Nuclear Batteries, Windmills, Power in General

Robots

Charge life at 50% Duty Cycle - Capacitor type, 36 to 48 Hours. A.B. type, 1+ years. Max Sustained Output - 1.75 KW. Burst Mode - 3.1 KW. Charge Rate - 1.2 KWH/Min. Typical time 45 min.

One H.P.= .75 KW.

The 20 H.P. sawmill needs 15 KWH and has its own battery much larger than the ones powering the few robots that are nuclear powered. Any large earth moving equipment, if we can get something freed up from the Mayflower will likely not be nuclear powered. The NB Heater batteries put out 1 KW. They have the power to run robots at less than maximum output but would need modifications for voltage requirements and we don‘t have what we need to make the modifications just yet. There are a couple spare robot sized NBs but that’s it.

The Robot batteries weigh about 35 lbs. each. Heater batteries about half as much and the sawmills battery proportionately heavier. The battery casings are a tough iridium alloyed with tungsten, aluminum, and thorium. Electrons are emitted inside from a radioactive tritium gas and the electrons captured. They along with what would be wasted thermal energy, provide for the output. Because the radioactive elements powering the batteries emit less energy over time they will all need to be replaced in a year or so.

Wind Power

If we get the windmills up in a hurry and they each average 50% of their 20 KWH max and we locate them at a site near or in camp, things are still very tight. Besides running our lights, water pump, small electric tools such as saws and drills, and comm systems, figure 10 KWH on average, we will have to charge the Nano-Capacitor powered bots, which means almost all of them, from the wind generators also. Eventually we will need to move the windmills to the best location we can find.

The 20 KW of spare windmill capacity can probably give 2 days worth of charge to one bot an hour or enough to keep 40 robots pretty much fully charged. In addition the Nuclear powered bots could, with some modification, each charge one or too more up if they were not working 20 hrs a day. Since people are still getting used to the robots few will be used at the high end of their power requirement immediately. When the Galileo is down and unloading it too would have the ability to charge a couple of robots an hour. The Galileo has enough power to do more, just not enough charging equipment. Someone suggested we have a robot use the charging equipment on the Galileo to continually charge depleted Nano Capacitors and off load them whenever she lands. Good idea, that will help.

Solar Power

We lost much of what we had when the Copernicus crashed. We have about 5 KW worth of solar array still on the Mayflower to install but that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what we need.

So in the short term we can scrape by but we are in need of more generating capacity as we start using the robots to their fullest capacities. Once we begin to use power for additional things like manufacturing we will limit out pretty quickly. And this generating capacity will need to be installed before the “Half Life” of the Nukes cause them to weaken and fail.