Comments by "David Elliott" (@davidelliott5843) on "Two Bit da Vinci" channel.

  1. Refrigeration uses a heat pump. Air conditioning uses a heat pump. Run it one way and you get cooling. Run it the other way and you get heating.
    14
  2. After “Dieselgate” the oil burners, (even if they could be fully cleaned up) are now toxic to VW. Battery Electric is their only way out of the mess.
    10
  3. Another trend that’s perhaps a bit late to the table is new low cost nuclear. There are fully engineered designs ready to go that are working through the regulatory homologation processes. Moltex is probably at the front with a plant fuelled by high level nuclear waste. They make power while solving a radioactive storage problem. Their costs for a built on site plant are many times cheaper than standard nukes and will undercut natural gas. Factory built modules will be cheaper than coal. Clean reliable power, cheaper than coal will put it out of business. It’s also zero CO2 so the green warriors can’t complain. It’s cheap so electric cars won’t cost a fortune to fuel.
    9
  4. The RTGs used by NASA have a serious fuel supply problem. Due to regulatory controls, nobody is reprocessing the material. Right now, they have almost no Plutonium for the job. A far cheaper option uses a fast spectrum reactor to literally finish using the stored “waste” we have at every existing nuclear plant. Moltex and Elysium both have the tech to do it. Subject to nuclear regulatory bodies allowing any sort of progress.
    6
  5. The original point of CanBus was to run a power wire bus around the car linking to each item. Electronic modules at each location would do their stuff when triggered by RF signals sent along the power bus. Big Auto was so stuck with tradition, so the potential for canbus never really happened. Tesla seems to be doing it properly.
    6
  6. Geothermal energy needs a large underground contact area usually done by hydraulic “fracking”. A simple hole could never return enough heat to cover its costs. HOWEVER, the deeper you go, the pressures to fracture the rocks get ever higher. AND you have to keep the cracks open - usually with sand. The pressures at 5 miles deep (8000 metres) is beyond any hydraulic systems available today.
    5
  7. A single row Deltic with generator in the middle would be compact and efficient. Six pistons and three combustion chambers. The (expensive) interconnecting gears used by Napier could be replaced with roller chains. People will laugh but chains are highly efficient, very reliable and easy to maintain. Motorcycles all use chains between engine and gearbox. (Ignore the final drive). Regarding emissions check out the Rotax ETech. It’s cleaner and more efficient than competing four strokes.
    4
  8. X format is another option. Four cylinders spaced 90 degrees apart around a single crank. All conrods attach to one wide crank pin. There is zero vibration as all forces cancel out. Air can be fed through the crank case then via transfer ports to the cylinders. Alternatively, an external manifold ring provides air direct via reed valves to the cylinders. Fuel is injected directly into the cylinders after the ports have closed. Fuel pressure is higher than conventional fuel injection but considerably less than diesel injection. Engine runs at constant speed to drive a generator so is optimised for power efficiency and emissions. A basic (dirty) two stroke easily makes 100bhp per litre. DI two strokes use much less oil as there is no surface washing by gasoline and the exhaust catalyst removes anything unburnt in exhaust. DI also solves the part throttle chatter and piston rattle that afflict normal two strokes. Short cylinder life is no longer a problem.
    4
  9. Heat pumps need power. Moltex Energy at New Brunswick in Canada are building a nuclear plant. (Oh yawn). This really is different (1) the hazards associated with traditional nukes have been removed so it’s cheap. (2) the radioactive nuclear waste will be their fuel. They will be using that up completely so those ultra long life elements will be gone turned into electricity. Check out Ian Scott Moltex.
    4
  10. Timothy Hughbanks but gold and uranium are under the sea hard to reach. Lithium salts are IN the sea. Diluted but easy to reach.
    3
  11. I drive an old Fiat. It’s cheap and (so far) reliable. A few years ago I’d have been chomping the bit for something better - Audi A4 - probably. Now? ICE cars just don’t interest me any more. And we know the depreciation will be fierce. I would go Tesla every time. Audi really don’t want to sell their etron and it’s silly costly. The new Volvo full electric is ok but too conventional. The Japanese makers are too conventional and save very little money over a Model 3. Technically, they are all way behind what Tesla offers so it’s really a no brainer.
    3
  12. It was allowed to fly on because anything sensitive would be well hidden and much data can be gleaned from it’s radio emissions Far more intelligent to let it fly than stop it short.
    3
  13. Their brake regen setup just proves that Porsche is thinking like an engine driven car company. They had the chance to break that mould and couldn’t do it. There is plenty they could do to give it the driver’s car feel. How about electric brakes that suck energy into the battery as well as the drive motors?
    3
  14. Personally, I don’t like its over-the-top tangle of lace. It’s just too much of everything.
    2
  15. Rebar and concrete makes sense.
    2
  16. Buried power lines do not cause wildfires and are not damaged by wildfires. Today’s substations are covered and can easily be protected by fireproof walls. There is a cost but it means fire hydrants are always under pressure. It’s also possible to run water mains and fire mains alongside the new electric cables. Additional cost of next to nothing.
    2
  17. It’s looking like Tesla will allow this lot to mess up then clean up when they hit the market.
    2
  18. Weather balloons use hydrogen. It’s cheap and there’s no fire risk.
    2
  19. We are no longer building ships so all that iron can go into batteries. But we have scrapped our blast furnaces and iron works so where will all that iron come from? Check out Moltex and Elysium. Nuclear but not as we know it.
    2
  20. Ukraine war or not, China will be investing in Russian oil and gas. Unfortunately for both, the people with the expertise (Halliburton, Shell, Exxon, etc) have pulled out of Russia and won’t be going back. BUT when Russian implodes, China will grab Manchuria (East Siberia). There’s also that black painted fool in Ottawa to be concerned about.
    2
  21. My little Fiat weighing 2,100 pounds has 195-45 R15 tyres - side walls are approx 2.5 inch high. I have two bent rims from rubbish roads. I fitted 50 series tyres with about 3” side walls. That gives a noticeable better ride and offers more wheel protection. But my plan is to fit steel wheels - tougher and easier to repair. At the price of new wheels (not to mention hassle), swapping out to steels with aero covers makes serious sense and you’d never know to look at.
    2
  22. The original point of CanBus was to run a power wire bus around the car linking to each item. Electronic modules at each location would do their stuff when triggered by RF signals sent along the power bus. Big Auto was so stuck with tradition, so the potential for canbus never really happened. Tesla seems to be doing it properly.
    2
  23. Musk open sourced his patents years ago. How many have been used by the industry?
    2
  24.  @richardmccann4815  The video explains why mere bullet holes do not drop these balloons.
    2
  25. Many “normal” propellers have variable pitch. This toroidal type won’t manage that.
    2
  26. Higher voltage reduces the wire area (cross-sectional area). So it’s an even bigger reduction than just the diameter.
    2
  27.  @mc2engineeringprof  Gas fired refrigerators are surprisingly efficient but they do use the refrigeration cycle. A small heater evaporates ammonia. This loops over to the condenser wher it’s cooled. Liquid ammonia takes up 100th of the space so creates a suction evaporating ammonia in the cold boil gives the cooling.
    2
  28. LiFePo4 (LFP) batteries have a very long shelf life and very low self discharge. Makes them ideal for standby/backup power.
    1
  29. GM are waiting for battery prices to fall below £100 per KWH. Great, but they are customers of LG Chem. they don’t have an exclusive deal. They don’t have a tech advantage.
    1
  30. My Ford Galaxy TDI (minivan) was fab for towing but the normal upper 30’s per (U.K.) gallon would drop to low 20s when pulling a caravan (trailer home). Large or small much the same. Diesels are 40% efficient under load. Gasoline is 25% or worse. However. If I had my time again renting a motor home would be so much better and tow a (smaller) car behind.
    1
  31. Moltex Energy is building a reactor in Canada that’s fuelled by nuclear waste. The end result is a waste with 30 years 1/2 life vs 30,000 years for the unused waste. They also get paid to take away the “waste” and every kg will generate 25 X as much as the original PWR was able to extract. This is not BS it just demonstrates the enormous energy content of nuclear fuel.
    1
  32. Using tanks of hot molten salt for energy storage is a great idea. Moltex fast spectrum nuclear will use the stored heat to fill the daily peak demands. It would be a great way for coal and gas fired plant to run at peak efficiency.
    1
  33. The Bollinger looks unlikely be road legal in Europe. The shape is too sharp and looks very unfriendly to pedestrians. Style-wise? Why does it need a huge “engine” compartment. There is no engine. Frankly, I could have done better styling which is not saying much.
    1
  34. Sandy is 100% right about the media propping up their advertising customers. How does that work with BBC and other state run media who don’t use advertising? BBC activist “journalists” absolutely hate Elon.
    1
  35. Fridges and freezers use propane as the working fluid. It’s cheap, very effective and does not destroy the ozone layer. Flammable yes if it’s not inhibited, but so are gas lighter refills and deodorant sprays.
    1
  36. Zero car cities will always be horrible because infrastructure is never adequate. Trams yes. Underground metro maybe. Ordinary busses always late are whet they’ll provide. Then there’s the crime and deprivation that always infests tower block flats.
    1
  37. Ford has already bolted a battery under an F150. It looks like something I could do at home. Read - it looks like DIY.
    1
  38. Adding battery storage to any solar system makes sense. This new rule means you have to add batteries if you want to export power. But a small array with enough battery to keep going overnight is the best option.
    1
  39. Ammonia (NH3) is the ideal way to transport hydrogen. Molten salt nuclear reactors run hog enough to produce it and could even move up to hydrocarbons entirely fossil free. Before anyone complains about nuke waste. We now have the technology to fuel an MSR with used nuclear fuel (high level waste) or even depleted uranium which is another huge storage problem.
    1
  40. But this doesn’t explain why outfits like BBC always hate against Elon. They generally do it in subliminal (underhanded) ways but sometimes directly.
    1
  41. Lithium battery charge voltage follows a rectangular curve. There's a large area under the curve. Capacitors voltage follows a straight line slope from full to empty. Unfortunately most of the charge volume is in the lower half leaving maybe 25% as useable power. They do charge fast so are great for braking but the capacitance has to be bled out to the batteries otherwise there wont be any space for the next braking event.
    1
  42. Solar was only viable with tax funded subsidies. Like it or not, sooner or later it has to become self supporting. Sadly the USA has ignored intrinsically safe molten salt nuclear power. This can burn down the used fuel being stacked up by old nukes. It’s cheap to install and cheap to operate.
    1
  43. Two stroke engines running at constant speed can be extremely efficient and extremely clean. Drive a generator to keep pace with power demand with batteries to absorb power peaks and troughs. Electric motors drive the wheels. You lose the clutch and gearbox, saving weight cost and power losses.
    1
  44. All Tesla has to do is take the profitable parts of the market leaving Big Auto with the cheap low spec stuff that makes no money. People with the money will want electric cars. Those that don't have the money will be stuck with cheap rubbish. Big auto will collapse leaving nobody to supply the low end of the market.
    1
  45.  @NoLeadsEnt  Distinct echos of the William Towns Hustler Project from 1980s. The six wheel Highlander was way out there but he only made 8 of them. Google it.
    1
  46. Elon. PLEASE do note market an ATV. They really are death traps. However if you could consider a leaning three wheeler. Two front wheels and long swing arms that allow the body to lean and drive just like a bike. You get the best of both worlds. For a longer truck bed how about six wheels? For dynamic suspension how about the system used by Citroen? It uses hydraulics to control ride height and body roll with gas spheres as springs. It even allows tyre changes without a jack.
    1
  47. Oil is a fantastic materials resource yet we simply dig it out of the ground and throw it into the sky. For that reason alone we have to stop burning oil.
    1
  48. Tesla seems strongly in favour of car longevity. I hope the aluminium castings will have sacrificial areas that can be replaced when damaged. It would be horrendous if relatively small impacts (e.g. a skid into a kerb) could trash the whole car.
    1
  49. Has Elon registered suffixes B, 1 and T? To go with S, 3, X and Y?
    1
  50. Im not mad about the razor sharp edges at the back corners. They will get damaged on the shut lines in exactly the worst ways to stand out. I think a 1" radius return to the rear gate would be a better option.
    1