I suspect that we can figure a way to include heat pipe devices. The complete system appears to be a balance between getting the internal heat generation mechanism to work with the heat flowing outwards by design. If the heat is too quickly taken from the core, then the level of positive feedback is diminished.
Too little positive feedback is no better than too much if the goal is to obtain a certain output level while maintaining stability at a good COP. We need the boost caused by the thermal power flowing through the right thermal resistance. The heat pipes may permit us to generate far more power within a smaller region provided that becomes an important goal. It would appear that one of the useful functions of a heat pipe mechanism would be to reduce hot spot activity, especially when the mass of the fuel becomes larger for higher power operation. If they can handle the heat without melting one would expect them to be placed throughout the fuel mixture in such a manner as to conduct the concentrated heat energy rapidly towards a surface with sufficient area. It will be interesting to follow the new developments as Rossi and others arrive at useful and inexpensive products. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Axil Axil <[email protected]> To: vortex-l <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Feb 16, 2015 1:24 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:Toy Model Of ECAT Type Device I wonder if it is possible to run a toy test of an ecat based on a heat pipe design performance: 200 times the heat conductivity of solid copper rod? On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 12:55 PM, David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote: I put together a simple static model of an ECAT type of device and a few vorticians were interesting in how it performed. One of these, Osmo Laaksonen, took my very simple model and improved it as well as offered a link to it for anyone to download. He has taken an ideal model of a type 2 design and produced several important graphs that demonstrate how a system of this type behaves. It should be noted that the device modeled is stable at any input power although it contains a negative resistance region. Of course, you will not be able to set the input to a fixed power level that results in static operation within that special region. You will however be able to remove the input drive and observe that the device cools back to ambient after it goes through a transient condition. Osmo chose parameters that are closer to those seen in a real device although we do not have adequate data to verify that this particular design is possible. The geometry and the behavior of the fuel are key ingredients that have not been well analyzed thus far. You will find that the device graphed obeys the two general rules that I established earlier for an input controllable positive feedback thermal system with reasonable power gain. First, there exists no temperature within the region of operation where the internally generated power exceeds the power being radiated, conducted, and convected into the ambient. This ensures that no latch up condition occurs during operation. Also, the slope of the input power versus device temperature contains a negative region. This results in a negative resistance region which is desired in order to maintain a good COP. The spreadsheet can be downloaded at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-a6DVROpImcdbLm7YQLe5cY3ZThm_k7wgJHc531Psgo/edit?usp=sharing I recommend that you download the file and take a close look at what it displays. This type of characterization appears to enhance ones understanding of how this type of system operates and will guide the designs toward optimum results. Please direct any questions to me. Dave
