Technology Updates

SpaceNut · 2022-12-30 09:46:55

The name would mean an ion of helium which is H3 that is quite high for levels on the moon and low quantities on earth.

Sure, it can be made with lots of energy to separate to deuterium to react in a chamber

Void · 2022-12-30 11:12:20

It is very exciting. Mostly Aneutronic, except perhaps for the fuel creation of Helium 3.

I believe that Helium 3 is a valuable product for other reasons as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3
Uses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3#Uses

So, we may not be going to the Moon to fight over it.

Perhaps a very good thing.

Done

Last edited by Void (2022-12-30 11:16:55)

RobertDyck · 2022-12-30 13:15:32

If you watch the video, they produce He3 by a double-deuterium reaction. The speaker claims it produced neutron radiation, but lower energy than neutrons from a deuterium-tritium reaction. Half the time a double-deuterium reaction produced tritium and a neutron, the other half helium-3 and a proton. Their system can capture energy from all charged particles. So they separate the tritium, let it decay over 12 years to become helium-3. That's what he says in the video. Half-life is 12.33 years, meaning it takes that much time for half of it to decay. Then that much time again for the remaining half. So after 24.66 years, one quarter of the starting amount is left. After another 12.33 years, one eighth. After another 12.33 years, one sixteenth, etc.

It's less expensive to make helium-3 from deuterium than it is to harvest from the Moon.

Void · 2022-12-30 18:49:21

In this post Calliban offers this: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 68#p204468
Quote:

The original Island One proposed by the late Gerard O'Neill was a Bernal Sphere, some 500m in diameter. It would have massed about 5 million tonnes. Of this, about 250,000 tonnes would be steel structure, some 30,000 tonnes of air, around 700,000 tonnes of internal silicates for buildings and soil, around 50,000 tonnes of water and the balance about (3.7 million tonnes) being shielding. Water ice is actually the best shielding and happens to be abundant in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud objects. So the substances we need to build a space colony are about 80% water, about 1% O2/N2 (also derived from water), 5% iron, 14% silicates. A rogue dwarf planet like Sedna, would contain enough of these materials in about the right proportions, to build trillions of space habitats. And the water, contains both protium and deuterium. Both could serve as fuels in large fusion reactors.
A large dwarf planet like Eris contains enough materials and fusion fuel to sustain an Earth sized population for billions of years. This population will not for the most part be living on or in the dwarf planet. They would form an orbital swarm or ring of habitats around it. By mounting individual spheres or cylinders on a rigid ring around the dwarf, humanity could build interconnected habitats with more land area than the Earth. Travel between them could be accomplished without expending any propellant. Electrically powered trains would run along the ring, allowing propellantless travel between the habitats. Some of these habs could be country sized.
Last edited by Calliban (2022-12-28 14:23:39)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

In our solar system we have two worlds that may be possible to implement prior to Eris, the Mars subsystem and the Saturn subsystem.

For Mars, I think nuclear fission with the fuel coming from Earth would be a good start method. Then if you went to Fusion, supposing the Helion device works as explained, you only need access to water. If you can find an aquifer, it may have Perchlorate salts in it, so that you could get Oxygen, Water, other salts, and Deuterium for the reactor. Dust storms would not matter that much, as you could store food frozen or freeze dried for such occasions.

For Saturn, I guess a focus would be on Titan. Obtaining heavy element materials may be a little hard, but if some of the moons are not fully differentiated, or if it could come from the sea floor of Enceladus, (Presuming no living things to protect), that should satisfy it.

Other sources could be objects that fell for the sky and are in the thick ice of Titan.

Another method is to send things to Titan from the inner solar system. An object shaped like a heat shield but with no payload sent could aero burn into the atmosphere and be slowed in descent by the thick atmosphere and low gravity. It could land in an artificial bed of snow.
Parachute? If you want it.

And Saturn itself might be a resource. If space elevators can work for it. The scoop at the lower end would not have to be at zero speed relative to the upper atmosphere. So, that might help. Also, if the molecules can be caused to travel up the tether by electrical methods, that would be easier than lifting a big load.

So, you might get Hydrogen and Helium as propellants, and Deuterium and Helium 3 as fusion fuels.

This perhaps supports the notion:
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Saturn-ful … -of-energy

Helion does not need to extract Helium 3 from Saturn, but I make it a mention anyway.

If Helion's machines work as indicated, then Titan could have a system of Canals built filled with water, some bottom liner and insulated top needed. And lots of agriculture in an on the banks of such canals.

And from what Calliban has said, the Saturn sub-subsystem could support a very large population for a very, very long time.

From there it might be worth seeing what could be done with Triton/Neptune and Pluto/Charon.

That's a lot of loot.

Done

Last edited by Void (2022-12-30 19:10:25)

SpaceNut · 2023-01-01 10:44:09

The technology keeps getting more expensive as we drive away from carbon based fuels and as alternatives appear we keep asking for even more energy to make use of rather than cutting back on them. This is very apparent as more power lines are failing.
Power failures amplify calls for utility to rethink gas

It is also seen in the EV market as the price is not getting cheaper but more expensive as well.

The race to make electric cars cheaper is making electric cars more expensive

Yes, we want the change, but we also must learn to control these changes such that they do not continue to be just for the rich. It's a small market and it will saturate quickly with the effort to design in obsolesces so as to keep the manufacturing going. We have seen this in the computer industry, and it is doing more harm than good. Now we are seeing it creep across more of the things that we all want to have in our lives.

RobertDyck · 2023-01-04 16:29:08

Could Helion technology be adapted to produce a pulse thruster? A nuclear fusion pulse thruster for manoeuvring a large ship? An RCS thruster?

Calliban · 2023-01-04 18:07:05

RobertDyck wrote:

Could Helion technology be adapted to produce a pulse thruster? A nuclear fusion pulse thruster for manoeuvring a large ship? An RCS thruster?

Possibly. But from what I can see of Helion's design, it would mean venting partially consumed fuel into space. That would be expensive from a fuel standpoint, because He3 is rare. Using the reactor to power ion thrusters wouod be more efficient from a fuel standpoint, but would add weight.

Where are Helion going to get their He3 from? Most of what little we have on Earth is derived from tritium decay. But producing tritium requires a neutron flux interacting with lithium. Helion promises to be mostly aneutronic. Which means initially at least, they will need to rely on fission reactors (probably CANDU) to produce their fuel. They will be in competition with ITER for that limited supply.

Void · 2023-01-04 19:44:49

Robert would say the same, I believe. Helion intends to manufacture Helium 3 themselves in a fusion reaction.
They say so in the video: https://www.helionenergy.com/

This is a good video about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bDXXWQxK38

I have this post about how I believe that they are using a tank circuit: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 10#p204510

So, the manufacture two plasma rings and shoot them with two mass drivers so that they colloid, and then they further compress it in the center.

If they could have a third plasma mass driver, perhaps they could shoot plain old Hydrogen, or the Helium 4 that they finally create.
They should be able to tap the field collapse of the two fusion reactor induction coils, I would think.

What do you think. I do consider that very important.

Done.

Last edited by Void (2023-01-04 20:33:02)

RobertDyck · 2023-01-05 00:50:46

Part of my design for the Large Scale Colonization Ship was micro-fusion thrusters. I have a paper from NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), but it's theoretical only, no hardware was built. That design would use magnto-plasma-dynamic (MPD) thrusters to accelerate a mixture of deuterium and tritium to a central point in space, followed by normal hydrogen to add pressure. The reaction would take place within a parabolic magnetic field, so the fusion plasma would be accelerated in exhaust direction. Using mostly normal hydrogen with some deuterium and tritium is less expensive. Problem is no one has built a unit to prove it works.

The video for Helion says they intend to react deuterium with deuterium, which creates tritium and a relatively low energy protron about half the time. The other half of the time it creates helium-3 and a relatively low energy neuton. The video said they intend to let tritium sit in storage until it decays to helium-3. Decay releases a beta particle, an electron. Half-life of tritium is 12.3 years, so it takes that long for half of the tritium to decay. Tritium can be acquired from heavy water fission reactors.

Void · 2023-01-05 09:40:49

Quote Robert:

Tritium can be acquired from heavy water fission reactors.

So, that is another path to get Helium 3 for a Helion reactor, but you have to store the Tritium for a while.

I would think that the fission process for that would have a lot of waste heat, which could be used at bases to help heat, and maybe make electric power. That path would also allow the very complex Helion Reactors to avoid damaging Neutron processes.

Having a process that provides Helium 3 and Tritium and Deuterium might be at bases, such as the poles of the Moon, or Earth. Large ships might use those fuels to run Aneutronic Helion reactors which may not require as much shielding for the crew and sensitive cargo.

A change from this pattern would be to procure Helium 3 from a world. The Moon or a gas giant. Uranus would be the easiest to pull materials out of with a space elevator. If Planet 9 exists and is a Mini-Neptune, that may be easier still.

A ship around a gas planet, would not need to accelerate, but simply maintain orbit while lifting the mass of gasses. So, it would be a fueling station.

Gravity for Uranus: https://promautengineeringsolutions.com … -to-earth/
Quote:

Gravity on Uranus is only about 90 percent that of Earth; if you weigh 100 lbs. at home, you would only weigh 91 lbs.27 Feb 2018

That is about the same as for Venus, I believe. But Venus does not have much spin.

Mars of course is even lighter but does not have as much atmosphere to spare.

A tether of some kind could pull up small quantities of the atmosphere of Uranus to orbit into such a ship. Possibly the ions of molecules could be made to flow up the tether, using electrical forces. The bottom end of the space elevator could still move relative to the atmosphere, so this would also reduce the load on the tether, as long as it did not have so much friction as to be damaged with heat.

This would be much easier than to lift loads of big chunks of mass.

I believe that there should be as much Helium 3 in Uranus as there is Deuterium.

Done.

Last edited by Void (2023-01-05 09:54:13)

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-10 19:55:49

this post is for kbd512 .... it is about what is claimed to be a more efficient internal combustion engine design ....

Mon, January 9, 2023 at 10:58 PM EST
SARASOTA, FL - (NewMediaWire) - January 9, 2023 - First National Energy Corporation (FNEC) is proud to announce the acquisition of a patent for a revolutionary technology that could transform the automotive industry. The technology, developed and built by renowned mechanical and aeronautical engineer Wojciech Gaj-Jablonski, is a superior internal combustion engine that could provide a solution for affordable sustainability.
Initial testing has shown that this engine has the potential to allow vehicles to travel twice the distance while emitting 80% fewer pollutants and 33% less greenhouse gas emissions. Weighing in at less than 150 pounds and costing less than half of current engines, this 360 horsepower motor is set to revolutionize the industry.
First National is excited to bring this game-changing technology to market as it looks forward to its potential to improve fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impact. First National's team will continue to refine this innovative engine as it moves towards mass production.
About First National Energy Corporation
First National Energy is an established company with a track record in renewable energy while trading under the symbol FNEC for more than 20 years. The company has recently made a significant shift in its direction by focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving sustainability. This new mission will be supported by innovative technologies, including wind-powered turbines and a revolutionary internal combustion engine that is more efficient and environmentally-friendly than current engines. First National Energy is well positioned to succeed in this new direction, with a wealth of assets and expertise at its disposal. The company has proven and producing turbines with a global presence, a profitable logistics operation in North America, and a patented internal combustion engine that has the potential to make a significant impact on fuel efficiency and pollution. Overall, First National Energy is poised to make a positive impact on the world through its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve sustainability. The company's new mission and innovative technologies provide a strong foundation for a bright and responsible future.
About Wojciech Gaj-Jablonski Inventor/Engineer
Wojciech Gaj-Jablonski is a highly accomplished mechanical engineer and aeronautical expert with over 30 years of experience in research and development of internal combustion engines. He holds a Masters of Engineering degree from Cracow University of Technology and has multiple patents to his name for innovative engine designs and advanced material technologies. Wojciech also is a veteran ultralight pilot and founder of JabFly Corp. a powered paraglider ultra-light aircraft manufacturer and exporter that is responsible for creating one of the world's first and safest flying parasail trikes. His technology and system were used in over 90 movies and film productions, including aerial photography for National Geographic and the BBC. Wojciech is also known for his work on single-stroke engines, which he identified as having the potential for significantly higher power density than current internal combustion engine designs. He spent many years studying the basic operating principles and technological applications of this type of engine and in 2014 he built a functional proof-of-concept prototype. In 2018, he established AMPERe Inc. as his formal research and development facility, where he continues to fine tune his innovative engines optimized for commercial use.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" including, but not limited to, statements regarding product commercialization plans, integration with other products, our business plans and strategies, anticipated advantages for global sales, expected cost savings, and anticipated product performance. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions, expectations and beliefs, and involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may cause results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, regulatory changes, our ability to manage our strategic relationships, and fluctuations or declines in the performance of our products and solutions. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.
Media Contact:
Pete Wanner
Phone: 416-981-6987
Email: support@firstnationalenergy.com
View the original release on www.newmediawire.com

The comments after the article are generally skeptical, to downright disrespectful ....

The general impression I got is that folks believe that after 100 years of competition, there is not much more to be wrung out of the IC.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-01-10 20:37:18

Just mass to horsepower for fuel amount to emissions are a secondary thought process for what is not creating power to the drive train.
The issue for the IC is that they run all the time while coasting or going downhill with little to no acceleration being desired.

The Prius even as a second-generation design showed how much value there is to be shifting stored energy to the drive train and banking it when in coasting mode restoring energy that is used under a light acceleration.

If I find the new solar ev car I will post it as it gave a gas saving calculation for using electricity.

update

2019
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2944 … -charging/

aptera-door-open-1570975887.jpg?crop=1xw:0.8886618998978549xh;center,top&resize=1200:*

Every hour it's parked in the sun generates five miles of range, so Aptera claims 44 miles of range in a day based on solar charging from the summer sun in San Diego.

aptera-chassis-114-1567110023.jpg?resize=980:*

The wheel covering towards the ground is what the Honda insight has as part of its body shape.

2020 continued hype for the vehicle with a color change
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/12/11/apter … ng-design/

aptera-solar-electric-vehicle-design_dezeen_2364_col_9.jpg

According to the San Diego-based company, the average American drives 29 miles per day. Therefore, depending on where the owner lives and how much they drive, they "may never need to charge Aptera at all".
Measuring at 4.4 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and 1.4 metres high, the three-wheeled Aptera vehicle can accommodate two adults and a pet, according to the company.

If you drive less than you just might never need to charge the battery at home.

https://www.aptera.us/never-charge

A total of 180 solar cells are integrated into the structure of the car body, and can be configured to provide up to 45 miles of range per day.
"For Aptera, 30 miles consumes about three-kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity. Now, let's say your commute is 15 miles each way, let's assume it's dark when you're driving to and from work," it continued.
"While parked at the office on a sunny day, your Aptera could put back in about 4.4 kWh, which is far more than what you'll use that day. You'll arrive home with more charge than when you left with. That's how it works, it's as simple as that."
The car is also composed of four parts instead of the average 300 that make up a vehicle, making it smoother as well as more cost-efficient to produce.
This combined with its aerodynamic shape reduces drag to a coefficient (Cd) of 0.13. For comparison, Tesla's Model 3 has a drag Cd of 0.23.
The car, which is planned to go into production in 2021, is able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour (mph) in 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 110 mph.

just a 2-seater but that's great if you only need the 1 for commuting to work and the parking lots are wide open to the sun all day long.

aptera-solar-electric-vehicle-design_dezeen_2364_col_20.jpg

There are options when it comes to range, too. You can opt for the 1,000 mile model ($44,900), a 600 mile model ($34,600), a 400 mile model ($29,800) or a 250 model ($25,900).

Using the cost calculator indicates that as fuel costs go up the savings would pay for the vehicles cost in under 6 years.

SpaceNut · 2023-01-14 16:04:04

This post will make it into a couple of topics.
nanoFlowcell QUANTiNO ‘twentyfive’ EV Runs Without Batteries

Developed in the U.K. by nanoFlowcell, it uses bi-ION technology.

Well not in the ordinary sense as they are using a flow battery.

Instead of battery packs, the Quantino uses a convergence of positively-charged electrolytes and negatively-charged anolyte. Once introduced into an ion-selective membrane, it produces electricity. “Our water-treatment system turns saltwater, brackish water or wastewater into carrier liquids for our specially nano-structured molecules – the actual bi-ION® charge carriers,” says its website. The solutions are each stored in 125-liter tanks, that’s 33 gallons to us Yanks.
The two liquid solutions are, according to NanoFlowcell, without toxic substances. They’re also non-flammable, and “eco-compatible.” With the continuing reports of EV fires, that is quite a marketable feature. Beyond that, there are all of those unmentionable issues with extracting Lithium necessary for the increasingly massive Li-ION battery needs.
“The cost of manufacturing the bi-ION® electrolyte liquid on an industrial scale is estimated at substantially less than ten Euro-cents per liter. Industrial production costs for nanoFlowcell® would be around 600 Euro ($650). The company guarantees a life span for nanoFlowcell of a minimum of 50,000 operating hours, which equals to around 1.8 million kilometers (well over one million miles) in an electric car.

https://www.nanoflowcell.com/research-d … twentyfive

The twentyfive is a 2+2 fastback with motors at each wheel. Power comes in at 320 hp, with a zero-to-62 time in under three seconds. And the range? It’s 1,242 miles. So you know there’s no typo, that’s 1,242 miles range. Now that we have your attention, let’s briefly look at the bi-ION technology.

Starting with The Mystery of the Quant 48 EV That Runs On Salt Water

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-20 13:05:18

https://www.yahoo.com/news/race-diesel- … 23169.html

The article at the link above reports on experiments to mix hydrogen and diesel fuel to improve environmental performance while sustaining mechanical performance. The "secret" appears to be how the mixture is controlled.

BBC
The race to make diesel engines run on hydrogen
Phil Mercer - BBC News, Sydney
Fri, January 20, 2023 at 4:03 AM EST
Coal Mine in South Kalimantan - Indonesia
Converting mining industry vehicles to hydrogen could mean big savings in CO2 emissions
It's a new hydrogen-diesel hybrid engine affectionately known as "baby number two" that could help to decarbonise some of Australia's heaviest industries.
The test rig is large - it has its own room adjoining a lab and looks at first glance like many other large motors, but beneath its metallic skin could lie game-changing technology.
Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) say they have successfully modified a conventional diesel engine to use a mix of hydrogen and a small amount of diesel, claiming their patented technology has cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 85%.
It's the work of Prof Shawn Kook and his team at the university's School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
"The interest in converting an existing diesel engine into a clean-burning hydrogen engine is extremely high," Prof Kook tells the BBC at his laboratory in Sydney. Enquiries have come from Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Japan and China.
"We mount the hydrogen direct injection system into existing diesel engines, which can be applied to any conventional engine," he adds.
What makes their system unique, according to Prof Kook, is the way it mixes the hydrogen and diesel and then introduces it to the engine cylinder for combustion.
Professor Shawn Kook, University of New South Wales
Prof Kook says there is an "extremely high" level of interest in making diesel engines run on hydrogen
Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen does not produce CO2 when burnt, so it has long been seen as a greener fuel source.
About 90% of fuel in the UNSW hybrid diesel engine is hydrogen but it must be applied in a carefully calibrated way.
If the hydrogen is not introduced into the fuel mix at the right moment "it will create something that is explosive that will burn out the whole system," Prof Kook explains.
He says that studies have shown that controlling the mixture of hydrogen and air inside the cylinder of the engine can help negate harmful nitrogen oxide emissions, which have been an obstacle to the commercialisation of hydrogen motors.
The Sydney research team believes that any diesel trucks and power equipment in the mining, transportation and agriculture sectors could be retrofitted with the new hybrid system in just a couple of months.
Prof Kook doubts the hybrid would be of much interest in the car industry though, where electric and hybrid vehicles are already advanced and replacing diesel cars.
However, he says Australia's multibillion-dollar mining industry needs a solution for all its diesel-powered equipment as soon as possible.
The diesel engine converted to run on hydrogen at the University of New South Wales
It's an ordinary diesel engine but runs on 90% hydrogen
"We have so many established diesel-powered generators, mega-trucks and underground machines. How do we decarbonise all those existing diesel engines? One way is to shut down everything and get new technology in, which will take decades," he says.
The plan is for the hybrid to run off a hydrogen-diesel mix or, in the absence of hydrogen, it can revert to diesel only.
Prof Kook hopes his new generation engine will become a commercial product within two years.
Tim Buckley, the director at Climate Energy Finance, a public interest think-tank in Sydney, believes the technology has the potential to "transform the Australian mining industry dramatically".
"There's always an element of scepticism in the work I do to evaluate what is hype and hope as opposed to reality. Having said that, this University of New South Wales breakthrough does appear to be pretty material. If they can pull it off it is a huge opportunity," he says.
More technology of business:
'It had just vanished' - the shock when tech fails
The cargo hauling aircraft with no pilots on board
Skilled tech workers snapped up despite downturn
Tropical vineyards put India on the wine map
Second-hand tech booms as shoppers look for bargains
The Australian team is in a global race to develop hybrid diesel-hydrogen engines. Engineers in other countries are working on their concepts and designs but the Sydney team believes it has an edge.
"I think we have a breakthrough compared to most other research groups in the world where we can actually achieve a higher percentage using hydrogen over diesel," explains Xinyu Liu, a UNSW PhD student from China.
"Emission-wise, CO2-wise we can achieve a higher reduction than the other methods. The concept has been proven using the previous small-scale engine. We are trying to implement this idea into a larger scale, which is more [applicable] to industry."
Xinyu Liu, PhD student (left) and Professor Shawn Kook, University of New South Wales
PhD student Xinyu Liu (left) says the UNSW team's research is ahead of other diesel-hydrogen projects
The bigger version, or the UNSW's "baby number two", has twice the volume of the original prototype and has the potential for a "massive reduction in CO2" emissions, according to Prof Kook.
The vision is laid out in a paper published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
Much of the invention's impact on the environment will depend on where the hydrogen comes from.
While small amounts of hydrogen are being extracted directly from the ground, most hydrogen is manufactured, in a process that emits CO2.
Green hydrogen, produced by using electricity from renewable power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules using an electrolyser, is seen as the answer. But the technology and the electricity needed is costly, so at the moment only a small amount of hydrogen is produced this way.
But the costs are likely to come down and with abundant sunshine and wind, Australia has a lot of potential to produce renewable electricity, which could one day be used to make more green hydrogen.
The Climate Council, an independent organisation, believes that sustainable hydrogen gives Australia the chance to end its reliance on fossil fuels.
"Australia is one of the world's largest coal exporters and the largest liquefied gas exporter," the Council wrote in a 2021 briefing. "Both are polluting fossil fuels, and Australia is paying a high cost for that with more severe and frequent extreme weather events like bushfires, heatwaves, and drought."
Wind Turbines at Capital Wind Farm, the largest wind farm in New South Wales, 30 kilometres north east of Canberra
Australia has great potential for renewable electricity, which could be used to make green hydrogen
For now, the UNSW project remains in the nursery in the laboratory. Academic endeavour needs the financial heft of outside investment and the hands-on input and knowledge of a mining company or engine manufacturer.
"Our vision is to impact Australian mining, agriculture and construction industries first and then move out to the rest of the world to make a bigger impact," says Prof Kook.
Australia has some of the world's biggest resources companies and they have all committed to aggressive decarbonisation targets. Technology is the key.
"The idea of blending hydrogen and diesel together in an existing engine is something of a Holy Grail for decarbonising heavy industry and mining," adds Tim Buckley.
He has this existential question for the engineers at UNSW: "Can they actually deploy it in a commercial setting and replicate it outside the university?"

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-01-20 18:14:24

Sort of like hydrogenated butter or margarine it can make it cleaner but where is the balance for the combustion equation?
It would be possible to do an electrolysis system and get a better performance as the hydrogen as you have a surplus oxygen to use if one stores them just so that one can control the injection of these into the chambers at the correct timing.

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-20 18:28:46

For SpaceNut re #490

Thanks for noting the work being done to try to improve environmental performance of thousands of existing large scale diesel equipment.

It is unlikely all those machines can be replaced any time soon. The hydrogen has to be produced elsewhere, and merged into the fuel.

How that is done successfully is worth additional posts by members, if anyone has the time.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-30 07:12:46

For SpaceNut (and all interested in aircraft design)...

Search for: darpa-wants-aircraft-that-can-maneuver-with-a-radically-different-method

Popular Science
DARPA wants aircraft that can maneuver with a radically different method
Story by Kelsey D. Atherton • 59m ago
The Pentagon's R&D wing is taking the next steps towards developing airplanes that don't use traditional control surfaces like ailerons.
The program is called Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors, or CRANE.
© DARPA
On January 17, DARPA announced the next steps of a program to create an aircraft designed to fly entirely on control surfaces that lack the moving parts that airplanes typically use to maneuver. DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, specializes in blue-sky visions, investing in research towards creating new possibilities for technology. In this program, it seeks to change how aircraft alter direction in the sky.
The program is called Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors, or CRANE. DARPA first started the program in 2019, with a request for proposals to “design, build, and flight test a new and novel aircraft that incorporates Active Flow Control (AFC) technologies as a primary design consideration.”
AFC is a kind of control paradigm that replaces moving parts like ailerons and rudder of an aircraft. Planes change their positions by redirecting airflow with ailerons attached to the wings, an elevator at the tail, and a rudder. These controls are what let planes roll side to side, pitch upwards to take off and downwards to land, as well as or yaw left to right. Extendable slats and flaps on wings can also allow planes to generate more lift at low speeds, and to slow the plane as it angles down for a landing. (Here’s more on exactly how wings generate lift.)
With “Active Flow Control,” aircraft can use plasma actuators or synthetic jet actuators to move air, instead of relying on physical surfaces. With plasma actuators, this is achieved through changing the electrical charge of air passing over the actuators mounted in the wing, in turn changing the flow of that air. Meanwhile, synthetic jets can inject air into the airflow over the wing, changing lift. In 2019, NASA patented a wing control system that combined both plasma and synthetic jet actuators, with the goal of creating actuators without any moving parts, and which were “essentially maintenance free.”
In DARPA’s 2019 call for proposals, it emphasized that this technology could lead to “elimination of moving control surfaces for stability & control,” improvements in “takeoff and landing performance, high lift flight, thick airfoil efficiency, and enhanced high altitude performance.”
With improved takeoffs and landing, such a control system could allow for “extreme short takeoff and landing” (ESTOL), where a plane or drone operates from runways even smaller than those present used for short takeoff and landing. The Department of Defense and NATO define short takeoff as being able to land on a runway 1,5000 feet long, with a 50-foot obstacle at either end.
Because these new flow controls could increase the angle of lift for takeoff and improved braking for descent, it’s possible that a plane with it could land in an even smaller area. That expands how and where such planes can operate, and matters especially with future wars and operations at sea, where the military has to bring its own runways on ships, or on small islands.
Another area where these controls can help is in making it harder for aircraft to be observed, as it reduces the number of surfaces on an aircraft that would reflect radar signals. The controls can also be quieter, minimizing detection from audio sensors, and can improve aircraft stability and lift at high altitudes. The controls also allow for thicker plane wings, which can hold more fuel.
In December, Aurora Flight Sciences (which is a part of Boeing) was awarded over $89 million for the CRANE program, or roughly the cost of a single F-35A stealth jet fighter. In Phase 1, which is already completed, Aurora created an aircraft that was able to use active flow control to demonstrate control in a wind tunnel test. Phase 2, which was announced this month, will focus on designing and developing the software and controls of an X-plane demonstrator that “can fly without traditional moving flight controls on the exterior of the wings and tail.”
Should DARPA decide to continue the contrast, there’s the option for Phase 3, in which DARPA will fly a 7,000 pound X-plane that incorporates active flow control and relies on it for controlled flight.
In starting the design from a new kind of control paradigm, DARPA hopes to spark new thinking about how planes can fly and maneuver. DARPA’s long record of X-plane design includes everything from long endurance drones to stealth aircraft to hypersonic designs, all of which have led to changes in military design and planning. The ability of aircraft to use active follow control to operate from smaller runways expands not just the areas where the military can fight, but even the size of ships that could launch long-flying drones.
DARPA, on the innovation edge of research, has focused the project on making sure the technology can work in demonstration, first. Should it prove successful, it will be up to other parts of the military to best determine how they want to employ it.
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Comments

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Void · 2023-02-02 13:24:05

This could be an example of how over time we might accumulate enough tricks to overcome or Forstall limitations on energy methods.

https://www.newswise.com/doescience/rin … %20battery.
Quote:

Rinse and Repeat: An Easy New Way to Recycle Batteries is Here
Berkeley Lab scientists invented a material that will reduce the cost, complexity, and environmental impact of battery recycling
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
1-Feb-2023 10:00 AM EST, by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Technological accumulation. If we can maintain order, and not lose the tricks, then we can suppose we will benefit from it.

Done.

Last edited by Void (2023-02-02 13:24:40)

tahanson43206 · 2023-02-03 18:13:44

This post about improved desalination technique could fit well in several topics ...

I'll start it here:

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/clea … 42411.html

Engadget
Researchers can now pull hydrogen directly from seawater, no filtering required
It could eventually produce cheap, renewable energy for coastal areas.
lingqi xie via Getty Images
Will Shanklin
Will Shanklin·Contributing Reporter
Fri, February 3, 2023 at 4:40 PM EST
Researchers at the University of Adelaide announced this week that they made clean hydrogen fuel from seawater without pre-treatment. Demand for hydrogen fuel, a clean energy source that only produces water when burned, is expected to increase in the coming years as the world (hopefully) continues to pivot away from fossil fuels. The findings could eventually provide cheaper green energy production to coastal areas.
“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100 per cent efficiency, to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyser,” said Professor Shizhang Qiao, the team’s co-lead. Seawater typically needs to be purified before electrolysis splits it into hydrogen and oxygen. The team says its results, using cobalt oxide with chromium oxide on its surface as the catalyst, had similar performance to a standard process of applying platinum and iridium catalysts to highly purified and deionized water.
Compared to freshwater, seawater is an abundant resource, and the ability to extract hydrogen fuel from seawater without pre-treatment could save money. However, even if successfully scaled, it would likely only be practical for coastal communities with plenty of seawater — not so much for Iowa or Kansas.
The team’s next step is to scale the system with a larger electrolyzer. Then, although it’s still early in development, the researchers hope to eventually apply the findings to commercial hydrogen production for fuel cells and ammonia synthesis. Co-lead Yao Zheng summarized, “Our work provides a solution to directly utilise seawater without pre-treatment systems and alkali addition, which shows similar performance as that of existing metal-based mature pure water electrolyser.”

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tahanson43206 · 2023-02-17 13:49:23

This post is about Wyze Cameras, and specifically the Wyze Pan Cam V3.

In doing a small project for another non-profit group, I investigated the capabilities of the Wyze cameras (Simple Cam V3 and Advanced Pan Cam V3).

Various problems occurred, and Wyze replaced the first Pan Cam V3 because it could not self-update it's firmware.

The distributor is Amazon. The second (identical looking) camera failed the first download attempt, but it succeeded on the second, and has worked fine ever since.

What I decided to report today is the successful resolution of an issue due to an interface design problem.

The Wyze help desk referred me to the Wishlist department, because the Help desk personnel (apparently) do not have the camera at their desks, so they are dependent upon documentation to try to help customers.

The Wishlist Department is (apparently) run by volunteers. I was ** very ** impressed by the response ...

The problem I had was NOT new ... others have encountered it, and the resolution turned out to be to swipe the control icons for the camera, and lo and behold, the icon I needed was off to the right. Another customer had suggested an indicator that there are icons to the right, and I offered my support for that suggestion.

If anyone in NewMars has questions about the Wyze camera line or the operations of the web site or anything else, I am now sufficiently well informed to (hopefully) be able to assist at the first tier level.

The desired feature is continuous scan ... The icon to provide that service was off to the right on the settings screen.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-03-07 12:31:30

For SpaceNut ... this report could go into numerous topics in the forum ... I'll start it out here...

Report on advance in battery technology - greater range, less lithium, less fire risk

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coming-e … 09581.html

The Telegraph
The coming EV batteries will sweep away fossil fuel transport, with or without net zero
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Tue, March 7, 2023 at 9:07 AM EST·6 min read
New electric car batteries could lengthen ranges to a thousand miles or more - Michaela Handrek-Rehle/Bloomberg
The Argonne National Laboratory in the US has essentially cracked the battery technology for electric vehicles, discovering a way to raise the future driving range of standard EVs to a thousand miles or more. It promises to do so cheaply without exhausting the global supply of critical minerals in the process.
The joint project with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) has achieved a radical jump in the energy density of battery cells. The typical lithium-ion battery used in the car industry today stores about 200 watt-hours per kilo (Wh/kg). Their lab experiment has already reached 675 Wh/kg with a lithium-air variant.
This is a high enough density to power trucks, trains, and arguably mid-haul aircraft, long thought to be beyond the reach of electrification. The team believes it can reach 1,200 Wh/kg. If so, almost all global transport can be decarbonised more easily than we thought, and probably at a negative net cost compared to continuation of the hydrocarbon status quo.
The Argonne Laboratory in Chicago is not alone in pushing the boundaries of energy storage and EV technology. The specialist press reports eye-watering breakthroughs almost every month. America, Europe, China and Japan are all in a feverish global race for battery dominance – or survival – and hedge funds are swarming over the field.
I highlight this paper because US national labs have AAA credibility. The study is peer-reviewed and has just appeared in the research journal Science. Their solid-state battery has achieved the highest energy density yet seen anywhere in the world. And sometimes you have to pick on one to tell a larger story.
The science paper says the process can “theoretically deliver an energy density that is comparable to that of gasoline”, a remarkable thought that slays some stubborn shibboleths. It is not for today, but it is not for the remote future either. It typically takes five or so breakthroughs of this kind in battery technology to reach manufacturing.
Professor Larry Curtiss, the project leader, told me that his battery needs no cobalt. That eliminates reliance on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which accounts for 74pc of the world’s production and has become a Chinese economic colony for the extraction of raw materials.
Beijing has already gained a lockhold on the supply chain through ownership or control over three quarters of the DRC’s major cobalt mines. Russia is the world’s third. It is planning to raise that share by tearing up the marine bed off the Pacific coast.
Reports by the United Nations and activist groups leave no doubt that cobalt mining in the DRC is an ecological and human disaster, with some 40,000 children working for a pittance in toxic conditions for small ‘artisanal’ mines. It has become a byword for North-South exploitation.
Needless to say, the horrors of the cobalt supply chain have been seized on by fossil “realists” (i.e. vested interests) and Putin’s cyber-bots to impugn the moral claims of the green energy transition. The Argonne-IIF technology should make it harder to sustain that line of attack.
Prof Curtiss said the current prototype is based on lithium but does not have to be. “The same type of battery could be developed with sodium. It will take more time, but can be done,” he said. Switching to sodium would halve the driving range but it would still be double today’s generation of batteries.
Sodium is ubiquitous. There are deposits in Dorset, Cheshire, or Ulster. The US and Canada have vast salt lakes. Sodium can be produced cheaply from seawater in hot regions via evaporation. There is no supply constraint.
This knocks out another myth: that the EV revolution is impossible on a planetary scale because there either is not enough lithium, or not enough at viable cost under free market conditions in states aligned with the Western democracies. (The copper shortage is more serious, but there may be solutions for that as well using graphene with aluminium).
The International Energy Agency estimates that demand for lithium will rise 20-fold by 2040 if we rely on existing battery technology. The Australians are the world’s biggest producers today. But the greatest long-term deposits are in the Lithium Triangle of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, which are in talks to create an OPEC-style lithium cartel. China’s Tianqui owns 22pc of the Chilean group SQM, the world’s second-biggest lithium miner.
A lithium recycling industry will mitigate the problem. In the end, lithium can be extracted from seawater. It is highly diluted at 180 parts per billion but research suggests that it could be isolated for as little as $5 a kilo. If so, the lithium scare is just another of a long list of seemingly insurmountable barriers that fall away with time. The march of clean-tech is littered with such false scares.
For readers with a better grip on chemistry than me, the Argonne-IIF uses a solid electrolyte made from a ceramic polymer based on nanoparticles. This does require expensive materials.
It achieves a reaction of four molecules at room temperature instead of the usual one or two. It is able to extract oxygen from the surrounding air to run the reaction, solving a problem that has held back development for a decade. It can operate over a thousand cycles of charging and discharging. It is safer and less likely to catch fire than today's batteries.
What the Argonne-IIF battery and other global breakthroughs show collectively is that energy science is moving so fast that what seemed impossible five years ago is already a discernible reality, and that we will be looking at a very different technological landscape before the end of this decade.
Germany and Italy last week succeeded in blocking EU’s plans for ban on petrol and diesel sales by 2035. They might just as well bark at the moon or command the waves to recede. Moore’s Law and the learning curve of new technology has already sealed the fate of the combustion engine – with or without net zero.
The legacy companies cannot save their sunk investment in fossil motors – unless the EU retreats into fortress protectionism, which would be economic suicide. To try would be to guarantee the total destruction of Europe’s car industry. The only hope of saving it is to go for broke on electrification before global rivals run away with the prize.
The coming battery technology kills the case for hydrogen in cars, vans, buses, or trucks, and perhaps also for trains and aircraft, whether it is “green” from wind and solar via electrolysis or “blue” from natural gas with carbon capture. The energy loss involved makes no sense. It is much cheaper and more efficient to electrify wherever possible.
Clean hydrogen is too valuable to squander. We need it to replace dirty hydrogen used in industry. We need it for fertilisers, green steel, container shipping, and long-term storage in saline aquifers to back up renewables during a windless Dunkelflaute. We do not need it for road transport.
My advice to corporate bosses and ministers: keep up with the world’s scientific literature, or you will be massacred.
This article is an extract from The Telegraph’s Economic Intelligence newsletter. Sign up here to get exclusive insight from two of the UK’s leading economic commentators – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Jeremy Warner – delivered direct to your inbox every Tuesday.

I note the editorial comments made by the authors, in offering their view of how the future is going to unfold.

(th)

Terraformer · 2023-03-07 13:32:06

This knocks out another myth:

Weird phrasing. If this knocks it out, it wasn't a myth before this was developed. It was only a myth if this development isn't needed.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-03-15 09:32:18

Lots of news on AI and 3-d printing

Here is a report on power, magnetic levitation and 'superconductivity'

'Red matter' superconductor could transform electronics – if it works
https://www.newscientist.com/article/23 … -it-works/

If independent groups are able to verify red matter’s superconductivity and figure out its structure, this could be one of the most impactful scientific findings ever. A room-temperature, room-pressure superconductor could make the electrical power grid far more efficient and environmentally friendly, supercharge magnetic levitation and far more.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-03-15 09:32:47)

Steve Stewart · 2023-04-07 11:35:03

I saw on BGR News that there is a new interactive Martian mosaic.
Here is a link and an excerpt from the article:

BGR News
This interactive Martian mosaic from NASA is the coolest thing I’ve seen this year

BGR News
It’s really hard not to get excited about all the exploration humanity has conducted on Mars. Not only has NASA set up the Mars sample return, which promises to teach us more about the Martian surface itself, but now an interactive Martian mosaic lets us happily explore Mars in great detail.
The mosaic was created using images and data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Caltech’s Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization created the mosaic. The mosaic comprises over 110,000 images of the Martian surface and can be accessed on the Murray Lab’s website.
...
By clicking buttons situated at the bottom of the tool, you can zip around the surface to the locations of iconic exploratory missions, like Perseverance’s trip through the Jezero Crater. You can even see the path the rover has followed as it explored the surface of the Red Planet.

When I went to the website I did the following screen capture of the interactive mosaic of Mars.
You can go to the mosaic at the link below:

Murray Lab's website
https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/V01/ … osaic.html

Steve Stewart · 2023-04-12 09:48:35

This morning NASA unveiled a 1,700 square foot (160 square meters) Mars simulation habitat that will be used for "year-long experiments on Earth". The habitat is 3D printed and is located at NASA's research base in Houston Texas. The team of four volunteers, which have not yet been selected, will begin trails this summer.

News from phy.org
NASA unveils 'Mars' habitat for year-long experiments on Earth

YouTube Video
Nasa unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth
( 1 min 39 sec)

YouTube Video
NASA unveils 'Mars' habitat for year-long experiments on Earth
( 3 min 39 sec)

New Mars Forums

Announcement

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