9 replies to this topic

[The Basilisk]

What they need now is a compact energy source and faster and more precise leg actuators.
Arms are pretty good already.
Its pretty much like a protomech.
If such a thing gets more responsive and stable (only a matter of time and dev funds) all the nice techs like liquid powerd armor can be mounted and a big handheld gun (Mauser BK-27 to avoide spinup time) with a ammo back tornister won't be the problem. Maybe a Rheinmetall 35 mm x 228 WOTAN30 as shoulder gun...or maybe even a HEL system....one in each arm.

[Lily from animove]

yes the energysource is as usual the issues.

[LordNothing]

Lily from animove, on 11 September 2017 - 03:04 AM, said:

yes the energysource is as usual the issues.

my money is on the polywell as the primary mech-capable fusion reactor design, assuming it doesn't fall flat on its face like iter will. there are other small reactor concepts but i have my doubts about those. polywell is compact enough to fit in a mech torso.

[The Basilisk]

LordNothing, on 28 September 2017 - 03:57 AM, said:

my money is on the polywell as the primary mech-capable fusion reactor design, assuming it doesn't fall flat on its face like iter will. there are other small reactor concepts but i have my doubts about those. polywell is compact enough to fit in a mech torso.

Iter was and never will be a research project about compact or even commercial Fusion power reactors.
Iter is an plasma physics project to understand plasmaphysics and fusion reactions better.
And btw. I thought they ditched the polywell concept because the electron potential sink they use could in relation to its size never achieve enough fusion events to make up for the energy to keep it up.

[Kalimaster]

I would take a quad with a pair of chin mounted bushmaster 25mm cannons, but yeah, one of those would do. My neighbors would never forget they day I brought home my new personnel transport.

[LordNothing]

The Basilisk, on 28 September 2017 - 06:15 AM, said:

Iter was and never will be a research project about compact or even commercial Fusion power reactors.
Iter is an plasma physics project to understand plasmaphysics and fusion reactions better.
And btw. I thought they ditched the polywell concept because the electron potential sink they use could in relation to its size never achieve enough fusion events to make up for the energy to keep it up.

last test i recall reading about showed high beta operation. they havent tried to run it as a fusion reactor since wb6, and that test was just bussard screwing around when his tests were complete. it registered on the neutron counter and that would indicate fusion was occuring. so we know its fusion capable (now its a question of how much). after that he wanted to build a full scale reactor (which would only need to be 3 meters across coil to coil) but died before getting the funding. when dr park took over he wanted more data and opted for a series of smaller reactors to test high beta. they have achieved that and are currently running simulations to better design the next build. they are at least being good scientists and trying to keep the hype low.

totally agree about iter. its a mess. the concrete will still be drying when polywell has either been proven or rejected. and then they have to do it again when they move to the demo step. their long time table is due to the size and expense of the machine, and its the source of that 'fusion is always 20 years away' meme. with polywell its always 2 years away and thats a big improvement.

[The Basilisk]

LordNothing, on 28 September 2017 - 05:58 PM, said:

last test i recall reading about showed high beta operation. they havent tried to run it as a fusion reactor since wb6, and that test was just bussard screwing around when his tests were complete. it registered on the neutron counter and that would indicate fusion was occuring. so we know its fusion capable (now its a question of how much). after that he wanted to build a full scale reactor (which would only need to be 3 meters across coil to coil) but died before getting the funding. when dr park took over he wanted more data and opted for a series of smaller reactors to test high beta. they have achieved that and are currently running simulations to better design the next build. they are at least being good scientists and trying to keep the hype low.

totally agree about iter. its a mess. the concrete will still be drying when polywell has either been proven or rejected. and then they have to do it again when they move to the demo step. their long time table is due to the size and expense of the machine, and its the source of that 'fusion is always 20 years away' meme. with polywell its always 2 years away and thats a big improvement.

I did not downtalk Iter.
Its just not meant to be a project for achieving the goal of producing electrical energy, it never was.
The successor DEMO will be the prototype reactor for commercial power production.
Iter is an integrated "prove of concept setup" to validate the feasability of the technologies needed to get more energy out of a maintained fusion reaction than you put in to maintain it.

Uhm..well high beta configuration, meaning high density low "heat" plasma fusion in contrary to high heat low density plasma fusion in Iter...ringed accelerator field coils versus electron cloud potential sinc containment field... you can't realy compare those concepts.
Its a bit like comparing a power turbine with a piston engine.
Both are combustion engines utilizing thermodynamic expansion of gases to create mechanical energy...but thats about it with their similaritys.
What strikes me as odd is that in the articles about EMC2s advancements not even the used fuel seems to be clear.
Deuterium - Deuterium fusion (lots of waste free Neutrons) versus Bor-11-Proton fusion (No free Neutrons).
Thats like you say you could drive your piston engine either with compressed air or cubustion of crude gas.

Edited by The Basilisk, 30 September 2017 - 04:23 PM.

[LordNothing]

The Basilisk, on 30 September 2017 - 04:21 PM, said:

I did not downtalk Iter.
Its just not meant to be a project for achieving the goal of producing electrical energy, it never was.
The successor DEMO will be the prototype reactor for commercial power production.
Iter is an integrated "prove of concept setup" to validate the feasability of the technologies needed to get more energy out of a maintained fusion reaction than you put in to maintain it.

Uhm..well high beta configuration, meaning high density low "heat" plasma fusion in contrary to high heat low density plasma fusion in Iter...ringed accelerator field coils versus electron cloud potential sinc containment field... you can't realy compare those concepts.
Its a bit like comparing a power turbine with a piston engine.
Both are combustion engines utilizing thermodynamic expansion of gases to create mechanical energy...but thats about it with their similaritys.
What strikes me as odd is that in the articles about EMC2s advancements not even the used fuel seems to be clear.
Deuterium - Deuterium fusion (lots of waste free Neutrons) versus Bor-11-Proton fusion (No free Neutrons).
Thats like you say you could drive your piston engine either with compressed air or cubustion of crude gas.

i understand the whole iter -> demo approach. its still a two phase plan to achieve breakeven fusion. iter is just the intermediate step to see if reality matches theory and its success or failure pretty much dictates whether or not demo happens, or if another intermediate step is needed. and since this is all government money, expect outrage from the public should it fail and you might see the funding dry up overnight. even bussard said it was "really good science". i tend to agree with that statement, but thats not how its being sold to the public.

high beta configuration is not the intended mode of operation for the polywell. the machine has to achieve "wiffleball" where the electron cloud needs to develop self containment characteristics well enough to close up the cusps. then who knows what happens when you start injecting ions (again this was only done once with wb6 using deuterium). polywell will be d-d initially with classic thermodynamic conversion cycles. later the p-b11 reactor would use direct conversion (and thats your mech reactor that can fit in a mackie sized torso). polywell does not work with d-t as far as i know. you really dont want the ions to have too much energy, you want them orbiting the center of the potential well but not so energetically that they hit the vacuum chamber or the coils. path to ground == energy loss.

you cant compare the methods of operation, no, one runs hot and tries to increase the fusion rate through brute force, the other wants the ions to dance around gracefully and run into eachother (and it actually looks and behaves like a star in a jar). but you can compare the price tag, and by that polywell wins by a huge margin. of course it has to work first.

Edited by LordNothing, 30 September 2017 - 06:50 PM.

[Exilyth]

Maybe in a few years it will be as agile as PETMAN or ATLAS: