3 ms·
Maybe my physics knowledge is off here. Why would storing a block of material at a constant high temperature be infeasible? Can't we surround the heated materia
by hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
Maybe my physics knowledge is off here. Why would storing a block of material at a constant high temperature be infeasible? Can't we surround the heated material with a forced vacuum to nullify any heat loss, or am I underestimating something like the rate of diffusion through a pinprick in such material?
The fact we don't seem to be able to do this yet suggests I'm missing something, probably several things.
- lazide 3y agoConversion to/from heat and electricity is usually quite lossy. There are numerous approaches to attempt to do this effectively, but often things like pumped storage is cheaper per watt hour and similarly (or more) efficient. Batteries are faster to charge/discharge and more efficient per wh. Both usually have less loss over time - it’s very difficult/expensive to avoid significant heat loss over time due to radiative heat loss, if nothing else. Most batteries or pumped storage have much lower losses over time.
- pbmonster 3y agoSure, you can built a thermos (vacuum around the hot storage volume, then highly reflective walls to put the radiating heat back into the storage volume). The problem is that a tungsten tank filled with molten salt is heavy. If you want to store a couple of MW/h, we're quickly talking about several thousand tons. You have to suspend it somehow inside that thermos. With materials, that don't conduct heat well, but still have some strength at 2000C.
- badpun 3y agoAll bodies at temperatures higher than 0K radiate heat, the vacuum around them doesn't stop that from happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation