What Fusion Power means to the Project

[cosmicfish]

If the intention is to use the fusion plant in place of the diesel motors generally found in military vehicles of these types, then (fusion plant + fuel storage) must be <= (diesel engine + transmission + diesel fuel and tank). If the goal is to use a single fusion plant for multiple vehicles then it must be smaller still, to allow for form factor issues, although some clever engineering can help as well - if you can divide the power system into subsystems, you may be able to reconfigure the system chassis without actually needing different functional components. But if your replacement fusion system exceeds either the volume or weight envelopes of the original then performance may be impaired, perhaps severely.

And regardless, aviation engines are a poor comparison. They are relatively high horsepower, low torque, with maintenance requirements that would be totally unacceptable for an exploratory ground vehicle. The diesel engine in the V-300 I know weighed a little less than a ton and produced only 260 or so HP... along with over 600 lb-ft of torque. The fuel tank was only around 600lb, if I recall correctly, but when you add the transmission 2 tons would probably be a reasonable total SWaP estimate for the V-300, with the V-150 presumably scaled to about half of that.

[Gelrir]

The engine, transmission, batteries, fuel tank, engine oil tank, and radiator of a V-150 weigh 1400 kg (the engine is the same as on early M113 armored personnel carriers). This is presumably replaced with the fusion generator, its fuel supply, an electric motor, and possibly a different radiator (depending on how you envision the reactor working).

--
Michael B.

[mmartin798]

It's probable that there would be one electric motor per axle. That is was the HEMTT A3 had and is still what Oshkosh uses on vehicles using the same PowerPulse diesel-electric drive. That would make the reactor the single point of failure, not the motor.

http://www.trucktrend.com/cool-truck...mtt-oskosh-a3/

[ChalkLine]

Many of the concept designs have one electric motor per wheel hub. This lowers the sprung weight and means your power supply doesn't dictate how far your suspension travels.

[tsofian]

A quick look says electric motors are really massive

[ChalkLine]

Yep, it's a trade off. It's also a good, mature technology though.

How widespread are these fusion reactors just before the apocalypse? Really, keeping them purely for after-disaster teams just to retain an edge is a terrible crime

[mmartin798]

For comparison, let's just replace the Cat C15 diesel in the HEMTT A4 with a 500HP BALDOR 3PH Motor. Both generate 500HP, the C15 at about 2000 RPM and the BALDOR at 3600 RPM. The C15 engine without any of the exhaust treatment gear attached is 49in tall and 57 in long. The BALDOR is 40in tall and 67in long. The C15 dry weight tips the scales at roughly 3500 lbs, the BALDOR has a shipping weight (couldn't find the comparable dry weight) of 4780 lbs. So it is about a half ton heavier and almost a foot longer, but you gain a lot of head space.