. I didn't know rubberized quartz was a semiconductor, BA...
They're necessary for computer implants.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Okay, pretend I'm a humanities major with a minimal engineering background and explain to me what the point is of building a combustion engine into an integrated circuit.
(I know, I know: "It's Fenspace; it doesn't
need a point!" Still, there's art for art's sake and then there's just head-scratchingly odd.)
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
It's not just a combustion engine -- it's a turbine spinning a generator. It produces electric current.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
I did get that part, I still don't get
why. Generally I like to keep heavy heat producers away from my ICs, y'know? They tend to make the chips stop working right.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Well for one, if I was developing a design to use 'em, they would be in their own easy to replace section with only control and power leads running to the bits that need power. Basically how it is now with PC power supplies and laptop battery packs (that ain't a Apple). Although they'd be implemented more like a server power supply - multiple hot-swappable boxes.
Besides, 120W isn't a lot of heat really.... even if they were 50% efficient, and pumping out another 120W of heat. Presler Pentium D's put out 130W of heat. And unlike the turbine, most of that heat would be in the exhaust gases which would be carried away to be worried about somewhere else. Might be a good excuse for a water-cooling setup. It's well within the realm of being tolerable anyway
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Um, yeah. I'd still put 'em in their own little box with all the bits they need to function not just because of the heat they output, mainly because of what they are and run on. Little hydrocarbon-burning internal combustion motors, something not usually typically recommended for indoor usage, nor in restricted atmosphere environments - ie pressurized aircraft cabins, spacecraft, and submarines.
Even if somepeople do run IC devices indoors, the only ones I've seen are propane fueled and are running inside an indoors environment smaller than a warehouse & larger than a 7-11, in other words your typical large supermarket.
I can imagine that the Fenspace version will be much more thermally efficient than the actual real-world version. Besides, you can cut a lot of waste-heat out of the picture by using it to pre-heat the the fuel and pre-intake gasses.
Also, I'm pretty sure these little guys would remain in their own closed environment. Since their intended purpose would be emergency aux power, then you'd want them shielded against vacuum. Of course, that'd also mean you'd want them to be bundled up with a compact atmosphere recycling system, a la Explorers. Heck, you could probably package the whole shebang into an easy-to-apply self-contained circuit card. Plug it into a standard PC slot and the built-in power management hardware/software does the rest.
That makes sense. Still for computer applications I'm thinking more along the lines of it being either in the form factor of a ATX or rackmount power supply or 5.25"/3.5"/2.5" drive bay sized.
And to think, most of the space used would be the fuel tank.
Ain't that the way of things, it's especially so for your avatar pic.
I'm thinking for a unit designed to use an 5.25" external bay, it's front panel'd consist of the fuel filler, indicator lights, test switch, a filtered air intake and a ducted exhaust port. If you wanted to get fancy, I'd add a small display for fuel level, estimated operating time, temps etc.
On the rear panel....usb port and a generic power terminal setup to let you hook up whatever device you want to power.
The guts of the box is going to be fuel tank, ducting, a number of GTPS chips, control and power management gear.
The more I think on this the more I'm thinking that what we're doing here is theoretically scaling down something that should all ready exist, a UPS with a small gas turbine generator. Although if they do I doubt they come in at a similar size to a 600 watt UPS roughly two 6-packs of 375ml cans length wise.
--Rod.H
eh, nix the intakes. The environment needs to be self contained for pollution and protection against depressurization - life on ships, you know. S'why I brought up the atmosphere recyclers from Explorers.
Also, UPS like that... sounds awesome. It just needs a battery big enough to a) spin-up the engine and b) cover the gap between loss of power to full turbine power.