How do ships divert power?

posted on December 24th, 2011, 7:13 am

We hear it all the time. Reroute power from the $subsystem to the $underpowered_subsystem. But I wondered about something. The power produced by fusion reactors is high energy alpha particles ( helium nuclei ) and the power produced by a M/A RA reactor is high energy gamma rays and exotic particles. I think it is strange that the systems would even be compatible.

One would assume that certain systems would be strictly warp powered ( warp engines, shields weapons ) and the rest on fusion generators. What do you guys think?

posted on December 24th, 2011, 7:25 am

Well first I would think that most ship systems are powered by the warp core, as most power systems are seemingly connected to the EPS grid on the ship which is from my understanding powered by the warp core. the fusion reactors are generally used for impulse and most likely auxilary or secondary systems. There would also likely be some battery backup power sources for critical systems, and you could assume that down the road they would be able to convert different types of power to suit whatever need they had. But from what we have seen, a ship with no warp core, or a damaghed non functional core was pretty limited on what systems could operate, so my guess would be the majority of the ships systems were powered my the M/AM reactor.

posted on December 24th, 2011, 8:12 am

Maybe they do it like we do. We use nuclear power, wind energy, power stations with fossil fuel and transform all their energy output (heat,movement...) into electricity.
And the endresult of the fusion reactor and the warpcore may be different they could use them both to heat plasma or transform the radiation in another form of "uniform" energy

posted on December 24th, 2011, 10:02 am

Well first I would think that most ship systems are powered by the warp core, as most power systems are seemingly connected to the EPS grid on the ship which is from my understanding powered by the warp core. the fusion reactors are generally used for impulse and most likely auxilary or secondary systems. There would also likely be some battery backup power sources for critical systems, and you could assume that down the road they would be able to convert different types of power to suit whatever need they had. But from what we have seen, a ship with no warp core, or a damaghed non functional core was pretty limited on what systems could operate, so my guess would be the majority of the ships systems were powered my the M/AM reactor.

Well TNG ships use the warp core as their main power supply with the reactors as back-up as you've have already stated. However in TOS and TMP ships rely mainly on the reactors with the warp core only powering the warp engines. Less sophisticated technology in those early years. Of course ENT really screwed that up and is best ignored.

Just thought you might like to know. Not much of a point with this post though. 

posted on December 24th, 2011, 12:01 pm

And the endresult of the fusion reactor and the warpcore may be different they could use them both to heat plasma or transform the radiation in another form of "uniform" energy

Has to be that. an "ion transfer matrix" or some related technobabble. I just can't even conceive of what that may be. I mean the M/ARA puts out immense quantities of a hard to contain radiation as it's main byproduct of it's operation.

I always assumed that the EPS conduits carried fusion plasma which is relatively safe comparatively. Then the plasma manifolds carried the (hideously dangerous and reactive) gamma radiation and particle plasma exclusively from the warp core to the nacelles. But the show represents that the warp core is the heart, not the fusion reactors. Must be them dilithium crystals or summin

posted on December 25th, 2011, 4:02 pm

Well TNG ships use the warp core as their main power supply with the reactors as back-up as you've have already stated. However in TOS and TMP ships rely mainly on the reactors with the warp core only powering the warp engines. Less sophisticated technology in those early years. Of course ENT really screwed that up and is best ignored.

Just thought you might like to know. Not much of a point with this post though. 

The problem with TOS and TMP is they never really got too carried away with the technobable as the later series, yes they had it to some degree but back then the show never really even tried to explain much about how the tech "worked" and in some cases the tech was as bit more exaggerated then in some later shows. In some original series episodes they actually state the crystals themselves are a power source rather then acting like a regulator.

[Anonymous]

posted on December 25th, 2011, 5:16 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on December 25th, 2011, 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm not sure how helpful this post will be, but I'll give it a shot.

Gamma radiation is a form of high-energy light.  It's invisible and extremely toxic.  In fact, it's used to sterilize surgical equipment.  I have a hard time believing that gamma rays could be a viable power source.  Plus, it takes a power source to produce gamma rays  It would make a very effective weapon though as it destroys organic matter.

The warp core provides power by colliding matter with an equal quantity of antimatter.  The two mutually destroy each other. A single atom produces enough energy to create an explosion large enough (a couple of millimeters) to see with the naked eye.  Using sub-atomic particles and antiparticles, one can convert energy into matter with an equal quantity of antimatter being produced.

Stars give off heat and light by fusing two hydrogen atoms into one helium atom.  Fusion generators are built using the same principals.  These principals are also used in the more advanced nuclear weaponry.

Rockets work by mixing hydrogen and oxygen, then providing some sort of ignition system.  The result is a powerful explosion that is channeled to propel the rocket in a specific direction.  A byproduct of this type of reaction is water.  Some hydrogen-powered vehicles use the same fuel types, but instead of an ignition system, forces the electrons to go through an electrical circuit before producing the chemical bond necessary to bind the hydrogen to the oxygen.  The result is electricity and water.  Using electricity, you can also separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms from each other.

PS:  Some of this may be a bit oversimplified.

posted on December 26th, 2011, 2:32 am

Acording to the TNG and DS9 tech manuals most if not all the races in StarTrek use an EPS (which stand for Elctro Plasma System) power grids. Power taps on the warp plasma transfer conduits or the output side of a fusion reactor convert a potion of the output plasma into Electron plasma which is then sent through out the ship or station to power all the hardware. The EPS grid includes transfer waveguides, flow regulators, and stepups and stepdowns(which are the EPS equivalents to transformers). When you transfer power you are literaly diverting Electron plasma flow from one system to another. EPS systems have been in use at lest since the 2240s as the Constitution class had one. The NX 01 also appeared to have an EPS grid but like so much ofther tech in Enterprise it seemed to be more advaced then its TOS counterpart.

posted on December 26th, 2011, 3:15 am

The real problem with Enterprise though is that the tech had to look like it stemmed from Today without overpowering TOS.  They seemed to fail with regard to overpowering TOS, but in many ways much of the tech we have to today is far more advanced than what the tech appears to be in TOS.  In that regard there exists a catch-22 of sorts.  Then again, judging from the design of the NX class itself, creative lethargy is also a viable explanation.

[kainalu]

posted on December 26th, 2011, 4:04 am

Last edited by kainalu on December 26th, 2011, 4:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

With the exception of the electron plasma, I agree. It is called electro-plasma. A plasma is a state of matter, wherein the particles are partially ionized by having less electrons than protons, yielding a net positive charge. You cannot, by definition, have electron plasma. However, what you said seems to mesh with the show well. the positively charged EPS plasma travels through the ship in fancy magnetic tubes, and gets converted to electricity or used directly where needed.

Regular electricity is a flow of electrons.

My main question is how the two plasmas are compatible. One is almost pure gamma radiation (warp plasma), the other is ionized helium plasma (fusion plasma)

Tchapman explains above how the warp core turns the deuterium / anti-deuterium into plasma. I think this is what dilithium crystals do. I think they somehow take the gamma radiation and turn it into regular ionized matter somehow.

posted on December 26th, 2011, 5:51 am

In the case of electro-plasma the mater stream is composed of pure electrons so its basicly lightning in a bottle. This means unlike wires you have no resistance. I supose the name is more a nod to the high temp then the phisical nature of the mater stream.

My main question is how the two plasmas are compatible. One is almost pure gamma radiation (warp plasma), the other is ionized helium plasma (fusion plasma)

According to the TNG tech mannual Dilithium causes "a partial supension  of the reaction."  This is acomplished by threading the antimater through the crystal latice while subjecting the crystal to a high-frequency EM field in the megawatt range. That means  that warp plasma ia more like fusion plasma then one might think at first. This is at least true over the distances requiered to reach the EPS power taps located on the transfer conduites.

posted on December 26th, 2011, 7:28 am

those damn Dilithium Crystals 

I guess that makes sense