[Aeronaut]

It’s all about appearances, Vansig. Since nobody in their right mind would waste their time trying to figure out a way to improve (or eliminate the need for) the power grid, anybody who takes pictures of the local electrical distribution system must obviously be up to no good, since security types will project according to their world view. The Buffalo Springfield song “For What It’s Worth” spelled it out clearly back around ’67: “It starts when you’re always afraid… step out of line, the Man come, and take you away”.

[Aeronaut]

Electrode design/ profile/ taper is left wide open in the patent. Made to order for marketing “advantages” and snake oil sales. Buying a FF core (swap) intelligently will also require that all parties agree on how the word Unity is used, as well as variations on true power vs apparent power. This is going to make solar panel calculations look tame and straight-forward.

[Aeronaut]

vansig wrote:

all that hardware is laying all over the countryside for anybody who’s tuned in to observe. 🙂 Too bad it’s tacitly illegal to photograph things you want to improve…

what’s that about?

It’s a US thing. Seems we have 2 outfits named DHS over here.

[Aeronaut]

JimmyT wrote:

WOW! Just the 1st para looks like the machine I’ve been looking for over in the CVD marketplace. It also gave me some ideas for the onion, since it should be able to handle a drum-shaped blank.

I’m wondering if maybe the best way to build an onion is like orange slices. Design and build 1 slice. Repeat 40 times then fit them together. Could be sphere or cylinder, or anything in between.

To prove and test in a lab, using hand-laid foils, I’d use 4 to 8 panels for a boxy looking onion. Several panel formulations would be needed to capture over 90% of the X-ray energy, and then all of those panels would need to be stacked in a structurally sound manner that allows for cooling. All of this takes place inside the vacuum chamber, by the way, unless it, too, becomes beryllium.

Mass production units should be around 200 slats. Eric hinted at that near the end of the patent, due to the onion’s structural and cooling requirements. I can see the final price of a FF generator being tied directly to the degree of automated fabrication and assembly of the onion.

[Aeronaut]

vansig wrote:

Perhaps we should clarify that FF-1 is science fiction for the moment, as it is testing hypotheses and theory.

Disagree. “fiction” means “not true, or not real”. There is real science being undertaken in these experiments, real hypotheses being tested, and independently-reproducible results being generated. Clearly, this is not fiction.

I used the word fiction in that case to mean that which has not yet been proven. Predicting surface conditions of a gas giant is science fiction.

[Aeronaut]

Interesting map. One hidden assumption is that this is entirely solar electric rather than a combination of solar thermal followed by solar electric. Another hidden assumption is that solar means directly from the sun. Jimmy Carter’s definition of solar included indirectly from the sun, which could be generalized as far out as to include oil.

[Aeronaut]

Allan Brewer wrote: So do you have doubts about the capability of the “onion” – I thought it was proven technology?

The science was proven back in Maxwell’s and Hertz’s era. The challenges are going to be in areas like tuning groups of layers for particular energy bands, and developing the tooling, fixtures, procedures, and all of the other engineering challenges that would get FF into mass production.

But given $1M today, I’d love a crack at positioning FF to clean up cleaning up down in the Gulf of Mexico. 😉 So much for the phrase “due diligence”.

[Aeronaut]

We wouldn’t have the temperature required to melt the sand into glass ingots, but we could possibly evaporate the oil out of the sand, or the water out of the oil in a continuous process flash heater. In any event, we’d need to keep the VOC resultants out of the atmosphere due to EPA regulations.

[Aeronaut]

I’ve never been clear about the mechanism that recycles the electrons back into the plasmoid. But the power of that X-ray blast is a much more serious concern to me than the e-beam erosion. If nothing else, a few anodes with varying dimple dimensions could run some tests to minimize erosion caused by the ebeam.

[Aeronaut]

Perhaps we should clarify that FF-1 is science fiction for the moment, as it is testing hypotheses and theory. The movies and novels are almost universally science fantasy. As Jamesr mentioned, science fantasy in the hands of a master thinker and story teller can pave the way to developing the experiments that turn a once crazy idea into something like a cel phone or GPS. Or both. If nothing else, it can provide an escape from armed camp mentalities.

[Aeronaut]

In a perfect scenario, 100% of the ebeam would be absorbed by the plasmoid. The fraction that is absorbed heats the plasmoid, increasing the rate of fusion events, and thus the energy produced that machine cycle. The unabsorbed ebeam fraction expends it’s energy as a heat pulse on the anode, which vaporizes a certain amount that doesn’t hurt a research reactor significantly, but would be unacceptable in a working reactor at even 330 hz.

[Aeronaut]

The vacuum chamber and cathodes are at negative (ground) potential. The angular momentum determines plasmoid diameter by countering the collapsing magnetic field, if I understand it correctly. This is how the plasmoid and field are connected. Thanx, I’d missed the recoil implications.

[Aeronaut]

The beaches would be easy compared to the marshes. Which brings up the question of how BP could ever “make it right” as their CEO promises in their latest ad. I suppose we could start by clarifying what he means by “it” and “right”…

[Aeronaut]

Not true, Ivy Matt. I believe we have a chicken and egg type of thang where 5 images would sell the reactor types. Some (groups?) are comfortable with gigawatt centralized plants, others will want one for their subdivision or village. So the first step becomes creating the desire to learn about the options. And an image is easily worth 1,000 words.

[Aeronaut]

Yep, it’s working in FF today. Enjoyed the resume, btw. Looks like your docs are on the right track.

[Author]

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