Technology of Equestria · 12:14pm Jan 10th, 2013
Another 2:00 AM thought.
I'm writing a science fiction story, but it's in Equestria: a personal computer may be science fiction. Or perhaps not, as Twilight Sparkle summons an EEG machine to use on Pinkie. Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to investigate the technology Equestria uses, or any I slip into An Equestrian Engineer. If you have a question about any of JetGrey's gear, I'll write about it.
For starters, the Jet engines strapped to his back.
Mostly aluminum, the "guts" of each are alloyed with titanium. A steel tank sits between them, holding highly pressurized hydrogen gas, generally around 600 bar or so. This should be enough so that almost a tenth of the tank's weight (lets be liberal here: up to 45 pounds, or 20kg... and a capacity of about 25 liters) will be fuel. The engines themselves are my spin on after-burned low-bypass turbofans (forgive the pun). Look them up, but the engine can be a lot smaller and quieter this way. The exhaust is a bit cooler as well, but JetGrey would get serious burns if he slipped up. These monstrosities, though relatively tiny, could drive the set past supersonic speeds. Could they do so with a pony strapped to them? I need to do the math for that... though I will skip modelling the fluid dynamics of JetGrey as he accelerates past Mach 1. Let's say, 35-50 kg for the engines - each (total 120 kg at most, 265lbs).
Yeah, you'd have to be a really strong pony to carry this, as it is half again his estimated weight, at least. The engines cool by pumping a very small amount of air through the blades.
I have been asked on how these engines were made. This does seem like hand-waving, but JetGrey has a machine shop in his castle. He had reverse-engineered the turbine a long time ago - even before the story. The shrouds, or cowls, of each engine could be pressed from a sheet of Aluminum - but the insides would have to be cast. Molten Titanium loves to react with air, so it'd have to be done under inert gas or in a vacuum. A redox reaction of thermite, though, does just that. There isn't enough energy there, so a second reaction of Aluminum powder and thermite would have to fuel it. Done correctly, the titanium could then be alloyed, and injected into molds. Hot-pressing the pieces would help eliminate voids and hairline fractures.
The chance of these to critically fail is actually very high, but JetGrey has had a lot of practice. His whole castle gets power from similar hydrogen and steam turbines. I am not sure how much time (in hours) it takes him to retrofit one of the older turbines with a compressor fan and afterburners, but most of the parts were already fabricated for different projects. JetGrey, in a stupor of exhaustion, had a flash of inspiration (or madness).
References? You want those? *Faints*
Random engineer talk is random....
As a fellow mech nerd, this article is adorable. :]
The closest I get to engineering is that I read Dilbert. Sounds smart, tho!
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Mostly I'm goofing off with this, but I had hoped there would be a few people who'd get a kick out of it.
If engineering isn't your thing, don't worry. I just wanted to make sure the crazy things I'll write have some connection to reality. This way, I can use increasingly bizarre inventions without annoying anypony. Pinkie Pie can break physics all day long, but our intrepid hero has much less leniency.
699348 Even for goofing off, some of the science you used sounds very believable. You should write for movies or something.
Update: I have been shown that I've skimmed over the construction too quickly. Here, I explain and solidify some of my thoughts.
Indeed, this does create a plot hole if misunderstood. Northwest Brony has a point: even an engineer in Equestria has limits. So, for the curious, JetGrey built his iconic engines out of parts he had already.
Don't try to question me on how he affords this, line of credit or no. That sort of question belongs to a socio-economic study of Equestria.