athelind: (Default)
athelind ([personal profile] athelind) wrote2004-12-02 08:58 am

That Ommmmminous Hummmmmmm....

MicroTurbine Produces 1.1 Watts on a Silicon Chip

Now, this is cool.

Of course, in addition to cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and such, increasing the energy density of a portable power supply by a factor of 10 might make man-portable energy weapons much more plausible...

[identity profile] araquan.livejournal.com 2004-12-02 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
Mmmm. You know how much I love turbine engines... Mmmmm...

[identity profile] araquan.livejournal.com 2004-12-02 09:27 am (UTC)(link)
I wonder about emissions though... Would this mean that you should only use diesel-turbine electronic devices outside or in well-ventilated areas? I wonder also how much vibration and jostling (or just plain dropping) a 100000RPM rotor would tolerate while in opearation- such treatment is a certainty in military applications or in cell phones. Might take a while to work out some kinks there.

Myself, I'd be satisfied with a turbine engine the size of a V8 can... But I have R/C aircraft applications in mind. }:>

[identity profile] athelind.livejournal.com 2004-12-02 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
All good questions, especially the emissions. I'm wondering if they'll shift over to alcohol or hydrogen for production versions -- those are the fuels they keep touting for miniature fuel cells for portable electronics apps.