jamahir
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all types of beta decay batteries are low voltage and amps what i am contemplating is in megawatts
I have read somewhere that the battery is "scalable", taking various forms according to application and providing low voltage to high voltage accordingly. Example : pacemaker, torch, personal computer, clothes iron, car.
I quote the website's "Technology" page which may answer your point :
Diamond Nuclear Voltaic (DNV): NDB is one of the earliest adopters and developers of this technology backed up by recent publications. Typically, DNV as a device is a combination of a semiconductor, metal and ceramic which has two contact surfaces to facilitate charge collection. Several single units are attached together to create a stack arrangement, which is fabricated to create a positive and negative contact surface similar to a common battery system. Every layer of the DNV stack consists of a high energy output source. This kind of arrangement improves the overall efficiency of the system and provides a multi layer safety shield for the product.
Rapid conversion from radiation to electricity: All radioisotopes are known to produce high amounts of heat. The strategic placement of the source between the DNV units facilitates inelastic scattering originated due to the presence of single crystalline diamond (SCD) in the DNV unit. This design prevents self-absorption of heat by the radioisotope and enables rapid conversion to usable electricity.
Thin film structure: The thin-film profile exhibited by NDB allows radiation absorption in the single crystalline diamond with minimal self adsorption. Due to its flexible design structure, this technology can take any shape and form in accordance to the application. This makes NDB’s battery system market friendly.
Nuclear recycle process: Utilization of radioactive waste as otherwise is a subject not many have looked into. At NDB, we aim to reuse the nuclear fuel by reprocessing and recycling to enable sustainability and promote a clean energy source in a safe and secure environment.
Safety
One of the key innovations of NDB is its highly sophisticated safety feature covering the three most important aspects of thermal, mechanical and radiation safety. The battery system uses several concepts to ensure maximum safety of the device:
Diamond encapsulator: The DNV stacks along with the source are coated with a layer of poly-crystalline diamond, which is known for being the most thermally conductive material also has the ability to contain the radiation within the device and is the hardest material, twelve times tougher than stainless steel. This makes our product extremely tough and tamperproof.
Built in thermal vents: The high energy source present in the battery system produces heat during operation. This leads to thermal conduction in the system. Thermal vents in the system help conduct this process with respect to the outer surface of the diamond to keep the interiors at an optimum level.
Boron-doped SCD: Trying to utilise every aspect in the system, NDB in addition to alpha and beta also incorporates usage of neutron radiations by utilising a boron-10 doping. Doping helps to convert the extra neutron into alpha ray.
Lock-in System: Using a nuclear power source for a battery system brings up the question of nuclear proliferation due to production of fissionable isotopes such as Pu- 238 and U-232. To tackle this issue, NDB uses an ion implantation mechanism called “lock-in system” which prevents usage other than power generation. This increases the usability, by meeting consumer safety requirements.
This link is for a pic from the company's homepage and describes the applications.
I think this is just silliness as Starlink has nothing to do with Mars
I agree. I think it has something to do with company lawyers wanting to put some legalese. Also, maybe Musk wanted to use the opportunity to describe his take on what society he would desire on Mars.
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