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Post by gedzilla on Apr 14, 2017 14:02:33 GMT
why does the efficiency of the capacitors drop off so extremely the more stages you add ?
As far as i know, the capacitor is simply a metal plate that you pump electrical energy into, until there is enough that it jumps the small gap to the next plate of metal, which (the second one) is attached to the metal rings. this flood the metal rings with electrical energy all at once, leading to the projectile accelerating down the barrel toward the metal coils. But once the projectile passes the first stage YOU STOP PUMPING ELECTRICAL ENERGY THERE, AND DIVERT THAT CURRENT TO THE CAPACITOR OF THE SECOND STAGE. so the acceleration should be a lot more smooth than the sudden extreme spikes we see.
and why does the efficiency of the capacitors drop off so quickly ? If distance to the second stage is an issue, simply make the second capacitor donut shaped, and slip it around the second stage ? and the whole set up is connected by wires that establish the completed current anyway ?
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Post by Enderminion on Apr 14, 2017 15:01:05 GMT
from what I understand of capacitors, and have seen in circuits, they allow a boost of power after supply shuts off
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Post by RiftandRend on Apr 15, 2017 23:01:10 GMT
why does the efficiency of the capacitors drop off so extremely the more stages you add ? As far as i know, the capacitor is simply a metal plate that you pump electrical energy into, until there is enough that it jumps the small gap to the next plate of metal, which (the second one) is attached to the metal rings. this flood the metal rings with electrical energy all at once, leading to the projectile accelerating down the barrel toward the metal coils. But once the projectile passes the first stage YOU STOP PUMPING ELECTRICAL ENERGY THERE, AND DIVERT THAT CURRENT TO THE CAPACITOR OF THE SECOND STAGE. so the acceleration should be a lot more smooth than the sudden extreme spikes we see. and why does the efficiency of the capacitors drop off so quickly ? If distance to the second stage is an issue, simply make the second capacitor donut shaped, and slip it around the second stage ? and the whole set up is connected by wires that establish the completed current anyway ? I think the issue is that each stage has a different optimal voltage, which we cant change. |
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Post by Pttg on Apr 16, 2017 17:48:59 GMT
If your capacitor is shorting like that, it's going to explode. What you described is a spark-gap switch.
Capacitors are used here to collect energy over a period and then apply it rapidly. For example, if you want to power something like a 10Mw railgun, but only have a 5Mw reactor, you can just add a capacitor. There are, of course, complexities I'm glossing over, but that's the basic idea.
One large inefficiency is that on the first stage, the projectile is stationary. That means that the coil has a great deal of time to accelerate it. When the second stage activates, the projectile is already moving at hundreds or thousands of m/s, so the coil has less time working on the projectile.
I must put a footnote here that I haven't actually seen the equations the game uses, so take all this with a grain of salt.
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Post by David367th on Apr 20, 2017 17:39:40 GMT
If your capacitor is shorting like that, it's going to explode. What you described is a spark-gap switch. Capacitors are used here to collect energy over a period and then apply it rapidly. For example, if you want to power something like a 10Mw railgun, but only have a 5Mw reactor, you can just add a capacitor. There are, of course, complexities I'm glossing over, but that's the basic idea. One large inefficiency is that on the first stage, the projectile is stationary. That means that the coil has a great deal of time to accelerate it. When the second stage activates, the projectile is already moving at hundreds or thousands of m/s, so the coil has less time working on the projectile. I must put a footnote here that I haven't actually seen the equations the game uses, so take all this with a grain of salt. So would it be more efficient if the latter stages were longer? |
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Post by Pttg on Apr 20, 2017 18:15:07 GMT
At this point, I'd have to say I don't know, but I suspect that any efficiency gains would be overcome by the fact that a longer coil is a less efficient solenoid.
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Post by omnipotentvoid on Apr 27, 2017 11:05:11 GMT
If your capacitor is shorting like that, it's going to explode. What you described is a spark-gap switch. Capacitors are used here to collect energy over a period and then apply it rapidly. For example, if you want to power something like a 10Mw railgun, but only have a 5Mw reactor, you can just add a capacitor. There are, of course, complexities I'm glossing over, but that's the basic idea. One large inefficiency is that on the first stage, the projectile is stationary. That means that the coil has a great deal of time to accelerate it. When the second stage activates, the projectile is already moving at hundreds or thousands of m/s, so the coil has less time working on the projectile. I must put a footnote here that I haven't actually seen the equations the game uses, so take all this with a grain of salt. So would it be more efficient if the latter stages were longer? Making a stage longer decreases its efficiency drastically and does little to counteract the loss in acceleration time. More realistically you would add spacing between stages. Also, inefficiency of multi stage coil guns is primarily due to implementation rather than any real limitations. |
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