Chapter 1354 Electromagnetic Energy Transmission System

For Han Chenfeng, who has a background in plasma theory research, the concept of boundary layer suction is indeed somewhat unfamiliar.

Fortunately, the principle is not complicated. It is nothing more than removing the low-energy fluid that may cause separation in advance, or at least delaying the transition point from laminar flow to turbulent flow near the wall, thereby reducing losses.

It was first used by Chang Haonan in the WS-10 engine to improve the compressor's boost efficiency.

Although the power generation channel of the magnetohydrodynamic generator in front of us is not an impeller machine, the design method is still the same.

It only took Chang Haonan a few minutes to explain the whole process to the other party.

Han Chenfeng thought for a moment, then simply took off the heat insulation layer on the surface of the power generation channel and gestured on the wall a few times:

"In this case, in addition to modifying the electrodes on the inner wall of the power generation channel, a corresponding structure is also needed to safely discharge the extracted gas..."

Compared with the complex end surface of the compressor blade, this trumpet-shaped power generation channel, which is generally narrow in the front and wide in the back, is really simple.

Therefore, Chang Haonan had already conceived a rough design plan almost at the same time as he thought of the solution.

He took a pen and quickly drew a simple schematic diagram of the cross section of the power generation channel:

"We'll consider more complicated situations later. As for your verification device, the suction electrode can be designed as a conductive plate with a concave cavity. A through hole connected to the power generation channel at the lower end is set on the outer edge. An inclined deep groove is cut at the bottom of the cavity near the air inlet end as a suction flow channel. The exhaust cover plate can be directly made into a flat plate with an exhaust hole and a vacuum flange. The two are fitted together to form a vacuum chamber..."

Han Chenfeng was a little confused about the operation of this electrode at first, but after seeing the assembled structure diagram, he instantly showed an expression of sudden enlightenment:

"There is no need to waste the extracted gas. We can connect a bellows to the exhaust port outlet and send it directly to the exhaust connection section, so that the rare gas and the part of the plasma that still remains in it can participate in the next cycle..."

"I immediately contacted Comrade Li Ziyin, who is in charge of the structural design, and asked him to recalculate the design parameters of the power generation channel to see if any additional structural modifications are needed... If the margin is sufficient, then we can make improvements on this power generation channel..."

This operation of grooving and drilling is bound to have an adverse effect on the structural strength. However, the power generation channel is the main load behind the detonation drive section and needs to work under high temperature and high pressure conditions.

Therefore, before any improvements are implemented, it must be determined in advance that the equipment itself can operate safely.

Chang Haonan was not prepared to intervene in the more specific development work, so after listening to Han Chenfeng's plan, he just added:

"Regarding the specific parameters of the suction tank, your nuclear industry system may not have had experience in this area before. I asked Lao Liu to send a few technical backbones from the 606 Institute to provide support. However, you have to speed up the progress. They are under a tight time schedule and heavy tasks, and they are also short of manpower..."

Although China has invested a lot of energy and resources in education over the past decade, technical personnel are not industrial products that can be mass-produced after all, and those who are capable of working independently are even rarer. They can only be selected through a process of elimination, which ultimately leads to the demand for technological development and industrial expansion far exceeding the speed of talent training.

At least for Chang Haonan, compared to the two years at the turn of the century, there were more cases where no one was available and one person had to take on multiple roles.

Hearing that he could get additional support, Han Chenfeng's face lit up and he immediately promised:

"Don't worry about that. In the process of building this principle verification equipment, we have already mastered the selection of suppliers for each subsystem and the assembly and manufacturing process. As long as we come up with a design plan, it can be completed within a week..."

The principle verification equipment is similar to the principle prototype at the AVIC Engine Company.

All aspects are done just to make do. As long as it can run, it is considered a success. There is no need to consider too many specific production needs. Therefore, the cost is low and the cycle is short. Once it is discovered that the route is not feasible, the psychological burden of overturning and starting over is relatively low.

"Then I will..."

Chang Haonan was about to say that he would go back to the office to make a call when Han Chenfeng called him from behind:

"Academician Chang, there is one more thing..."

The former paused, raised his hand slightly to signal the latter to just speak:

"According to the previous plan, after confirming the feasibility of the principle of detonation-driven magnetohydrodynamic power generation, the next step should be to consider continuous operation to generate a periodic potential difference... But this prerequisite is basically impossible to achieve on the ground. Look at the hypersonic aircraft..."

At this moment, Chang Haonan only felt——

"Numb."

This is the first time since my rebirth that someone has urged me to make progress.

Magnetohydrodynamic power generation needs to be adapted to air-breathing hypersonic and scramjet engines, and he really couldn't come up with one at the moment.

But I was the one who pointed out the entire R&D plan to Han Chenfeng. If I told others to take a break for a year or two halfway through, it didn’t seem right…

Chang Haonan's brain worked rapidly, and he soon came up with a plan to make up for it:

"There is no rush to combine it with the air-breathing hypersonic. After all, both sides are brand new concepts and technologies. Once the risks are stacked, there is a possibility of getting out of control."

He slowly put his hands behind his back, pretending to have everything under control:

"You can first verify the ideas I mentioned to see if you can increase the peak power output of the equipment to 250MW, or at least above 200MW. If you can, then do a round of application demonstration first... On the one hand, it is to find and solve the problems that have not been exposed during the principle research process, and on the other hand, it is to prove to the superiors that the output of this project is worthy of the huge investment required later."

Han Chenfeng scratched his head when he heard this, thinking that it seemed different from what was agreed at the beginning.

But after looking at Chang Haonan who looked very determined, he decided not to dwell on these details.

Since Academician Chang made this decision, he must have his reasons.

"But the applied argument..."

Han Chenfeng went over all the places in daily life that needed pulse discharge in his mind, and then frowned helplessly:

"Even in situations where pulse discharge is required, the power curve is relatively flat in most cases. The output time of magnetic fluid power generation is too short..."

"If we add additional circuits, we can adjust the working characteristics, but the current low- and medium-power flywheel and capacitor energy storage technologies are already relatively mature, so it seems a bit redundant... It's hard to say whether it has any competitiveness."

Due to its special research direction, the Nuclear Industry 240 Institute has rarely undertaken application-oriented projects in the past.

Although the business scope has been expanded in recent years, the shortcoming of lack of imagination is difficult to make up for in one or two years.

“Since we are not competitive enough to meet existing demands, we will create new demands…”

Chang Haonan has tried this trick many times:

"If we calculate based on an average power of 100MW, then even this laboratory-level proof-of-principle device can generate about 0.05MJ of energy in 5 seconds. Considering that the terminal conversion efficiency of electromagnetic energy can reach half or even higher, the load end can also produce about 2.5-3MJ."

"As a general rule, the output capacity of a truly large-scale engineering prototype must be increased by at least two orders of magnitude, reaching the level of 200-300MJ... This number is not something that can be easily achieved by flywheels or capacitors."

Han Chenfeng's eyes lit up:

"Electromagnetic energy weapons...such as electromagnetic cannons?"

The upper limit of the muzzle energy of chemical artillery is basically around 25-30MJ. If it can be increased 10-12 times at once, it will obviously be very attractive to the military.

"Well... that's okay."

Chang Haonan nodded reluctantly:

"But for real weapons, the preparation time of the detonation drive is still too long... I just took a look at your test process. The ideal preparation time in full-automatic mode is two minutes. Even if 6-8 groups of detonation segments are used to drive the same power generation channel in turn, the single preparation time can only be compressed to 15-20 seconds at most..."

"This firing frequency may be enough for battleships, but modern artillery cannot tolerate such a low firing rate. Besides, the cost-effectiveness of increasing the range by simply increasing the initial velocity is very poor. The cost of hydrogen and oxygen is high. Even if hydrogen is replaced with methane in the future, it is hard to say that it is more cost-effective than a proper missile."

Han Chenfeng thought about it and felt that what the other party said made sense:

"Then you mean..."

"The ultimate goal is definitely the electromagnetic catapult on an aircraft carrier... Of course, the verification phase can be temporarily called an 'electromagnetic energy launch system' or something less sensitive."

Chang Haonan finally made his thoughts clear:

"Especially for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, hydrogen and oxygen can be directly generated by the reactor, and the frequency of catapult launch is 15-20 seconds, which is almost twice that of steam catapult launch... Our country has actually started preliminary research on this technology very early, but it has never been put into practical use due to the lack of high-specification energy storage components. Our solution can just bypass this obstacle."

"If there is a disadvantage, it is that the volume of multiple detonation sections combined is definitely larger than the capacitor energy storage, but for an aircraft carrier, this little space is not a big deal..."