Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 68 Electromagnetic Ion Engines
Since the beginning of August, as the weather has become hotter and hotter, daily electric cars have also become more and more popular in the market, reaching the level where it is hard to find a car.

On the contrary, Zhong Cheng's work was idle, and all the work was on the right track. As the chief designer, he only needed to give pointers to the work.

He now has time to think about his "long-planned" military drone research and development project.

Thinking of the twists and turns of the past year, just to solve the power supply problem of military drones, Zhong Cheng was deeply moved. Any scientific research work is extremely difficult.

I still have the help of the "Daguo Heavy Industry System" to complete it. Ordinary researchers are afraid that they will have to spend more than ten years, and they may not even see success.

At present, Kuafu Power Battery has reached the staged goal of energy density and power density of 1000, and in the process of mass production, he has found a way to further improve performance.

Although it will increase the manufacturing cost of Kuafu power batteries, for military use, the number is limited, and tens of thousands are already serious, which is still acceptable.

He is sure to achieve the goal of energy density and power density of 2000 in the laboratory within one year at most, so as to meet the power demand of military drones he envisions.

Now another problem in the research and development of military drones has emerged, that is, the engine problem. With sufficient power supply, output is required.

Unlike cars that run on the ground, drones can use electric motors to drive wheels, and the wheels rub against the ground to generate power.

UAVs can also use electric motors to drive propellers to generate power, but no matter how fast the speed is, it is impossible to exceed the speed of sound. The "snail" speed can only become a target in air combat.

Moreover, jet-type aero-engines are too large, heavy, and costly, not to mention that they must carry a large amount of fuel. In the air, it is a mobile fuel depot. It explodes at one point and increases its own weight. It is not suitable for Zhong Chengxin. Ideal for military drones.

Among the terminated military drone projects he saw, no propellant was mentioned.

After a while of research, he understood that it is a kind of engine that cuts the magnetic field lines of the earth's magnetic field to generate propulsion.

Zhong Cheng is currently looking at electromagnetic ion propulsion engines, such as Hall electric thrusters, which use the principle of accelerating charged particles to exhaust backwards.

Because the ion engine runs on electricity, it is also referred to as "electric push".

To his surprise, such a sci-fi device as an ion engine was invented in 1959 by Kaufman, a researcher at the American Aerospace Center.

The general principle of the Kaufman engine is to first inject mercury into the ionization chamber, then inject electrons into the electron gun, and use the coil to accelerate electrons to bombard mercury atoms to produce mercury ions. thrust.

Its principle is the same as that of a rocket or an aircraft engine that burns fuel and injects outward to obtain propulsion, except that the ion engine injects charged ions.

One advantage of ion propulsion is that it is not picky about food, and easily ionized atoms can be used as propellants, such as xenon, zinc, nitrogen, iodine, magnesium, bismuth, etc. Except for xenon and bismuth, other materials are low in cost and used in a very small amount , far smaller than airplanes and rocket engines that use chemical fuels.

（PS：1998年美利国“深空1号”彗星探测器首次将离子发动机作为主力推进系统应用在深空飞行，发动机自重只有8公斤，仅携带82公斤氙就进行了20个月的飞行。）
9527 provided Zhong Cheng with the blueprints and functional principle explanations of the most advanced ion propulsion engines currently on the Blue Star.

He found a problem from it, the thrust provided by the current ion engine is too small!
Although the injection speed of an ion engine is an order of magnitude faster than that of a chemical engine, there are too few things ejected, and the final thrust is really pitifully small, so "millinewton" is used as the unit, which is similar to the force of farting.

The ion engine is actually not a very black technology. Deep space flight has been widely used, because there is no thick atmosphere, and there is no huge blue star gravitational field. speed.

Generally speaking, "deep space" is considered to be 200 million kilometers away from the earth. In this kind of place, heavy chemical rockets are useless.

But in the atmosphere as an aircraft engine, there is no precedent.

……

How to increase the thrust of the ion engine has become a difficult problem in front of Zhong Cheng.

He also couldn't solve it by himself in a short time, and this field was farther away from his proficient profession.

That's the old way: get someone to help!

After thinking about it carefully, there is no such talent in Red Star Company or even the R&D Institute. After all, Red Star Company is engaged in automobile manufacturing, and the research scope of the R&D Institute is a bit wider, but it does not leave the scope of land driving tools.

What he needs now are specialists with theoretical and practical experience in the development of cutting-edge ion engines.

Where can such a person be found?

I'm afraid it's only found in those large scientific research units in China. Those people can be called scientists. Can they go to Red Star Company to study the latest ion engine with a "young man" like him? ?

Those people would not be as depressed as Zhao Wei, who would "get hooked immediately" by him, and would probably scold him "I don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth".

It seems that I have to work hard on my own.

Zhong Cheng called out 9527 to spit: "9527, you said that my brain has reached 32.5% development level, so I should be extremely smart, and I can get everything at my fingertips. Under the existing technological framework, I can invent whatever I want. what!"

"But now, apart from being better in the field of mechanical automation, there is no innovative ability in other professional technologies. I am afraid that the degree of brain development in this system assessment is fake?"

Since the mass production of electric cars on a daily basis, coupled with the continuous expansion of the machine tool factory's production capacity, Zhong Cheng's technology point income has reached 10,000+ per month, and the current technology point reserve is close to 50.

From May onwards, he began to strengthen his body every month. He strengthened his body three times in four months. He spent 5, 1, and 2 technology points respectively, increasing his physical strength index by 3 points in total.

Fortunately, the consumption of technology points has not doubled, so he can accept it for the time being.

His current system panel data is:
[Great Power Heavy Industry System (planetary level): 425412 technology points. 】

[Brain development level: 32.5%] (5% for normal people)

[Skin Muscle and Bone Strength Index: 130] (average index of normal adults is 20)

[Visceral system strength index: 130] (average index of normal adults is 20)

[Nervous system strength index: 130] (average index of normal adults is 20)

【Current task: None】

The degree of development of this brain area has far exceeded that of Einstein - it is said that the smartest person in human history has more than doubled.

But Zhong Cheng still feels that he is like a "point-and-shoot camera" in many ways.

(PS: Regarding the theory of ion engines, the following chapter will do a simple science, readers who don’t need it can skip it.)
(End of this chapter)