| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Rudel Gurken
Allisters Light Thunder
Major
Joined: 15-Jun-2005 00:00
Posts: 1447
Location: Germany
|
 Posted: 13-Aug-2005 06:38 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
  |
|
Latest fusion attempts showed a slight more output as input but it´s far from being economic!
For BT i would say dihydrogen is stored in pressurized containers! They don´t have to be very big and are buried deep in the CT near the engine so a direct hit is not covered by rules.
_________________
Reality is where the Pizza-man comes from!'Gucken, petzen, verpissen!' (Look at it, squeal it, get the hell away from it!) – Motto of the recon troops'Artillery doesn´t know friend or foe! They only know worthwhile targets!‘ – Kuritan Infantrist
|
|
| Back to top |
 
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 13-Aug-2005 13:56 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Storing more dangerous chemicals near the engine that produces a lot of heat, some radiation and static energy that may do unpredictable things doesn't seem like good idea. I would go with water.
I think that in text around one of Black Widow scenarios mentions tanks filled to the lip (the scenario with captured warrior), but it may be just translation (I have Czech version of this 'book')
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
StarRaven
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
Joined: 01-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 1138
Location: United States
|
| Posted: 13-Aug-2005 14:29 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
According to the library in MechWarrior 2 (which may or may not be canon) a BattleMech's fusion engine runs on water.
As for duration, I'd imagine a single refueling (of water or not) lasts anywhere from months to years. Not nearly forever, but long enough to make them seem inexhaustible if you're not the guy refueling them.
_________________
"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close semblance to the first."
- Attributed to General Aleksandr Kerensky
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 13-Aug-2005 14:43 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Why would the mechs battle for control of large bodies of water on missions longer than raid?
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Rudel Gurken
Allisters Light Thunder
Major
Joined: 15-Jun-2005 00:00
Posts: 1447
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: 14-Aug-2005 07:13 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Because on most planets water is scarce!
And your people, your army and even your industrie needs it!
_________________
Reality is where the Pizza-man comes from!'Gucken, petzen, verpissen!' (Look at it, squeal it, get the hell away from it!) – Motto of the recon troops'Artillery doesn´t know friend or foe! They only know worthwhile targets!‘ – Kuritan Infantrist
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 14-Aug-2005 10:01 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
And why do you need it so much? Because they need to refill their tanks. And on planets without water ...
Let's say that it's two weeks of fighting, or one month of activity, but not much more.
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Rudel Gurken
Allisters Light Thunder
Major
Joined: 15-Jun-2005 00:00
Posts: 1447
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: 14-Aug-2005 15:54 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Í´ve seen two scenarios where you have to defend water-holes because they need it to drink it!
And by the way: Dihydrogen is mostly made from H2O in some factories to fill your tanks.
But to electrolyse H2O to get H2 in a Mech would require lots of H2O and a spacy electrolytic facility in the CT!
_________________
Reality is where the Pizza-man comes from!'Gucken, petzen, verpissen!' (Look at it, squeal it, get the hell away from it!) – Motto of the recon troops'Artillery doesn´t know friend or foe! They only know worthwhile targets!‘ – Kuritan Infantrist
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Delta
Lyran Alliance
Leutnant
Joined: 11-Dec-2004 00:00
Posts: 635
|
| Posted: 14-Aug-2005 17:04 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
| Out of curiosity- do you think it would be possible to mount one of those inside a warship? If so how many tons? (Possible design in the making if it is...)
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 15-Aug-2005 06:12 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
A lot of energy would be spared by using some excess heat from the engine and catalyzers. Electrolysis doesn't need so large facility, if the engine doesn't need so much hydrogen (it has constant in-flow).
the size of the facility depends on needed output. (Mech reactor isn't nuclear power plant, from the picture of Mad Dog it isn't larger than small car).
Powering up dormant mech would require a lot of energy (mech would probably have batteries for short periods when it needs to turn off the engine for maintenance) that would come directly from DropShip or base reactor. Mothballed mechs require a lot of energy and time to put back (week or more if the last volume of Grey Death trilogy is right) in action
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Rudel Gurken
Allisters Light Thunder
Major
Joined: 15-Jun-2005 00:00
Posts: 1447
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: 16-Aug-2005 05:15 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
A facility to turn water into liquid H2 in amounts great enough to fill the tanks of fighters, dropships and even warships?
You need 9 kg (minimum!) H2O to get 1 kg H2 so I would pack such a facility in a dropship that can drain water from a planetary source to convert it and bring it up by itself or by other "tanker-dropships"!
I think it would take about 1000 tons or so for every ton of fuel per hour to convert.
(Pi mal Daumen!) 
_________________
Reality is where the Pizza-man comes from!'Gucken, petzen, verpissen!' (Look at it, squeal it, get the hell away from it!) – Motto of the recon troops'Artillery doesn´t know friend or foe! They only know worthwhile targets!‘ – Kuritan Infantrist
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 16-Aug-2005 05:54 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Main problem is that it's just fiction, we don't know how much hydrogen the reactor actually needs, but only hydrogen tank I've ever seen in BT was clearly marked as DropShip fuel.
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
|
| Posted: 16-Aug-2005 07:44 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Mech's run on water last I checked, but the ammounts are so comparably small that it becomes irrelevant.
Chemicals from the Alkalie and Oxygen groups (-1, +1 charge) are almost all naturally diatomic.
Last I read (about a year ago), the difficulty with fusion isn't getting out the energy that goes into making it, it's getting the energy to keep it from turning into a giant H-bomb. Controlling a fusion reaction so that we could have one anywhere closer than, say, the sun, requires so much energy that it's a net loss.
_________________
"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
|
|
| Back to top |
|
Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
|
| Posted: 16-Aug-2005 08:02 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
So, another supporter of water alternative (of course, official materials use water)?
What do you think about mech "consumption" of water? How much?
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
ralgith
Blighted Sun Battalion
1st Company
"Ralgith's Renegades"
Colonel
Joined: 18-Aug-2003 00:00
Posts: 2021
Location: United States
|
| Posted: 10-Oct-2005 12:40 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-16 08:02, Sleeping Dragon wrote:
So, another supporter of water alternative (of course, official materials use water)?
What do you think about mech "consumption" of water? How much?
|
|
It is in one of the sourcebooks I have that 'mech reactors use water as fuel. It also says something about needing only a few gallons a year... but anyways if I find the book I'll post it here. Don't really feel like reading every sourcebook all the way through again hehe.
_________________
Colonel Ralgith t'Mayasara
Blighted Sun Battalion
1st Company 'Ralgith's Renegades'
|
|
| Back to top |
|
SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
|
| Posted: 11-Oct-2005 14:01 Post subject: RE: Fusion Reactors |
|
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-12 18:53, Vagabond wrote:
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-12 17:37, Delta wrote:
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-12 09:28, Rudel Gurken wrote:
Hey it´s liquid H2 not H2O! 
|
|
Actually, Hydrogren is just H, as Oxygen is O, so mechs run on liquid H (Enough basic element talk for now)
|
|
If you read again, it says Dihydrogen... or 2 hydrogen. soit is H2 not H1.
|
|
It would be H2 anyway. And it would be O2. The only gasses which exist as single atoms are the Noble Gasses.
_________________
"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
