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#Post#: 631--------------------------------------------------
Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Cam Date: July 20, 2021, 9:50 am
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So I'm about half way through reading the Rise of America. Thank
you Eddie again for the recommendation it's very interesting. I
just finished a part this morning about new technologies
involving renewables and electrical transmission. One subject
that piqued my interest was microwave power transmission (MPT).
The basic premise is sending power through the air in the form
of microwaves rather than wires. This has some advantages over
wired transmission:
- Transmission is less vulnerable to physical interruptions (ice
build-up, trees falling etc.)
- Enables us to send electricity from space to earth, reducing
the need for battery storage
- Increased safety as there are no power lines to break or fall
to the ground
Japan seems to be the country most heavily focused on this new
technology, and for good reason. "Remember that WWII in the
Pacific began because the Japanese had no oil of their own. They
still don't. And their nuclear industry was decimated by the
Fukushima disaster", writes Marin Katusa in The Rise of America.
As a result, Japan has plenty of motivation to get this system
up and running.
Japan is planning on a solar power satellite (SPS) system that
will generate power via a solar collector in geosynchronous
orbit, weighing over 10,000 metric tons and with a width of
several kilometers. The DC power generated will be converted to
microwaves, and sent 36,000km to the ground
where it will be converted back to DC power. It may then also
be converted to AC power.
Back in 2015, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was
able to direct 1.8kW of power 55 meters with excellent accuracy.
Another demo my Mitsubishi sent 10kW of power across 500m, also
in the form of microwaves.
The technology does not come without challenges or limitations
however. The beam of microwaves must be extremely accurate, as
any deviation in aim over the length of 36,000km could result in
missing the receiving antenna entirely. A pointing accuracy of
0.001 degrees is necessary to transmit power without missing the
2km diameter antenna on the ground. Not to mention the enormous
cost of sending 10,000 metric tons into space!
You may have noticed that the power is DC rather than AC. This
is an issue as most household power used is currently AC. The
conversion from DC to microwave to DC to AC results in an 80%
efficiency, and that does not include transmission losses.
Anyways thought you guys might find this interesting - I sure
do. It's a thought that's popped into my head several times over
the years: if we can send music through the air, could we send
electrical energy? It turns out we can! I am curious to see
where this project will go. It might be a massive flop, or a
success, or somewhere in between. Either way I find it very
neat.
HTML https://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/ssps/ssps-mssps.html
HTML https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/solar/japan-demoes-wireless-power-transmission-for-spacebased-solar-farms
HTML https://space.nss.org/wp-content/uploads/NASA-CR134886-Microwave-Power-Transmission-Vol2.pdf
#Post#: 635--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Eddie Date: July 20, 2021, 10:48 am
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I’m even more excited by StarLink, now that I’ve watched this
podcast. I think it will be a game changer in many ways. Bigger
than the Tesla.
HTML https://youtu.be/-DUaBtkMw8A
#Post#: 638--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Cam Date: July 20, 2021, 11:10 am
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[quote author=BuddyJ link=topic=44.msg633#msg633
date=1626793877]
Just imagine how much fun Fukishima was when things went
sideways, wouldn't the consequences of this one going south be
entertaining?
"News flash! Tokyo citizens today were cooked by microwaves from
space today when a wayward signal adjusted the aiming point of
their new, hi-tech and cool mega-microwave space based
transmitters. 8 million citizens were flash cooked, but
fortunately the rest of the island regained power when the
wayward signal was corrected. News at 11."
[/quote]
I bet we could set a world record for most number hot dogs
cooked in a minute. Get them all lined up on the ground and fire
away. In all seriousness I am curious about the effects of the
microwaves at that magnitude on humans, or any living thing for
that matter. I don't doubt we can make the transmitter accurate
enough to aim, but I think about all the space junk up there
that could knock it out of place. Maybe the space junk is
orbiting at a certain altitude though, above or below where the
SPS would be. I haven't looked into that at all.
[quote author=Eddie link=topic=44.msg635#msg635 date=1626796118]
I’m even more excited by StarLink, now that I’ve watched this
podcast. I think it will be a game changer in many ways. Bigger
than the Tesla.
HTML https://youtu.be/-DUaBtkMw8A
[/quote]
I will check that out. Just from a quick glance at the Wikipedia
article it sounds like things are already pretty far along.
#Post#: 641--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Nearings fault Date: July 20, 2021, 8:01 pm
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One of the problems I see is it can also be used as a gigantic
space based weapon. China will not be happy if their centuries
long enemy develops energy "weapons" in space.
#Post#: 644--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Cam Date: July 21, 2021, 8:37 am
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[quote author=Nearings fault link=topic=44.msg641#msg641
date=1626829284]
One of the problems I see is it can also be used as a gigantic
space based weapon. China will not be happy if their centuries
long enemy develops energy "weapons" in space.
[/quote]
Interesting point. I'm still very interested in how a ray of
microwaves at that magnitude would affect living things, and
electrical infrastructure too. I just started a book called The
Strange Glow and it is entirely about radiation. It's 400+ pages
so I might have a better idea in a few days (think it's gonna be
a quick read, very well written). I'm sure it's a detrimental
effect, but I'm curious to what degree and in what way.
#Post#: 645--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Nearings fault Date: July 21, 2021, 9:33 am
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Even if the benefits outweigh the risks it would be a hard sell
in a world terrified of 5g. Now amplify that signal strength by
several million times...
#Post#: 646--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Cam Date: July 21, 2021, 10:14 am
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Yeah you got that right. The very start of this book talked
about electricity and the fear that surrounded it back when it
was a relatively new technology. People were very wary of the
overhead lines. Even though much fewer deaths resulted from the
downed lines than say house fires from gas lamps, the threat was
exaggerated in the public imagination. It's a good parallel to
radiation fears today. Certainly different types and magnitudes
of radiation carry different risks, but there's a generalized
fear towards the stuff that is unwarranted. I'm always hearing
about cellphones and wifi so it will be interesting to see if
there is any risk involved with the constant low levels from
these devices or not. I want to learn more about nuclear too,
because I really don't know much about the technology or how
it's progressed in the past while.
The fear of the beam of microwaves from a satellite I think is
warranted though - there is a real risk of it being knocked out
of line or used for nefarious purposes.
#Post#: 756--------------------------------------------------
Re: Microwave Power Transmission - Cool stuff!
By: Nearings fault Date: August 18, 2021, 1:33 pm
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Sounds innocent enough but taken with the Japanese announcement
it sounds like a building space race to irradiate. The article
mentions military and civilian uses so it's out in the open that
it's also a weapon...
HTML https://amp.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3145237/china-aims-use-space-based-solar-energy-station-harvest-suns
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