A design for developing net thrust using the zero point field was
proposed here:
http://mtaonline.net/~hheffner/ZPE-CasimirThrust.pdf
This design appears to be impractical. However, if a superfluid is
used the density and velocity can be greatly increased, while
simultaneously reducing the drive power requirements, except for
refrigeration.
With sufficiently advanced nano-technology, the drive cells could
each consist of a cavity with a thin disk that rotates half in the
cavity and half out. The half of the disk inside the cavity would
experience inertial mass reduction, and thus a reduction in
centrifugal force. The actual mass changes occur at the entry and
exits from the cavity, and thus have no instantaneous effect on the
vertical centrifugal forces at that time. Any energy required or
obtained entering the cavity due to Casimir forces is offset by the
effect of opposite forces upon exiting the cavity.
A device based on cavity inertial mass change should work many orders
of magnitude better using the spinning disk nano-technology approach,
or possibly a using a superfluid. Both can increase the density and
velocity by orders of magnitude, and thus the mass flow by orders of
magnitude and the centrifugal force by orders of magnitude cubed.
These options all have the drawback that vast numbers of complex nano-
structures need to be manufactured.
There is a superior method available for implementing the principle
of applying anisotropic centrifugal force to Casimir cavity
influenced inertial masses. This method consists of building up
alternate layers of material, thin layers of conducting or super-
conducting material, i.e. casimir cavity boundary layer material,
while sandwiching between them layers of readily compressible
material which is to be used as the inertial mass altering material.
The method further consists of accelerating this material in one
direction while compressed, and the other direction while not
compressed. Compressing reduces the size of the Casimir cavities,
thus increasing the effect and reducing the mass of the compressible
material sandwiched between the plates.
The compressible material is likely best implemented as a structure
of mixed property material, a vacuous (not dense) highly compressible
mesh matrix material enclosing layers or pieces of the material that
is to actually act as the inertial mass modifying material. For
cooling purposes the mesh material might best be permeable to a
cooling medium, or at least produce little heat from repeated
compression and expansion.
Call the fully constructed material, which consists of layers of
Casimir cavities, "thrust material". Having the material, it is then
only necessary to compress it while accelerating in one direction,
and release the compression when the material accelerates in the
other direction. For example, the thrust material can be mounted
around the edges of a wheel and compressed by piezo crystal action
only when to one direction from the wheel axis. This produces a net
force in the opposed direction. Diamond might make a good inertial
mass modifying material due to its close packed structure, high
electrical insulating properties, and excellent thermal conduction.
A fully solid state design is feasible. This design uses piezo
crystals in two axes. The thrust material is compressed in the x
axis for inertial mass reduction, and the much larger oscillated
motion is produced by piezo action in the y axis. The thrust is
developed in the y axis due to the reduced inertial mass on one half
of the y axis cycle, caused by compression of the thrust material in
the x axis direction during that half of the y axis cycle.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
