Reply To: Aether-Electron Coupling Rectenna

[psupine]

Might be a good time to draw attention to turbines based on supercritical CO2.

A quick google give a short summary which also links to the main report (which is 6.5MB):

http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/06/supercritical-co2-recompression-cycle.html
http://web.mit.edu/jessiek/MacData/afs.course.lockers/22/22.33/www/dostal.pdf

The advantages of CO2 compared to steam, are that the turbine is much smaller and the operating temperature is lower for the same efficiency (53%). The main disadvantage is that the pressures involved are higher, but with a lower temperature, the metal will have less tendency to creep.

The other alternative is Helium, and if we are already cooling electrodes with helium then running the turbine on that would bypass the need for heat transfer to another working fluid. Helium could also be run through any old X-ray to bulk heat converter mass. Pb is cheap.