Tactical use of Laser Rifles/Carbines

[Golan2072]

So, anyone know hoe much power do personal laser weapons consume?

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Pulse energy of 10-60kJ, according to TNE.

 

[Golan2072]

Thanks!
As my memory concerning energy calculations is a bit foggy (is 1 watt = 1 Joul [sp?] over a second?), could someone please translate these figures into kw/sec or kw/h?

 

[Anthony]

1 kJ = 1 kW * 1s (or 10 kW * 0.1s, or whatever).

 

[Golan2072]

So, if I understand right, 10KJ = 10 Kw/sec?

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

If we only have the information, that pulse energy is 10 to 60 kJ, we cannot calculate the actual power need exactly.

So, power would be energy / pulse duration.
E.g. if pulse energy is 10 KJ and pulse duration is perhaps 1/1000 second, power would be
10 KJ/0.001s = 10000 KW or just 10 MW.

Hu, quite powerful, isnt it.
Ok, a pulse duration of 1/100 second would bring it down to 1 MW

Perhaps longer durations might be not practical, because you would have to chase the target with your laser pointer and target hit area becomes too large...

 

[Golan2072]

I'd say the pulse would be quite short - LBB8 lists a small number of Kw/H (15 IIRC) as enough to power a laser-rifle to emit one pulse per comat turn (i.e. 15 seconds).

 

[Uncle Bob]

15 Kw over 15 seconds is 225 KJ.
15 Kw hours is 54 megajoules

where is my LBB8?

OTOH, a 7.62mm rifle bullet has about 8 KJ, so 10-60 Kj seems reasonable.

 

[Golan2072]

Remember that while the Combat Turn lasts 15 seconds, the laser pulse probably lasts far less.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I was assuming it was charging some type of capacitor for 15 seconds then discharging it in 0.1 to 0`.001 seconds.

 

[Anthony]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
So, if I understand right, 10KJ = 10 Kw/sec?

Not quite right, you've got your operators messed up.

10 kW = 10 kJ/sec (10 kJ per second)
10 kJ = 10 kW*sec (10 kW for one second)

 

[Golan2072]

By the way, are the big backpack-batteries nescery at all TLs for all man-portable lasers?

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
By the way, are the big backpack-batteries nescery at all TLs for all man-portable lasers?

Only if the ref says so