Robert Bruninga wrote:
This is the 101'st anniversary of Sputnick...
Sputnik was a monumental achievement. It was instrumental in putting
mankind in space. It certainly inspired me (and I was only 7 at the
time). Though it was just 61 years ago (not 101).
It had taps for powering the screen (90 V) and pentode
grids of the output stages (10 V), as well as the manipulator (20 V).
EVDL Administrator via EV wrote:
I did some tinkering with tubes back in the day, and as far as I can
remember, that's mostly gibberish. A pentode has a control grid, screen
grids, and suppressor grids. I've never heard of a "manipulator." Maybe
someone else knows what that might be.
My guess is that it's a bad translation of the Russian words for
cathode, grid, screen, suppressor, and plate (what Americans called the
5 elements in a pentode).
As for silver zinc batteries, they do have outstanding specific energy. The
downsides are limited cycle life, I think because of dendrite growth, and a
price like they were made out of silver, which they are.
IIRC GM used them in at least one of the Electrovairs (Corvair conversions)
they built back in the 1960s.
I think both Electrovairs used them. Great batteries; but only good for
a couple hundred cycles life. Silver is expensive; but back then, its
price was fixed by the government (like gold). And you did get the
silver back when the batteries were recycled.
Both silver and zinc are good at growing long thin crystals. Good for
surface area (high capacity); but bad for producing shorts. I worked
with silvercells at Kodak in the 1970's -- they were interested in the
silver recovery end of it (taking the charged battery apart to recover
the silver). :-)
BAT (remember them?) also built a bragging-rights conversion EV with them in
the 1980s, so they could send out news releases about their hundreds-of-mile
range (craftily not mentioning how much the battery cost or how long it
would survive).
I think they actually achieved a range of over 1000 miles? Besides not
mentioning that using a ton of silver batteries, they neglected to
mention that the vehicle was essentially a golf cart, driven on a closed
track at low speeds for days.
I keep wondering when someone will pile hundreds of lbs of lithium cells
on a bicycle, and ride it 1001 miles to beat their record.
--
Imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.
(Albert Einstein)
--
Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com
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