[ExI] MBrain heat rejection

spike spike66 at att.net
Fri Sep 14 05:30:16 UTC 2012



-----Original Message-----
From: Rafal Smigrodzki [mailto:rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com] 
Subject: Re: [ExI] MBrain heat rejection

A few questions then:

>...Why are the thinkplates so small?...

Because I could make a 1/1 scale model of a node for a pitch I made last fall.  They don't need to be that small, or that large.  I vaguely suspect that when the design is optimized, the nodes will be smaller than a dvd, perhaps a disk more like the size of an American dime but much thinner, with a mass of about 10 to 20 milligrams.

>...Bluetooth is non-directional, meaning most of the energy used for transmission is lost. Why not use lasers for communications with neighboring nodes?

Lasers, ja.  We don't need Bluetooth.  

>...What about the gravitational interactions between the plates? It would definitely be an issue...

I found it isn't much of an issue.  Electromagnetic forces swamp gravity by several orders of magnitude for something like this, and this is an important observation, thanks.  By forcing the nodes to maintain a slight positive charge, the nodes repel each other and help with the controls task.

>...I just occurred to me that turning the plates edgewise towards the sun would allow cooling and would open more distant plates for direct insolation - so having a system of concentric non-contiguous devices with scheduled cycling of attitude towards the sun would allow a very substantial equalization of temperatures between layers of plates...

Ja.  I have a lot of work to do yet on the thermal model.

>...And you could have plates in non-equilibrium orbits partially supported by light pressure. Wouldn't that be cool?  Rafal

I won't know how cool until I get that thermal model working.  That is a lot more work than the gravity calcs.

Good thinking Rafal!  We are the Bradburyan mind children.

spike





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