Whatever happened to this?

[Eli]

Text

Freaking badass! I want one.. or two.. or 100.

20,000RPS. :shocked:

That's 1,200,000RPM. That is insanity.

Why has there been no news of these since 2006? Do any of you realize how badass it would be to have to refuel your laptop or cell phone with jet fuel? Hell yeah!

We would all carry around little cans of fuel for our devices, kinda like people did when Zippo-style lighters were king.

I think I need to go change my underwear. Again, I want one!

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Crazy shit..

 

[beat mania]

Do any of you realize how badass it would be to have to refuel your laptop or cell phone with jet fuel? Hell yeah!
We would all carry around little cans of fuel for our devices

Why the hell would you want that?

I like electricity just fine.

 

[eLiu]

Haha that guy is a HORRIBLE teacher, my god. But he has lots of cool stories to tell. It was "story time with uncle epstein", not engine design.

Anyway that thing is pretty cool; they demo-ed it in a thermodynamics class I took. After hearing the RPM count, I was totally expecting some noisy screamer... but surprise surprise it spins so fast that the sound generated is outside our hearing range, haha. As far as I know it's an ongoing research effort. Commercial release, if it ever happens, is pretty far off. There are significant efficiency issues due to the size; on a related note, last I heard they were having issues maintaining pressure seals on something that small too. (jet engines need high compression ratios to be efficient)

edit: this might eventually be good b/c the energy density of fuel is WAY higher than any current battery.

 

[SunSamurai]

Idk? Maybe to OC your stuff with high octane?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

made of low-defect, high-strength microfabricated materials

It sounds like the technology is still in its infancy and the materials just aren't ready to be commercially produced.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: beat mania

Do any of you realize how badass it would be to have to refuel your laptop or cell phone with jet fuel? Hell yeah!
We would all carry around little cans of fuel for our devices

Why the hell would you want that?

I like electricity just fine.

Pfft. I like electricity too, but let's face it - our batteries suck. We could probably carry around enough fuel for a month in a small tin.

 

[SunnyD]

Just want I want, brain cancer AND carbon monoxide poisoning from a cell phone. :laugh: