still waiting for someone to demonstrate a more efficient power transfer solution
Turbine go brrrr
Submitted 3 weeks ago by Agent641@lemmy.world to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bcba63d1-174c-43c1-bb67-a912df0d4b09.png
Comments
expatriado@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
nomecks@lemmy.wtf 3 weeks ago
You’re in luck. Supercritical CO2 turbines are a thing now, and they’re way more efficient because they don’t involve a phase change.
chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Got any sources on that? I would love to learn about some new tech in electricity generation.
Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
It’s funny (in a sad and sardonic sense) - I pay attention to the energy industry and the outcry over data centers has got me watching these generators closely. If they deliver on their promises, they could represent a great way to deliver on mirror-based solar reactors in areas with limited water resources. (And to recapture and use waste heat from the servers of data centers.)
Society is on the precipice of investing a lot into increasing energy generation for data centers that have to be near the same sorts of resources that people need - fresh water, environs conductive to generating power, stable (enough) climates. But this technology is arriving/set to reach adoption just in time for this boom-bust cycle. All those data centers in populated areas already have a timer ticking for when the shell corps have their rugs pulled.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
At some point you are going to need steam to spin a turbine to generate enough energy to compress the CO2.
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Helios is trying to build a fusion reactor that harvests the energy through electro magnetic induction.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I’ll believe it when I see it. They have so many material science challenges ahead of them and aren’t very forthcoming with progress.
nightlily@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
Feels like putting the cart before the horse there.
pntha@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
fission. aside from the fact physicists didn’t invent either, we’ve yet to boil any water with fusion.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Give me a concave mirror and I’ll change that
grue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Best I can do is a convex lens.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 3 weeks ago
We’ve boiled tons of water with it, but there have been no functional turbines involved in a ten mile radius.
Flipper@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I’ve got to disappoint you. We’ve boiled water with solar to crank a turbine for electricity.
Cort@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Even wind power still turns a generator, but solar is just completely different than everything else
vodka@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
But what if… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_solar_power
megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
They’re actually quite similar to thermoelectric generators. But the potential difference between two semi conductors is created by a heat differential rather than by photon excitation.
Thermoelectric generators have been used on various rovers and deep space probes as well as in remote lighthouses.
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Napster153@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“That’s it?! That’s the nuclear power? That’s just boiling water!”
Ancient meme I had back in the day…
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
* Looks up *
* Ahem *
Nuclear fusion existed well before physists.
bountygiver@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
And we are harnessing its power WITHOUT boiling water
SethTaylor@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Man… can you imagine? Someone could shut down the whole power grid just by watching all that water.
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Didn’t China recently use super conducting CO2 instead of water?
BussyCat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Supercritical CO2 has been looked at a lot for the Brayton cycle which can get 50% efficiency compared to steam that generally caps out around 34%
The US and china both published studies talking about a brayton turbine but to my knowledge no commercial plants running off of it have been built yet
Chais@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Supercritical, not superconducting.
Alberat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
idk but you can also use molten salt
megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
You can use molten salt to move and store heat but you don’t put it through a turbine. Molten salt systems run it through a heat exchanger that heats steam or CO2.
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is what I think of when I hear molten salt.
altphoto@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
That sounds great.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
physicists looove hot showers! they’re the best! so comfy ☺️
snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Iirc one of the theoretical ways of generating power with fusion is magnetohydrodynamic generators which use the magnetic field created by the plasma to generate an electrical current directly. Still theoretical though…
MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The idea that using steam loop to turn a turbine is mind blowing to some.
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Mofos just reinvented the steam engine
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Give it a few years and this is how we ride through the post apocalyptic wasteland.
Murse@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Can’t find it for the life of me… Describing a web comic vs actually posting it always feels like a flop, but…
Aliens abduct a physicist, who doesn’t seem to give much of a damn about the abduction but is instead enthused to learn about the alien tech on board, so they give him a tour of the ship. They get to the power reactor and start dropping a bunch of sci-fi jumbo about “We harness dark matter to… (sci-fi Ruth Goldberg machine) …and finally, we use the heat it generates to boil water and crank a turbine!!”
*Physicist drops to his knees in despair and let’s out a dramatic ‘noooooo!’
Paraphrasing heavily due to having shit memory. I thought it was a SMBC comic, but… /shrug.
Everyday0764@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
you did a good job i remember the comic
tyler@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
I was talking with my wife about a comic similar to that not even three hours ago so if you find it let me know cause I want to show her too.
Napster153@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“And then, the power generated is used to heat water and generate steam!”
“No…”
“That steam is used to turn a wheel!”
“No! NOOOOOOO!!!”
“Hey dude, calm down.”
-Actual exchange during first contact.
mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
I swear we are going to be travelling to other planets and the biggest issue is going to be how do we stop water leaking into space from our steam turbines