The kilopower system runs at 800C at an efficiency of 38%. It delivers heat from the nuclear fuel via sodium heat pipes.
permalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?what=info:lanl-repo/lareport/LA-UR-17-21903 Would it be possible to use refractory material in the construction of the engine to get its operating temperature up higher? On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 3:07 PM, Bob Higgins <[email protected]> wrote: > While the Carnot efficiency certainly goes up with temperature, the > lifetime of the materials go down rapidly above about 500C. Most > commercial high reliability systems operate at about 300C. The Sterling > engine will have its share of material problems at 600C hot end, but is > going to be a non-starter with the hot end at 3000C. Of course, he could > always insulate and take the heat out at 600C while taking the hit in > efficiency. > > At 3000C, you will have substantial optical radiation - what happened to > Mills' plan to use PV conversion? I always thought that the high energy PV > conversion he planned was much farther out than what he stated. > > On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 12:51 PM, Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Mills could also use the Kilopower solution. At 3000C, the effect must be >> way over 38%. >> >> On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 2:36 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> In reply to JonesBeene's message of Wed, 15 Nov 2017 18:15:22 -0800: >>> Hi, >>> [snip] >>> >Sooner or later, it is likely that Mills will have a defector – unless >>> of course he really has a breakthrough, but all indications are that this >>> is the latest in a long string of over-hyped failures. >>> > >>> [snip] >>> I don't think it's actually a failure, but rather shifted to the back >>> burner, in >>> favor of a design he thinks may be more likely to work. I suspect he went >>> looking for another conversion technology after I pointed out to him >>> that silver >>> vapor wouldn't condense to a liquid in a cavity with a uniform >>> temperature of >>> over 3000 degrees. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Robin van Spaandonk >>> >>> http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html >>> >>> >> >
