12-31-2017, 07:07 PM | #21 | |
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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12-31-2017, 07:53 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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12-31-2017, 09:17 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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A Smithian accumulator could be called either a battery or an accumulator in sort of the same sense that an automobile could be called either a horseless carriage or a mechanical horse.
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01-01-2018, 12:46 PM | #24 | |
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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The function does not change even when the technology does.
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01-01-2018, 01:09 PM | #25 | |
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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Also, a capacitor can be removed from the charging circuit and stored. They do tend to lose their charge over time, though that might be more a feature of modern tiny ones than bulkier types like leyden jars. But then some electrochemical batteries also break down in storage...
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01-01-2018, 01:28 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
I don't understand the passive / active distinction. A capacitor stores energy in an electric field. A battery stores electrical energy as chemical energy. If anything, the battery seems the more "active" of the two in that more has to happen to get electricity back out. But they both have to change something about their state.
"Accumulator" is a general term for something that stores energy; by that definition, both batteries and capacitors are types of (electrical) accumulator. I've also seen that term used for non-electrical energy storage, as in hydraulic systems, so it seems the broadest of the three, and thus appropriate enough either for purposes of the OP or of Doc Smith. Last edited by Anaraxes; 01-01-2018 at 01:39 PM. |
01-01-2018, 03:28 PM | #27 | |
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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There are other differences between the two types of electrical storage but the need to recharge over a short period rather than a long period is the one I started with and stay with.
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01-01-2018, 03:35 PM | #28 | |
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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When my father got his electrical engineering degree, accumulator was the technical term for what is now known as a capacitor. The term has broadened its meaning over the years. I grew up with that narrower usage and that may affect my thinking even though I spent decades as an electronics technician where the term capacitor was used exclusively.
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01-01-2018, 03:39 PM | #29 | ||
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
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...And what batteries are you expecting to retain EMF for decades? Capacitors have rather important technical features other than holding charge but being prone to bleed. I think most places where a capacitor is used, substituting a battery would make the circuit non-functional... Quote:
The aforementioned superconducting induction ring stores energy in a current and induced magnetic field the same way a conventional inductor does, but because it's superconducting it doesn't rapidly lose the stored energy to resistance in the conducting element.
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01-01-2018, 07:32 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships
I was originally thinking of space opera, in particular, Lensman style accumulators, that store energy for use in a battle, or anything else, as dramatically necessary. It seems that, if I want the "accumulators" to do both, it would need to include both batteries for long term storage, and capacitors for firing the weapons, after charging them from the batteries.
Goal is to have extra energy for whatever needs it, without extra reactors, be it for firing a weapon, entering hyperspace when hyperspace needs 5 power points and a reactor has one, but only need those 5 power points for a moment... Medium hard science fiction to Space Opera--and I learned a lot here. I know that model railroad locomotives use a capacitor on some fancier DCC (Digital Command Control--fancy electronic comtrol for model trains) to keep it going over short sections of dead track. Beyond that, I didn't really know much about capacitors or batteries. |
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