265 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
265 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: STARSHIP ENGINES FILE: UFO2195
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Starship Engines
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By: Anthra Andromda
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Starship engines come in two flavors; for strictly interstellar
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propulsion, and for combined interstellar/planetary travel and
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atmospheric use. This paper will treat the latter of these. The
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engine described here is suitable for either interstellar or
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atmospheric travel.
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This engine is of a dual-mode design; it will optionally produce
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either gravitons or tachyons.
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ENGINE DESIGN
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The engine or propulsion unit proper consists of six discrete
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elements (see fig. 1).
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1) the shield coil - required to protect the crew/inhabitants
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of the ship from any harmful radiation. The shield
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itself is a high-power electromagnet operating in a
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steady state (DC).
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2) the exciter coil is in reality an auto-transformer,
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operating much like a 'Tesla coil', but at much higher
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power levels, voltages, and frequency. Its purpose is
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to excite the atomic structure of the core material
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into production of either tachyons or gravitons (these
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two events occur at different power levels and
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frequencies).
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3) This element is the 'pump', its operation is much like a
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magnetic shock-tube. It will start and maintain
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movement of particles from the core in the direction of
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the exhaust.
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Page 1
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4) The focusing element. Here the responsibility is to shape
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the particle stream into something useful. This is the
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element that can either make the basic unit an engine
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or a weapon.
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5) The core, is a stack of particle producers separated by
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some insulating material. In a dual mode engine the
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material for one kind of particle acts as an insulator
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for the other.
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6) Not shown in the figure is the control system, this is
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normally a collection of high speed computers and high
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energy power control circuits.
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+--------------------------------------------+
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| a |
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| +-----------+-----+-----------------+-----+
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| | b | c | | d |
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| +-----------+-----+-----------------+-----+
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| | e |
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| +-----------+-----+-----------------+-----+
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| +-----------+-----+-----------------+-----+
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+--------------------------------------------+
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fig. 1
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a. Shield coil.
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b. Exciter coil.
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c. Pump
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d. Focus coil/yoke
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e. Quartz/niobium core.
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| Q | N | Q | N | Q | N | Q | N | Q | N |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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fig. 2
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ENGINE SHIELDING
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The shield coil surrounding the 'engine unit' is of a design that
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will allow for the development of high magnetic fields. This field
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is required especially in interstellar propulsion; tachyons can be
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very ionizing and therefore destructive.
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The magnetic shield can me made by using large gauge wire (low gauge
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numbers) and winding many turns.
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The gage of the wire is important here, as it will determine the
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amount of electrical current that the magnet can handle.
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If it is at all possible, the use of small diameter, insulated
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copper tubing may be used. By pumping coolant through the magnet
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larger fields may be generated.
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Page 2
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On the outside of the shield magnet a material such as 'mu-metal' or
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some other magnetic shielding should be used, so as to further
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shield the operators from the engine.
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This sub-system is probably the most difficult to build. While the
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construction of the magnet itself is not difficult, the power supply
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may be another matter.
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Electromagnets, by their nature, develop a field that is
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proportional to the amount of current (amperes) flowing through
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them. Thus it is important to build a power source that can not only
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develop a sufficiently high voltage, but it must also supply the
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required current. This power should be as close to 'pure' DC (direct
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current) as possible.
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EXCITER COIL
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The exciter of the system is very much like the 'Tesla coil' or
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auto-transformer. As an example of an auto-transformer, I submit the
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television 'flyback' transformer.
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While these examples are by comparison crude, they will serve in the
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construction of a model. As in the auto-transformer, the 'turns
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ratio' is important. The higher the ratio the greater the voltage
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that may be developed.
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Another important factor here is the impedance of the sub-system.
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Since this will be working at high frequencies (several megahertz
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for graviton production, and 10 to 100 times higher for tachyons)
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the AC resistance or impedance must be taken into account, this
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impedance must be kept to a
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minimum.
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This part of the system, like the shield, does its job by the
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magnetic field it generates, therefore, the current flow through the
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exciter must be as high as possible, though not as high as the
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shield.
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Again the power supply is important, it should be able to provide
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the necessary voltage (several hundred volts) at moderately high
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current levels (up to 30 amps).
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THE PUMP
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This element functions much like a 'magnetic shock tube' but again
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at high frequencies (megahertz). While the power levels here are
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somewhat reduced, it is still important to have enough power to do
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the job.
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The function of the pump is to 'pull' quanta of either gravitons or
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tachyons from the 'stack' and send them down the length of the
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engine.
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This is done by setting up a traveling magnetic wave, see fig. 3 for
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a crude schematic of this pump. It is again important to consider
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the impedance of this component.
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Page 3
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multiple turns on coil
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+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------>
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= = = = = = = = = pulsed
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capacitors-> = = = = = = = = = DC input.
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--------------------------------------->
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It will be noticed that the input to this element is pulsed DC, and
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that the element is referred to as an AC element.
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The nature of this such that it functions in the following manner.
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When power is applied the capacitors charge in turn creating the
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effect of many smaller electromagnets stacked end to end, when the
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last capacitor in the chain is charged, power is removed, thus
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allowing the capacitors to discharge
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(high voltage/current diodes across each magnet element
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will allow for proper discharge of the capacitors).
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When the capacitors are discharged power is once again applied.
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Because of the nature of the pulsed DC and the current requirements,
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high speed switching electronics are called for to control this
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element.
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FOCUSING ELEMENT
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The focusing element used here would be much like the 'yoke' used in
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television. The purpose here is to create a beam of particles and to
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'bend' that beam in the desired direction.
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The requirements for the focusing coils are greatly relaxed, but,
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the need for high power still exists.
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CONTROL SYSTEM
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If this system were to be used only as a 'steady state demo' the
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requirements here would be small.
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Simple power supplies and switching circuits would be the only
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requirement. However, if the system were to be used in a starship
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the requirements would change.
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In a flight situation the dynamic control of 'exhaust' and power
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levels would exist. If used in a planetary mode, one could probably
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'get away' with using something like a personal computer (I
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personally would recommend at least a '386' based machine).
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However if used in interstellar flight then the use of something
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like a 'Cray' would be more in order (though I would doubt that even
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the fastest of machines known here on earth would suit).
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In an interplanetary mode, where one is not traveling 'faster than
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light', again a PC (486) would probably work.
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So that's basically it. A suitable air/space frame for a ship and
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Page 4
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three of these engines and one could go 'star-hopping'. Though I
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would warn against 'faster than light' travel due to the 'unknown'
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factors involved.
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It has been said that when one attempts to travel faster than light
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it must be done 'smartly', i.e. the "jump to light speed". It is
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said that to merely accelerate through the light 'limit' is
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dangerous.
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If there are any questions or comments, I can be reached through Jim
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Stewart at the BBS known as ORDO ARGENTUM ASTRUM (fidonode 1:346/13)
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or on the UFO echo.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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**********************************************
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