Robin--
I think the reaction chamber is in a vacuum. The figure of the machine
depicts a vacuum system. Plasmas generally like vacuums.
Bob Cook
-----Original Message-----
From: mix...@bigpond.com
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2016 2:54 PM
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: [Vo]:BLP demo video
In reply to David Roberson's message of Fri, 5 Feb 2016 01:50:14 -0500:
Hi,
[snip]
I suppose the question is; How inefficient does the solar cell array become
when the device is throttled back significantly? Since all the power
eventually becomes radiated, the black body temperature must be adjusted
downwards as the required output power is reduced. Since the radiated
power varies as the 4th order of the temperature, halving the temperature
would cause the radiated power to drop by a factor of 16. How well would
the array operate at that black body temperature?
You can also look at it from a different point of view. The power output
from
the solar array can be reduced significantly with only a minor reduction in
power output from the device. However this does imply a significant shift in
the
balance between electrical and thermal output.
Also, would the silver remain a vapor at one half the standard output
temperature?
I'm not sure that it's a vapour now. It may be burning in the air producing
Silver oxide (unless he's running under an inert gas).
If it is a vapour, then it would probably condense on the cooled inner walls
of
the chamber anyway.
If not, the device may not work at that operating point.
Also, it's only the spark *rate* that varies. The energy released per pulse
should stay the same (more or less), which implies that the temperature in
the
immediate environment of the spark should remain the same for the duration
of a
reaction. Only farther way near the walls will it average out.
And, the power available to run the silver furnace and pump might become a
significant proportion of the total received from the solar array at that
lower power level. If so, a lot of heat would be emitted for a relatively
small amount of electrical energy.
Yes, this is probable.
I suspect that a large amount of engineering is going to have to take place
before this product can become commercial. At least Mills might have a
good start.
Dave
Agreed.
BTW I pointed out to Mills in private email, that by using the UV/x-rays
directly (i.e. without the tungsten plate) he should get much higher quantum
efficiency from the solar cells. I.e each high energy photon should
indirectly
create multiple free electrons. That would mean that the currently accepted
response curve of the cells could be wrong, i.e. instead of dying off at
shorter
photon wavelengths, there may be a new peak at even shorter wavelengths.
E.g. if the photon is 100 eV, and the ionization energy of a solar cell atom
is
about 10 eV, then he should get roughly 10 electrons-hole pairs per photon.
This may mean that pretty much any solar cells would work, irrespective of
their
normal optical spectral peak. I.e. if they normally react to long wavelength
photons, then they will simply have a lower electron/hole formation energy,
which means that the number of electron/hole pairs per photon increases.
There is however a downside. Such high energy photons/electrons, tend to
shorten
the life-span of the solar cells, so it may be necessary to use a
self-healing
semiconductor.
Regards,
Robin van Spaandonk
http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html