MHD Generator
From OPU Wiki
- Common Metals Cost medium
- Rare Metals Cost low
- Build Time medium
- Tube Connection no
- Power Required none
- Size med.-small
- Workers Required none
- Hit Points medium
- Scientists Required none
- Armor medium
Descritpion
New Terra's magnetic field is currently in a period of flux, as fossil records indicate Earth's was during several periods of prehistory when the north and south magnetic poles flipped repeatedly. Though this phenomenon was known, it has never been observed. One of the biggest surprises was to learn that during the flip, the planet's magnetic field begins small but rapid movements.
Such movement suggested that it might be possible to extract free and almost unlimited electric energy from the planet itself, but a new method had to be developed to tap the vast, but relatively weak and slow moving (by electrical generating standards), magnetic fields. The MHD Generator uses an array of coaxial Buckytubes, a few nanometers in diameter but tens of kilometers long, which are drilled outward from the plant through the soil using microscopic drill tools. Through this array of tubes, bursts of conductive plasma are sent at significant fractions of the speed of light, where they interact with the planet's magnetic field, are recirculated, and run through a Patterson coil: several more miles of Buckytube wound on a superconducting core and surrounded in turn by a second superconducting coil. The Patterson effect causes induction between the coil and core, creating electricity.
The MHD Generator requires no fuel, but maintenance is a consideration. Though Buckytubes are pound-for-pound the strongest substance known, they are also very thin, and in this application often buried only a few centimeters under the surface. They are easily damaged, must be constantly monitored, and when appropriate, repaired or replaced. This task is highly automated, however (just as well, considering the nano-scale of the tubes), and the need for on-site human maintenance is minimal.
