Teleran Balades
Mar 29th, 2004, 09:32:44 PM
This drive/plant system works as any other modern sublight drive found on virtually every ship throughout the galaxy. As other ion engine systems, the engines draw power from on-board generators. It then creates an internal controlled fusion reaction. The reaction produces charged particles, which are channeled through the ion engine. When the particles are ejected from the engine, they propel the starship. Some ion engines can be converted to use heavy metals, liquid reactants, and other substances as fuel.
The Viper fusion reactor utilizes a unique core set-up. Instead a single reactor ring connected directly to the fusion engines, a main reactor ring sits in the center of two secondary reactor rings. The two secondary reactors are kept off most of the time and are only brought online for short periods of time. When they are running the overlapping magnetic fields super-charge the main reactor, temporarily boosting power by 300%.
Normal coolant liquids would be insufficient while the superchargers are running. A new cooling system developed on Eriadu solves this problem. Instead of pipes supplying super-cooled liquid to the reactor core, a laser-induced optical slurry of ions, produced by the reactor itself, chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize waste heat. In a sense the harder the reactors are pushed the more coolant is produced. Engine efficiency has increased 20% compared to standard sublight drives, and it is estimated that the super-chargers can be active for up to six minutes before heat build-ups overload the reactors. The strike cruiser Trident has been fitted with the Viper-class reactor and will be evaluated at our research facilities in the Eriadu system.
The Viper fusion reactor utilizes a unique core set-up. Instead a single reactor ring connected directly to the fusion engines, a main reactor ring sits in the center of two secondary reactor rings. The two secondary reactors are kept off most of the time and are only brought online for short periods of time. When they are running the overlapping magnetic fields super-charge the main reactor, temporarily boosting power by 300%.
Normal coolant liquids would be insufficient while the superchargers are running. A new cooling system developed on Eriadu solves this problem. Instead of pipes supplying super-cooled liquid to the reactor core, a laser-induced optical slurry of ions, produced by the reactor itself, chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize waste heat. In a sense the harder the reactors are pushed the more coolant is produced. Engine efficiency has increased 20% compared to standard sublight drives, and it is estimated that the super-chargers can be active for up to six minutes before heat build-ups overload the reactors. The strike cruiser Trident has been fitted with the Viper-class reactor and will be evaluated at our research facilities in the Eriadu system.