OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: . . . such a configuration strikes me as being extremely inefficient > thermally speaking. Only the heat radiating within the central ring of the > reactor will transfer to the flowing water. Reactor heat radiating away from > the exterior outer ring wall would not.
Well, there is somewhat less surface area than there would be if the water flowed around the outside. On the other hand, it cannot flow around the entire outside surface because part of that is taken up by the large pipe at the top used to feed hydrogen into the cell. That would block the flow. As I mentioned the electric resistance water heater elements are also in this configuration. I assume the large pipe also anchors the cell it in place. I mean it holds it in position, inside the copper sleeve. Something has to hold it. With a bigger cell, the anchor would take up a smaller fraction of the outer surface. - Jed
