Reply To: General Fusion Inc

[vansig]

Joeviocoe wrote:
Most of the time, 40% conversion efficiency is because of thermodynamic limitations of Heat Engines… unavoidable.

by the way, heat engine efficiency reaches its limit based on:
(1) the high and low temperatures of the Carnot cycle, expressed as (1 – Tc/Th), where Tc is the absolute temperature of the cold reservoir, and Th is the absolute temperature of the hot reservoir; and
(2) the practicalities of the creep limit of stainless steel (about 530C or 1000F) and the condensation of water vapour at atmospheric pressure. if Tc = 100C = 373K, and Th = 530C = 803 K, then 1 – Tc/Th = 46.5%

but, the alpha beam conversion is a transformer. for those, 98% is routine, and up to 99.5% is in use in power generation and distribution networks today:
http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/163504-Energy-Management-in-Distribution-Transformer.aspx

and, while the onion still has to be developed, and we should justify the claim that we expect high efficiency from it, as well, the efficiency is expected to increase with xray energy, which will be up around 100 keV if i recall correctly.