Question about UT power generators

Snoman314 · 10-26-2009, 01:20 AM

Sorry, I've lost track of what you're trying to find out, but if you want to stick with Thermodynamics, then you can pretty much model any sort of generator as a heat engine.
A heat engine takes heat energy in one end and pumps out waste heat at the other end. The efficiency of the heat energy determines how much heat is converted to useful work/power in the process. Efficiency is never 100%.
The problem I see with the UT generators is that they supply 'external power', which is effectively an unlimited amount of power.
If your generator is outputting, say, a Gigawatt of electrical power, its going to be putting out at least a Gigawatt of waste heat (assuming a generous 50% effciency). That's a lot of heat if its a backpack sized unit.

10-26-2009, 01:20 AM	#18
Snoman314 Join Date: Sep 2009	Re: Question about UT power generators Sorry, I've lost track of what you're trying to find out, but if you want to stick with Thermodynamics, then you can pretty much model any sort of generator as a heat engine. A heat engine takes heat energy in one end and pumps out waste heat at the other end. The efficiency of the heat energy determines how much heat is converted to useful work/power in the process. Efficiency is never 100%. The problem I see with the UT generators is that they supply 'external power', which is effectively an unlimited amount of power. If your generator is outputting, say, a Gigawatt of electrical power, its going to be putting out at least a Gigawatt of waste heat (assuming a generous 50% effciency). That's a lot of heat if its a backpack sized unit.