kbyron

actually, armor is where my idea originated. before i switched to looking into a power source since its the main downfall of exo skeleton armor at the moment i had wanted to look into composite ceramic and composite plastic armors for exo skeletons already being worked on. what i was thinking for armoring the reactor was light weight advanced plastic/carbon fiber base with a composite ceramic armor on the outer shell with a .5-1" steel or titanium allow sandwiched in between for added strength and durability. i'm sure there is a way to scale a reactor for my purposes without reducing output significantly, its just beyond us at the moment. I do not want to discard the idea out of hand because it seems impossible or impractical. i want to prove its merits are not worthwhile first (read: i'm stubborn and have to prove to myself my idea is idiotic before i'll listen to others who say it is so) i recognize my knowledge is sub-par for a project like this, so if you can think of any reading materials that might shed more light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated. especially anything about the scaling and cooling issues.

didnt know that, brings up a couple of new ideas to ponder. yea, i was guessing about 2000 pounds for the weight of the reactor including cooling and fuel. The exo skeleton that i was looking at currently has a load capacity of 8000 pounds, but it uses servos. darpa is currently funding a myomer research project that could greatly increase the load capacity without increasing weight significantly. i do not know however how far that project is or the specs of the myomers in question. cost is irrelevant to me at the moment. planning and research on my own time is free. yea a tank might be a better idea with current technology, but i don't want current i want to push the envelope of whats possible. i agree that miniaturization is costly, not just monetarily but with regards to time as well. new production methods would be required and that necessitates knowledge resources i do not possess, but its benefits are too great to not at least give it some serious thought.

couple things, i was equating the fuel cell to a gas tank, the cell holds the hydrogen which is syphoned off and used to power a generator, like how they propose to power cars with hydrogen. second, not worried about melt downs. current technology for the most part uses fuels with negative thermal coefficients of reactivity. so if the coolant is shut off the reaction actually slows. i'm not sure if thats the case with HEU. with regards to shielding, i concede the point at the moment because i'm not sure the amount required for the scale of reactor i'm thinking about. as for cooling, yes for large reactors because of the amount of heat generated the cooling requirements are immense. i suspect however, although i'm not positive that it will scale with the reactors size, dramatically reducing the cooling needed for the scale i'm proposing.

with regards to fuel cells, i've read that palladium can store upto 900x its volume in hydrogen. That would be an efficient way to store fuel, but then the powerplant would in essence be an ICE (internal combustion engine). It would require constant refueling and in the middle of a combat operation having to retreat to refuel could be deadly. I've also read, but i'm not sure on the veracity of the information, that there has been a resurgence of interest in solid state(cold) fusion with palladium's ability to store such a large amount of hydrogen relative to its volume. Also since palladium is so closely related to platinum it can also be used as the catalyst for fusion. There was a successful experiment in japan where a scientist was able to "Using sample powders of zirconium oxide and palladium subjected to deuterium gas in a electrolysis cell, they were able to show generation of continuous heat along with helium. .... Arata used pressure to force deuterium gas into an evacuated cell that contained a palladium and zirconium oxide mix. By using powdered palladium, he increased the surface absorption area for deuterium. The excess heat generated by the fusion reaction kept the center of the cell warm for 50 hours." - http://world.std.com/~mica/cft.html I had considered this as a possibility but due to the lack of current research and technology had dismissed it. Also i was unaware that fission reactors had a minimum size req. Is the minimum size due to the amount of fuel required to cause sufficient fission to sustain the temps required for power generation? If thats the case, could using weapons grade enriched uranium 85%+ u-235 as fuel make a difference?

My questions and ideas stem from sci-fi fantasy, specifically the Warhammer 40k Universe. In that universe there are genetically engineered super soldiers called "Space Marines". These soldiers are all clad in Powered Armor that is self contained/powered and capable of receiving enormous amounts of abuse without failing. The armor is constructed from a fictional substance called 'Ceramite'. After a little research into ceramic composites i happened upon the U.S. Military's mock up of a powered armor system they termed a "personal combat vehicle". After a little more research into exo-skeleton design it became apparent to me that the main problem with exo-skeleton/powered armor ideas to date has been the actual power issue. Most of these designs require a relatively large amount of power to operate fully and current battery technology can only provide a minimum amount of operational time. My Solution to the power issue is a scaled down 10-20kW nuclear "backpack" reactor that can be fitted to the back of the exo-skeleton. Traditionally, control rods are used to manage the reaction taking place, with new technology control rods can be removed for a smaller more efficient control system using liquid Lithium-6. For actual power generation a gas turbine using the brayton cycle was what i was thinking, using Helium gas as the medium. There is a substantial amount that i do not know regarding fabrication, cooling, unused/used fuel storage and i recognize that. The main reason for this post is to find out where best to direct my inquiries and to find new sources of information to further my idea. From my modest experience it is rather hard to just 'Google' specifics on reactor design and so here i am hoping someone might be able to point me in a better direction.