Scratch Build – In Progress Project HELIOS - Mod or Materials Sciences Class - You Decide - 4.27.11

You speak truths... hence the remote operation. And yes, it'll be done outside in a field.

 

Webcam please, so in the event of brown trouser moment it can be YouTube'd!

Also how expensive will it cost? Im thinking just for giggles once all is complete cranking the pressure up way beyond operation levels until it get angry and goes pop! lol!

 

Its more than likely that a 1000psi PV that had its hulled ruptured would throw shrapnel with enough force to maul a steel cage that wasn't exceptionally sturdy. I think you've be better off building concrete bunker of some kind

This has been beyond impressive to say the least though Langer! I wish I had a thousand bucks to spend on experimenting

Keep it up man, your this far along and I'm sure you'll come out on top!

 

can't wait to see it! you're one for symmetry too aren't you!

 

@burnout - Haha, we'll see about candid yt moments. As for blowing it... No ****ing way.

As a poit of reference the tiny dryer I have now with a chamber just 0.8"x0.8"x1" (made from a high-pressure pipe X joint) ran about $800 with all the valves, fittings, gauges, and such.

The dryer I'm currently using is based off this reference:

***THESE ARE NOT HOME DEPOT FITTINGS!
THEY ARE SPECIALIZED HIGH PRESSURE FITTINGS!
DO NOT TRY TO BUILD A SUPER CRITICAL DRYER WITHOUT EXTREME CAUTION!***

The big one is seeing some extreme manufacturing, redundancy, composites, and fittings... I wont be blowing it - I'n fact I plan to start selling Aerogel monoliths (nomenclature for big pieces of this stuff) to offset the incredible project costs.

@sixfootsideburns - You're close to correct... if this thing were to blow... it would be the kind of explosion that gets you into a lot of trouble. But I have a bunch of the tops minds in the field offering their inputs to it's construction and have little worry, but immense respect.

@grishenko45 - The essence of Symmetry is Balance... which is as close to an definition to perfection as I can define in english. And balance is what I love to aim to achieve - haven't reached it yet, but I'll keep trying.

 

Yeah we used to use HPVs in a few of my engineering labs while I was still in college but they were nowhere near these kinds of pressures. You would hear a pop like that for a long, long ways. Not to mention it would be incredibly dangerous to intentionally push a system like this past its limits, let alone a totally wasted expense.

When you get into highly specific valves and fittings like theses the costs can be incredible. We used 4 high end venturi nozzles for my senior project and those alone cost us a few thousand. Theres a reason companies who do this kind of thing have large budgets

Its great to see you taking up the challenge of producing something as sophisticated as aerogels in a DIY setting man. Inspiring to say the least

 

@Langer
Eh...some of your latest posts have images, right?I can't see them...I only know because of the links when I tried to quote one of these posts. It seems that I also can't acess your website, and I don't know why =(

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Also, epic chemistry and engineering!

 

Thanks gentlemen.

I have a Photobucket page set up for you Brazilians... your country doesn't like me.
Here's the photo in question:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/Helios/helios-supercritical-dryer-ref.jpg
Here's the album (note the sub albums along the side):
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/Helios/

 

Thank you man!
"I can see clearly now"

 

Let's go slacker...posting on [H] first...psh!

 

As always I post here on Bit-Tech 1-2days before the rest of the forums.

 

I'm almost more intersted in aerogel making than a project it self now I've seen some successful DIY attempts, so it's do-able I guess... anyway good luck with both... watching this one closely

 

wait a sec.... Why are you putting aerogel in the case anyway? Wouldn't that stop hot air in the case from venting? There is no way, in any environment, the air outside is warmer than inside a pc case....
I cant see any application for this? with air or water cooling?
Can you explain the benefit of this product for your build?

But apart form that it looks amazing

 

@Gtek - Thanks man, like I said above I can made high-grade aerogel in small pieces, but I want to create large chunks for aesthetics.

@Navidson - The applications will be mostly aesthetic, with the exception of one area. However, once I get the large dryer operational and I have this all figured out, I'm going to try and make tritriated aerogel.

Tritiated aerogel is one of the most luminous forms of tritium, and should have a nice healthy electricity-free glow for the next 1000years or so. Much brighter than the glow you'd expect from something like an insert.

 

Is aerogel porous or solid? I can't remember. I figured you were going to use it for super-insulating a heat-pumped chip cooler. If you could seal it right, probably wouldn't even get cold on the outside.

 

Hey Langer, what happen to the pics?

 

I am so glad to finally see this project starting, Excellent planning, you will ace it .

 

You got balls dude. If that critical dryer goes up the boom is going to be almost as epic as this build, almost. Look forward to more updates.

 

Soooo any news on this expensive hair dryer and this build?

 

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the latest crazy additions to this build! What do you do for a living by the way? Got any vacancies?