Treknology Library Entry: Singularity Reactor
Jun 12, 2011 0:44:21 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2011 0:44:21 GMT
Powering the IRW S’Harien is an Artificial Quantum Singularity Reactor. Romulan technology differs from Federation technology in that, instead of being by the collision of matter and antimatter, which annihilate each other, releasing a massive amount of energy in the process, Romulan engines rely on fusion-based power with the aid of an artificial quantum singularity, which is essentially an intense gravity well. Because it is not possible for fusion reactions to go out of control, and are in fact rather difficult to maintain, Romulan engines are not prone to going out of control and exploding, unlike the farcical design of Federation warp cores. The following is a description of the components of the Reactor and how it functions.
Summary explanation
Deuterium fuel is shot into the reactor chamber, where intense gravity mashes it together (fuses it), releasing energy in the process. The energy is harnessed by collectors placed along the walls of the reactor chamber, which is then transported around the ship to power it
Overview of process
1) Deuterium (hydrogen) fuel is injected into the reactor chamber
2) The intense gravity created by the artificial singularity fuses the deuterium into hydrogen
3) The fusion of deuterium into helium gives off energy in the form of gamma rays
4) Photovoltaic cells, similar to solar panels, line conduits than run along the perimeter of the reactor chamber, harnessing the gamma rays and convert them into electricity
5) Electricity is transferred into the conduits, containing liquid gallium, a highly conductive metal, energizing the gallium
6) Gallium is distributed around the starship to power its systems
7) Nullifying field emitters keep the intense gravity from imploding the ship in on itself, and prevents it from being detected under cloak
Artificial Quantum Singularity
At the heart of the reactor is an artificial quantum singularity, an artificially created pocket of intense gravity similar to a black hole. Extremely dense, it is only 10 centimeters across, and yet has a mass fifteen times that of Jupiter. (Jupiter has a mass of 1027 kilograms, or in other words a number of kilograms equal to 10 followed by 27 zeroes.) The singularity is a naked singularity, meaning that it lacks an event horizon, the boundary found around a black hole that creates the “point of no return”, the point at which the gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light can escape. Since a naked singularity lacks this, not only is it possible to see the singularity, due to light being able to escape it, other things are able to escape it as well, such as energy, which allows it to be used to provide a source of energy to power an engine.
Deuterium Injector
The fuel for the fusion reaction, deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen), enters the chamber through the deuterium injector, a cone-shaped component above the reactor chamber, which fires the stream of deuterium straight down through the top of the reactor chamber into the Singularity.
Once the stream of deuterium enters the Singularity, the immense gravity of the Singularity takes over, causing fusion.
Fusion Reaction
One of the challenges with trying to get a fusion reaction to happen is that when you bring the atoms together in order to fuse them, the like charges of the protons in the nucleus repel each other so strongly due to the electromagnetic force between them that its difficult to get them close enough together to fusion to be possible. The trick is to get them close enough together for the nuclear force to pull them together, which is much stronger than the electromagnetic force at close distances. Getting them close enough together is done by the intense gravity found in the Singularity, which is strong enough to overcome the repulsion and allow the nuclear force to take over. Once that happens, two possible fusion reactions can happen, each with a 50-50 probability:
1 Deuterium + 1 Deuterium → 1 Helium-3 + 1 neutron + gamma photon
1 Deuterium + 1 Deuterium → 1 Tritium + 1 proton + gamma photon
with Tritium being another isotope. The energy released from the fusion reaction is contained within the gamma photon, though the gamma photons in the two reactions contain different amounts of energy. The tritium reaction results in a higher energy release (4.03 MeV) than the helium reaction (3.27 MeV). The helium or tritium atom created during the reaction gets pulled into the Singularity, added to its mass of the Singularity. However, the mass of the added atoms are so infinitesimally small compared to the mass of the Singularity that total added mass of the reaction products over the lifetime of a starship does not make any significant change to the mass of the Singularity compared to its total mass. The added mass does have the curious effect of actually making a reactor more efficient at fusing the deuterium over time, but this is not a detectable difference.
Having been released by the reaction, the gamma photon now flies off in one direction or another, eventually colliding with the walls of the chamber, where it is used to help power the ship.
Photovoltaic cells
Lining the walls of the reactor chamber are photovoltaic cells, similar to solar panels, that harness the energy of the gamma photons by creating electricity that can be used to power the starship. In brief, the gamma photon strikes the material of the photovoltaic cell, which excites the material and causes it to emit an electron, creating an electrical current. Because of losing electrons, the photovoltaic cells become less efficient over time, and periodically have to be replaced. The average lifespan for the photovoltaic cells in a reactor is approximately 20 years.
Once the electricity is produced, it is transmitted to conduits of gallium to be distributed around the ship.
Gallium conduits
Surrounding the reaction chamber on the other side of the photovoltaic cells are conduits of liquid gallium. Gallium, a metal that is liquid just above room temperature (at 85o F or 29o C), is highly conductive and serves as an excellent medium for electricity created by the reactor to be distributed throughout the starship. The electricity generated by the photovoltaic are transmitted by one-way conductors to the gallium flowing through the conduits, where it is transmitted to the gallium to be carried to the needed areas of the ship. The de-energized gallium, after being used by the various ships systems, is returned back to the conduits surrounding the core to obtain more energy and be used again.
Nullifying field emitters
A vital component of the Singularity Reactor are the nullfying field emitters, emitters spread around the perimeter of the reactor chamber, interspersed between sections of photovoltaic cells. These emitters generate the nullifying field that counteracts (nullifies) the effect of gravity well from the Singularity. As you might imagine, carrying around a ball that’s 10 centimeters across and yet weighs 15 times the mass of Jupiter poses an issue. The rest of the ship would implode into it from the force of the gravity created by it, and even if it didn’t, having that much weight sitting in the middle of the ship would make the ship very difficult to steer. Additionally, the gravity well would make it very easy to detect the ship when it was cloaked, as it would appear as a gravimetric distortion on the sensors of any passing ship.
Both protecting the ship from the effects of the Singularity and preventing it from being detected when cloaked are 8 nullifying field emitters, spaced equally around the reactor chamber between sections of photovoltaic cells, running vertically along the entire length of the chamber. These emitters create a field to counteract the gravity well of the Singularity, where the field surrounds it to protect everything outside the field from the effects of the Singularity, while still maintaining the intense gravity needed for the fusion reaction. And while normally all 8 emitters are used, a minimum of 5 are required to maintain the field, allowing emitters to be taken offline from time to time for maintenance. The field strength must be carefully balanced, and therefore the reactor controls require a Controller to ensure that the emitters are properly aligned at all times, adjusting the output of the individual emitters are necessary.
Author Disclaimer
When designing futuristic technologies based on science that doesn’t even exist yet, certain assumptions must be made. As such, certain things central to this design may prove to be inaccurate:
- That it is possible to have the Singularity be that dense. According to current astrophysics, the size involved for a black hole with a mass 15 times that of Jupiter is much bigger than 10 centimeters in diameter. With current understanding, a black hole of that mass would in fact be about 45 meters in diameter. Obviously, it is unrealistic for the Singularity to be that size and be practical to have in a starship. However, it should be noted that it is an artificial quantum singularity, lacking an event horizon, and thus I have made the assumption that a Singularity of the needed mass could be whatever size I wanted it to be.
- That it would be possible to make a photovoltaic cell out of a material that could generate electricty from gamma photons. In order for photons to generate electricity, they have to be of a specific quantity of energy to excite the material the photovoltaic cell is made of in order cause it to emit an electron. Even today, with the most common component material in solar panels being silicon, much of the photons contained in sunlight do not properly excite the silicon, having contained too much energy. I make the assumption that in the 24th Century, Romulan technology will have developed the appropriate substance for being excited by gamma photons, and that is indeed possible for any material to absorb something as high-energy as a gamma photon and emit an electron in return.
Summary explanation
Deuterium fuel is shot into the reactor chamber, where intense gravity mashes it together (fuses it), releasing energy in the process. The energy is harnessed by collectors placed along the walls of the reactor chamber, which is then transported around the ship to power it
Overview of process
1) Deuterium (hydrogen) fuel is injected into the reactor chamber
2) The intense gravity created by the artificial singularity fuses the deuterium into hydrogen
3) The fusion of deuterium into helium gives off energy in the form of gamma rays
4) Photovoltaic cells, similar to solar panels, line conduits than run along the perimeter of the reactor chamber, harnessing the gamma rays and convert them into electricity
5) Electricity is transferred into the conduits, containing liquid gallium, a highly conductive metal, energizing the gallium
6) Gallium is distributed around the starship to power its systems
7) Nullifying field emitters keep the intense gravity from imploding the ship in on itself, and prevents it from being detected under cloak
Artificial Quantum Singularity
At the heart of the reactor is an artificial quantum singularity, an artificially created pocket of intense gravity similar to a black hole. Extremely dense, it is only 10 centimeters across, and yet has a mass fifteen times that of Jupiter. (Jupiter has a mass of 1027 kilograms, or in other words a number of kilograms equal to 10 followed by 27 zeroes.) The singularity is a naked singularity, meaning that it lacks an event horizon, the boundary found around a black hole that creates the “point of no return”, the point at which the gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light can escape. Since a naked singularity lacks this, not only is it possible to see the singularity, due to light being able to escape it, other things are able to escape it as well, such as energy, which allows it to be used to provide a source of energy to power an engine.
Deuterium Injector
The fuel for the fusion reaction, deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen), enters the chamber through the deuterium injector, a cone-shaped component above the reactor chamber, which fires the stream of deuterium straight down through the top of the reactor chamber into the Singularity.
Once the stream of deuterium enters the Singularity, the immense gravity of the Singularity takes over, causing fusion.
Fusion Reaction
One of the challenges with trying to get a fusion reaction to happen is that when you bring the atoms together in order to fuse them, the like charges of the protons in the nucleus repel each other so strongly due to the electromagnetic force between them that its difficult to get them close enough together to fusion to be possible. The trick is to get them close enough together for the nuclear force to pull them together, which is much stronger than the electromagnetic force at close distances. Getting them close enough together is done by the intense gravity found in the Singularity, which is strong enough to overcome the repulsion and allow the nuclear force to take over. Once that happens, two possible fusion reactions can happen, each with a 50-50 probability:
1 Deuterium + 1 Deuterium → 1 Helium-3 + 1 neutron + gamma photon
1 Deuterium + 1 Deuterium → 1 Tritium + 1 proton + gamma photon
with Tritium being another isotope. The energy released from the fusion reaction is contained within the gamma photon, though the gamma photons in the two reactions contain different amounts of energy. The tritium reaction results in a higher energy release (4.03 MeV) than the helium reaction (3.27 MeV). The helium or tritium atom created during the reaction gets pulled into the Singularity, added to its mass of the Singularity. However, the mass of the added atoms are so infinitesimally small compared to the mass of the Singularity that total added mass of the reaction products over the lifetime of a starship does not make any significant change to the mass of the Singularity compared to its total mass. The added mass does have the curious effect of actually making a reactor more efficient at fusing the deuterium over time, but this is not a detectable difference.
Having been released by the reaction, the gamma photon now flies off in one direction or another, eventually colliding with the walls of the chamber, where it is used to help power the ship.
Photovoltaic cells
Lining the walls of the reactor chamber are photovoltaic cells, similar to solar panels, that harness the energy of the gamma photons by creating electricity that can be used to power the starship. In brief, the gamma photon strikes the material of the photovoltaic cell, which excites the material and causes it to emit an electron, creating an electrical current. Because of losing electrons, the photovoltaic cells become less efficient over time, and periodically have to be replaced. The average lifespan for the photovoltaic cells in a reactor is approximately 20 years.
Once the electricity is produced, it is transmitted to conduits of gallium to be distributed around the ship.
Gallium conduits
Surrounding the reaction chamber on the other side of the photovoltaic cells are conduits of liquid gallium. Gallium, a metal that is liquid just above room temperature (at 85o F or 29o C), is highly conductive and serves as an excellent medium for electricity created by the reactor to be distributed throughout the starship. The electricity generated by the photovoltaic are transmitted by one-way conductors to the gallium flowing through the conduits, where it is transmitted to the gallium to be carried to the needed areas of the ship. The de-energized gallium, after being used by the various ships systems, is returned back to the conduits surrounding the core to obtain more energy and be used again.
Nullifying field emitters
A vital component of the Singularity Reactor are the nullfying field emitters, emitters spread around the perimeter of the reactor chamber, interspersed between sections of photovoltaic cells. These emitters generate the nullifying field that counteracts (nullifies) the effect of gravity well from the Singularity. As you might imagine, carrying around a ball that’s 10 centimeters across and yet weighs 15 times the mass of Jupiter poses an issue. The rest of the ship would implode into it from the force of the gravity created by it, and even if it didn’t, having that much weight sitting in the middle of the ship would make the ship very difficult to steer. Additionally, the gravity well would make it very easy to detect the ship when it was cloaked, as it would appear as a gravimetric distortion on the sensors of any passing ship.
Both protecting the ship from the effects of the Singularity and preventing it from being detected when cloaked are 8 nullifying field emitters, spaced equally around the reactor chamber between sections of photovoltaic cells, running vertically along the entire length of the chamber. These emitters create a field to counteract the gravity well of the Singularity, where the field surrounds it to protect everything outside the field from the effects of the Singularity, while still maintaining the intense gravity needed for the fusion reaction. And while normally all 8 emitters are used, a minimum of 5 are required to maintain the field, allowing emitters to be taken offline from time to time for maintenance. The field strength must be carefully balanced, and therefore the reactor controls require a Controller to ensure that the emitters are properly aligned at all times, adjusting the output of the individual emitters are necessary.
Author Disclaimer
When designing futuristic technologies based on science that doesn’t even exist yet, certain assumptions must be made. As such, certain things central to this design may prove to be inaccurate:
- That it is possible to have the Singularity be that dense. According to current astrophysics, the size involved for a black hole with a mass 15 times that of Jupiter is much bigger than 10 centimeters in diameter. With current understanding, a black hole of that mass would in fact be about 45 meters in diameter. Obviously, it is unrealistic for the Singularity to be that size and be practical to have in a starship. However, it should be noted that it is an artificial quantum singularity, lacking an event horizon, and thus I have made the assumption that a Singularity of the needed mass could be whatever size I wanted it to be.
- That it would be possible to make a photovoltaic cell out of a material that could generate electricty from gamma photons. In order for photons to generate electricity, they have to be of a specific quantity of energy to excite the material the photovoltaic cell is made of in order cause it to emit an electron. Even today, with the most common component material in solar panels being silicon, much of the photons contained in sunlight do not properly excite the silicon, having contained too much energy. I make the assumption that in the 24th Century, Romulan technology will have developed the appropriate substance for being excited by gamma photons, and that is indeed possible for any material to absorb something as high-energy as a gamma photon and emit an electron in return.
