A layman's look at fusion tech

[whulorigan]

It could be closed loop but, that would require massive radiators and, would not be in keeping with the amount of PP fuel used in the rules. I did it this way to account for fuel usage rules. Plus, the cooling use (expelling the heated H₂) allows for thermocouples is a more realistic way.

Understood. Not a bad way to explain the fuel-consumption rate away.

Personally, that was always one of the things that annoyed me in the CT/MT rulesets. To my mind a Fusion Reactor ought to have a fuel-duration/volume at least comparable (give or take) to the radioactives of a Fission Reactor (which can run for years). *

I prefer the consumption rates detailed in TNE/T4/GT, which to me seem much more realistic (and I do not think upset anything significantly in terms of actual play, since the consumption rate for Jump Drive operations is still high). From a game design perspective, the large fuel consumption rates have more to do with Jump Operations and ensuring that ships cannot just simply continue to successively jump across rifts of any size (making for natural astrographic barriers due to refueling requirements).

* - Jump-Drive operations excepted. I can accept that those are very high-energy operations requiring much more fuel.
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n.b. If you have an external coolant source while planet side your fuel lasts a VERY long time.

In that case you would definitely want an external coolant source when you are planet-side; Hot H₂ vented into an O₂ environment is not a good mix.

The Gamma Voltaics and Neutron-capture are fine ideas to wring additional power from the reaction, but I would suggest that the output high-energy plasma stream of alpha & beta particles from the reactor might produce more power directly from the magnetic fields generated by the high-energy moving charged particles.

That could work as well I think. Just depends on how efficient the voltaics become. Maybe, TL 9-11 use the Plasma stream while 12-15 use voltaics. Could be a nice bit of fluff to differentiate PP's at various TL's.

Agreed.

 

[captainjack]

Great thread.

If I can ask a very laymanlike question....

Can gravitics be the basis of the traveller fusiontech ? It shows up about the same time (IIRC TL8, thirteen years ago.). I've always thought that using gravity based compression could get around many of the issues with generating fusion on a traveller scale. Thoughts ? I have a longer, more tedious discussion of this, but I'll spare you for now......

 

[aramis]

Great thread.

If I can ask a very laymanlike question....

Can gravitics be the basis of the traveller fusiontech ? It shows up about the same time (IIRC TL8, thirteen years ago.). I've always thought that using gravity based compression could get around many of the issues with generating fusion on a traveller scale. Thoughts ? I have a longer, more tedious discussion of this, but I'll spare you for now......

That was my assumption back in high school...

a gravitic pull against a magnetic cup...

 

[whulorigan]

Great thread.

If I can ask a very laymanlike question....

Can gravitics be the basis of the traveller fusiontech ? It shows up about the same time (IIRC TL8, thirteen years ago.). I've always thought that using gravity based compression could get around many of the issues with generating fusion on a traveller scale. Thoughts ? I have a longer, more tedious discussion of this, but I'll spare you for now......

Preface: To those intersted in the backround of the fundamental forces that we have been talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction

To answer your question: It is possible. What must be remembered is that gravity is 36 orders of magnitude weaker than electromagnetism (38 orders weaker than the strong force). (Think about how the entire mass of the earth pulling on a small piece of iron gravitationally can be opposed by a simple bar-magnet lifting it off of a table). Therefore, in terms of gravity itself, you would have to be able to create an extremely intense field in a very localised region in order to overcome the electromagnetic repulsion of the protons.

On the other hand, it may depend on how one is imagining gravitics to work. It has been suggested within Traveller canon (I do not have an actual reference in front of me - I am working from memory) is that "gravitics" is an artificial (or corollary/analog) force arising from a deeper understanding (a Unified Field Theory) of Physics. This seems to be suggested by the fact that "gravitic" fields in Traveller are short range (decaying quickly beyond a certain range instead of by an inverse-square relationship) and that they can be created without a significant accumulation of mass (which is the "gravitational charge", so to speak).

So ultimately, the questions would be:

1) How strong can you make a gravitic field (within a very small localised region, at least),

2) How much energy would it take, and

3) Would the ability to create fields of this strength at reasonable energy consumption levels make other technology or applications "feasible" that would "break" the assumptions of the Traveller Universe.

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[whulorigan]

I have a longer, more tedious discussion of this, but I'll spare you for now......

I'd be interested in hearing your ideas.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

a gravitic pull against a magnetic cup...

Sounds like something you would encounter in a physics geeks locker room.

 

[Carlobrand]

On a more game-tech note, gravs are kinda power-hungry and bulky. Contragrav propulsion ranges from 0.02 m^3 and 100 kilowatts per ton of thrust to 0.03 m^3 and 10 kilowatts per ton of thrust. How many tons of pressure is represented by 0.77 grams of hydrogen compressed until it reaches 10 million degrees C?