There are now over one billion cars traveling roads around the world directly and indirectly costing trillions of dollars in material resources, time and noxious emissions. Imagine all these cars running cleanly for 100 years on just 8 grams of fuel each.
Laser Power Systems (LPS) from Connecticut, USA, is developing a new method of automotive propulsion with one of the most dense materials known in nature: thorium. Because thorium is so dense it has the potential to produce tremendous amounts of heat. The company has been experimenting with small bits of thorium, creating a laser that heats water, produces steam and powers a mini turbine.
To put it in perspective, 8 grams of Thorium produce enough power for a car to drive 1 million miles.
Thorium is similar in structure to the element uranium. Because it is an incredibly a dense material it has the potential to produce tremendous heat, and thus energy.
Charles Stevens, the CEO of Laser Power Systems CEO, explains that just one gram of thorium yields more energy than 28,000 liters of gasoline.
Just eight grams of thorium, Stevens explains, would produce more energy than the vehicle could use in its entire life, without the need for refueling… ever.
Just eight grams of thorium, Stevens explains, would produce more energy than the vehicle could use in its entire life, without the need for refueling… ever.
Stevens explained in an interview with Ward’s Auto, that small pieces of thorium have been used to generate heat, being positioned to create a thorium laser in the vehicle. The laser heats water which produces steam, which in turn powers a series of “mini-turbines.”
The entire engine weighs only about 500 lbs and is light and compact enough to fit under the hood of any conventional vehicle.
Stevens and his 40 employees are now trying to answer the question of:
“How do you take the laser and put these things together efficiently?”
“How do you take the laser and put these things together efficiently?”
The question is not, however, “if” they can get it to work, but “when” they can get it efficiently produced."
"When they do, they will have a vehicle that will wear out before the engine. there is no oil, no emissions – nothing.”
"When they do, they will have a vehicle that will wear out before the engine. there is no oil, no emissions – nothing.”
Far from conceptual, this has worked in the thorium-powered 2009, Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept, presented by Loren Kulesus.
Aside from adjusting this innovative model’s 24 tyres every five years, Kulesus explained that nothing else would need to be added to the vehicle, including fuel for more than a century of use.
Aside from adjusting this innovative model’s 24 tyres every five years, Kulesus explained that nothing else would need to be added to the vehicle, including fuel for more than a century of use.
Source: Internet (industrytap.com)
