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"in comparison to steam turbines, the technology presented here does absolutely nothing in terms of decarbonising the grid, as claimed" I understood the claim
by fsloth 5y ago
"in comparison to steam turbines, the technology presented here does absolutely nothing in terms of decarbonising the grid, as claimed"
I understood the claim to be that this would have close to no moving parts. That sounds it's cheaper to mass manufacure and operate?
- walnutclosefarm 5y agoThe actual generator has no moving parts. The "tanks" for storing the heat can be made from graphite, but the thermal battery made by combining the storage tank with the generator that they propose has to pump heat around using liquid tin (or perhaps liquid silicon) as the working fluid, at temperatures up to 2400C. That requires not just moving parts, but some pretty far out engineering. All of the metals we commonly build things like pumps out of are liquid at those temperatures, after all. And of course, you want pumps that run reliably for years in that hostile environment.
- diarrhea 5y agoOf all things keeping the energy transition back, steam turbine manufacturing is probably very low on the list. I’m not aware it’s an issue. It’s an old and proven technology.