Reply To: Brain: dualism of consciousness.

[jamesr]

Brian H wrote: It occurs to me that starting up an FF generator in a remote location or carried on/powering a vehicle (distant from either other (operating) generators or the grid) will take some arranging. The capacitors have to be charged up to initiate the self-sustaining sequence, and that would have to be from either the grid, a small auxilliary generator, or batteries, I suppose. The capacitors couldn’t be counted on to hold charge for any useful period of time after a shutdown, either.

Is this likely to be much of a concern or problem?

I don’t see a problem with charging the capacitors?? The capacitors only need to hold enough energy for one pulse to start. With a bit of margin say 100kJ, ie to charge them you could supply for example 200W for 500s. A small solar panel on the roof could do that, or for that matter a person with an crank handle winding a dynamo for a few minutes.

The main startup power would be the vacuum system, since it needs to have pumped down the chamber, preheated it etc. The cooling system (helium & water pumps) could be ramped up as you increase the pulse rate. So you could have for example all the excess power output for the first few minutes of operation is used purely to get all the pumping systems & flow rates up to speed as you increase the pulse rate to its normal output rate, then you can sync up to the grid and start supplying power when everything is ready.