Galactic Tech Empire

Chapter 402 Miniaturization Problems

Huang Haojie saw the report sent by the management committee of the Institute, saying that the Academy of Sciences wanted to purchase a prototype for research.

After thinking for a while, since Dong Tang had already agreed to purchase two Jinwu-[-]s, it would be no problem to sell this prototype to them for research, so he approved the matter.

After reviewing some important documents, he directly launched the anthropomorphic bionic robot in Keelung Secret Research Institute.

In fact, after Liu Jingguan proposed the neutron squeeze generator, Huang Haojie has been conducting related research.

In a laboratory of the Secret Research Institute, with Zhong's assistance, Huang Haojie is injecting DD solid (produced by the submetallic hydrogen method) into a miniaturized neutron crushing reactor.

This small neutron crushing reactor is spherical in shape, about the size of a football.

The rugby-ball-shaped condensed matter vacuum chamber inside is wrapped by a ring-shaped vacuum pipe made of hybrid gel material, surrounded by circles of superconducting coils, and one-fifth of the volume inside the ring-shaped vacuum pipe Packed with sodium metal.

He turned on the holographic computer and pressed the reaction switch.

The working principle of the small-scale neutron crushing reactor is exactly the same as that of the large-scale one, that is, injecting nuclear fuel, compressing, releasing energy, and discharging ash.

However, there is definitely no way to install a steam turbine in a small-scale neutron crushing reactor, and there is no way to install even a laser power generation pipeline.

The minicomputer in front of Huang Haojie uses a superconducting magnetic fluid power generation system, which directly uses light radiation and direct heat to heat metal sodium to form sodium plasma to generate electricity.

However, the DD nuclear fuel in this reactor is only 0.1 grams, which is also 100 milligrams.

In 100 mg of DD solid nuclear fuel, deuterium atoms account for 98%. After the nuclear fusion reaction, it can theoretically generate about 8500 kWh of energy. The reaction time is about 1800 seconds, and the average power generation is about 4.72 kWh per second.

But Huang Haojie's real-time monitoring data at this moment shows that the power generation is between 1.32 and 1.34 kWh per second, which is only about 28% of the theoretical energy.

The reason why the energy conversion efficiency is very low is that the heat energy utilization rate is too low.

In the nuclear fusion process of minicomputers, in order to reduce weight, only magnetic fluid power generation systems can be used at present.

In the magnetic fluid power generation system, 56% of the light radiation energy needs to be converted into heat energy first (light radiation heats metal sodium). The energy conversion efficiency in this process is about 80%, and after this round of conversion, it becomes 44.8%. thermal energy.

Light radiation converts 44.8% of heat energy, plus 27% of direct heat energy, the total heat energy that can be used is 71.8%.

And the thermal energy utilization rate of magnetic fluid generator is about 40%, and this converted electric energy just left about 28.72%, and other energy is all wasted in vain.

Huang Junjie looked distressed at the hot minicomputer in front of him. Due to the unusable heat, this minicomputer was heating up crazily.

If the material used is not very strong, the high temperature of the fuselage, which is as high as 742 degrees Celsius, can almost melt steel.

Large-scale neutron-squeezing reactors can use steam turbines to utilize the heat, but small-scale reactors cannot be equipped with steam turbines.

The refrigeration equipment in the laboratory uses more power to cool down than generate electricity. Even if it is installed in the mech, it can be cooled by natural air, and it needs to consume a lot of power.

Obviously these thermal energy are not only wasted, but also become a burden.

"Abort the reaction."

[receive. ]
drop!The pressure inside the vacuum chamber suddenly and rapidly drops, and the nuclear fusion reaction is aborted.

hiss!A spray of cooling spray enveloped the minicomputer.

The nuclear fusion reaction produced by the neutron squeezing method can be terminated anytime and anywhere, even if the system fails, it is very safe.

If the condensed matter vacuum chamber fails, the nuclear fusion reaction will not happen; if there is a fault during the reaction, once the condensed matter vacuum chamber fails, there will be no pressure to squeeze, and the nuclear fusion reaction will immediately neutron; and the DD nuclear fuel itself It is non-radioactive, and the product helium is also non-radioactive.

The most likely danger is the leakage of the high-temperature plasma that has lost its suppression, but these will at most cause part of the equipment to be burned out.

In particular, large-scale neutron crushing reactors are not allowed to enter the core area during operation, so even if there is an accident, the risk is very low.

Huang Haojie didn't care about the cooling minicomputer, but turned around to look up the information on the holographic computer.

He must find a way to deal with these unusable heat energy, otherwise the miniaturization of the nuclear fusion power generation system will only be a sham.

Especially when it is installed on the mecha, the infrared monitoring equipment can sense such a large amount of heat at once.

Enter the keyword search [heat, power generation, reuse] in the holographic computer, and a lot of information soon popped up.

These materials are available both at home and abroad. They are internal databases that Zhong helped to collect. This database can be said to be the largest scientific research database in the world.

After some searching, a lot of information came into Huang Haojie's sight.

Among them, [ion engine] [photon engine] [thermoelectric power generation] was highlighted by Huang Haojie.

The reason why the ion engine is focused on by him is mainly because the ion engine can directly use nuclear fusion helium ash, and use the light and heat of nuclear fusion to heat the inert gas.

The helium plasma and the heated inert gas plasma are ejected, and the reaction force is generated in this way to propel.

The photon engine uses the light radiation of nuclear fusion at this time, and then reflects the photons through the mirror. This method is similar to the ion engine.

Ion engines and photon engines will play a very important role in future spacecraft, and each has its own advantages in terms of application.

Ion engines can use helium ash exhaust gas, but the light radiation requires secondary conversion; while photon engines can only use light radiation, and cannot use heat and helium ash exhaust gas.

Moreover, whether it is an ion engine or a photon engine, it is very unsuitable to be used in the atmosphere. They have a congenital defect, and their thrust is relatively small compared to chemical power. Even if nuclear fusion is launched, it is still difficult to cover up their congenital defects.

Photon engines and ion engines are only suitable for use in outer space, especially long-distance outer space, because their specific impulse exceeds 1, and they can continuously accelerate to push the flight speed to a very high level, which is difficult to achieve with chemical power.

If you use the current Qinglong-class spacecraft to fill up the fuel, start from the Blue Star synchronous orbit to Mars, add a gravitational slingshot, and calculate the position and time (the nearest distance between Blue Star and Mars is about 5500 million kilometers), the spacecraft can reach 16 kilometers per second about.

At this speed, it still takes about 40 to 42 days.

If a synchronous orbital mass projector or a lunar mass projector is used, the speed can be increased to about 40 kilometers per second, and it can reach Mars in 15 days at the fastest.

If a photon engine or an ion engine is used, under the acceleration of the mass projector, and then continue to use the engine to propel, it is estimated that it can reach Mars in about 10 days at the earliest.

But these applications are only suitable for outer space. In the atmosphere, a little thrust with a mass of 1 ton is enough to fly, let alone use ion engines or photon engines to go to outer space.

(End of this chapter)