2.6. Power supply The power supply, as you can see from the name, is responsible for providing power to all computer components that are installed in motherboard and do not have a separate plug for the socket. That is, every part of the computer, in order to work,

10. NUTRITION CULTURE OF A HEALTHY PERSON. NUTRITION MODE Goal: to become familiar with the basic concepts of culture and nutritional regime Nutrition culture is knowledge of: the basics proper nutrition; properties of products and their effects on the body, the ability to choose them correctly and

Sources There are many sources on classical metrology. Full analysis they are impossible, I would recommend the following books: B.G. Artemyev, Yu.E. Lukashov “Reference manual for specialists of metrological services”; V.A. Kuznetsov, G.V. Yalunina “General metrology”; “Metrology,

The creation of a portable, disposable power source, the service life of which would be measured not in days or months, but in years, was previously achieved by specialists at Cornell University. The battery, for which the radioactive isotope nickel-63 was chosen as the base, could boast a continuous service life of up to 50 years. But, of course, there were significant limitations in the nominal parameters of the “nuclear battery”. The thing is that the principle on which the operation of such devices is based - the emission of electrons accompanying the decay of nickel-63 for the subsequent charging of the copper plate - did not allow achieving serious power from the power source. As a result, the specified characteristic for nuclear batteries was at the level of several milliwatts, which imposed a number of significant restrictions on its operation.

Scientists from the National Research Technological University "MISiS" were actively involved in solving the problem described, and yesterday they reported on the successes achieved. They managed to produce a prototype of a unique “nuclear battery”, capable, like its predecessor from the USA, of powering certain electronics for 50 years.

As MISIS said, the “nuclear battery” they designed has enormous potential and has a wide range of potential possible application, ranging from the use of development in medical equipment and miniature devices for maintaining life, ending with the placement of such a power source in spacecraft. A team of engineers led by Professor Yuri Parkhomenko managed to put into practice the concept of converting beta radiation energy into electrical energy based on piezoelectric single crystals. This principle formed the basis of the shown example of an autonomous beta-voltaic battery of alternating voltage, the primary source of energy for which was the well-known nickel-63 isotope.

The radiation of the isotope chosen as the source of electrons, despite its radioactivity, is characterized by a half-life of 100 years and does not pose any threat to health biological organisms. But main feature prototype domestic production began the use of switching power supplies for the accumulation and subsequent release of charge. Due to this, scientists were able to bypass main drawback beta-voltaic “nuclear battery” - they are extremely low power, which greatly narrowed the scope of further effective application.

“In pulsed mode, one beta-voltaic element is capable of delivering power up to 1 mW/cm 3 . At low specific powers of the energetic material, a battery assembled on their basis is capable of providing a continuous output power of 10-100 nW/cm 3 - sufficient to power a cardiac implant,”- explained technical features demonstrated solution Mr. Parkhomenko.

The innovative Russian “nuclear battery”, which became a reality thanks to the efforts of MISIS employees, has all the advantages necessary to start mass production and quickly implement the technology. Here are the ultra-small dimensions of the power source, and the absence of the harmful influence of the energy material, and long term operation for several decades. However, will it come to release? commercial sample- time will tell.

First mobile phone was created more than forty years ago. Science is progressing, of course. And who would have thought at that time that forty years later the atomic one would come into being? Yes, science is not advancing by leaps and bounds, but still with significant breakthroughs in many areas, especially in Lately. And this article will be devoted specifically to the topic of using atomic batteries in modern devices.

Introduction

Now the smartphone market is one of the most promising directions electronics. This area is developing dynamically, without stopping for a minute. It would seem that the iPhone 3 has just gone on sale, and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are already on the shelves of cellular communication stores. Is it worth talking about what path the company’s engineers have gone through to please users with the latest hardware?

The same can be said about Android and Windows Phone. Just a couple of years ago, the entire school class gathered around the lucky one who had a phone based on the operating room Android systems. And when someone managed to personally play an application in which you could control the action by rotating the screen (especially if this game was a racing game), he literally beamed with happiness.

Nowadays this will not surprise anyone. Even first graders are now comfortable using phones Apple without much joy and delight, without realizing how lucky they really were. Of course, they simply don’t know that once upon a time there were phones that operated using push-button rather than touch controls. That those phones only had a couple of games. And that even a snake on a two-color screen was a cause for boundless delight for children of that time, and they played it almost for days on end.

Of course, games were of much lower quality back then. It was possible to use such phones for several days without recharging. Now the gaming industry in the field of smartphones has reached a higher level of quality, and this requires more powerful phone batteries. How long, in your opinion, can the most modern, most powerful smartphone in terms of battery life last?

Do we need a nuclear battery?

We assure you that even with passive use it (the smartphone) is unlikely to last more than 3 days. As in modern smartphones, type is used. Models powered by polymer batteries are slightly less common. In fact, such phones do not withstand very long work. You can play them during battery life and watch movies on them for a few hours, which usually does not exceed ten. Manufacturers of such devices compete in several directions at once. The competition for first place is most active according to the following criteria:

Screen diagonal.

Hardware and performance.

Dimensions (more specifically, the struggle is to reduce the thickness).

Powerful autonomous power source.

As we can see, the question of whether we need an atomic battery for a phone remains open. According to scientists' calculations, phones in the future could be equipped with batteries that operate on the principle of the reaction of a nuclear element called tritium. In this case, the phones will be able to work without recharging for up to 20 years, according to the most conservative estimates. Impressive, isn't it?

How new is the idea of ​​a nuclear battery?

The idea of ​​​​creating miniature nuclear reactors (we are talking about nuclear batteries) appeared in bright minds not so long ago. It has been suggested that the use of such equipment in relevant technical devices will allow you to deal with the problem of not only the need for constant recharging, but also with others.

TASS: DIY atomic battery. Engineers talk

The first announcement about the invention of a battery that would operate based on atomic energy was made by a division of a domestic concern called Rosatom. It was the Mining and Chemical Combine. Engineers said that the first power source, which is positioned as a nuclear battery, could be created as early as 2017.

The operating principle will consist in reactions that will occur using the Nickel-63 isotope. More specifically, we are talking about beta radiation. Interestingly, a battery built on this principle can operate for about half a century. The dimensions will be very, very compact. For example: if you take an ordinary AA battery and compress it 30 times, you can clearly see what size a nuclear battery will be.

Is a nuclear battery safe?

Engineers are absolutely confident that such a power source will not pose any danger to human health. The reason for this confidence was the design of the battery. Of course, direct beta radiation from any isotope will harm a living organism. But firstly, in this battery it will be “soft”. Secondly, even this radiation will not escape, since it will be absorbed inside the power source itself.

Due to the fact that Russia A123 atomic batteries will absorb radiation inside themselves without releasing it outside, experts are already making a strategic forecast for the use of atomic batteries in various fields of medicine. For example, it can be introduced into the design of pacemakers. The second most promising area is the space industry. In third place, of course, is industry. Outside the top three, there are many branches in which it will be possible to successfully use a nuclear energy source. Perhaps the most important of them is transport.

Disadvantages of a nuclear power source

What do we get in return for a nuclear battery? So to speak, what will we see if we look from the other side? Firstly, the production of such autonomous sources energy will cost a pretty penny. The engineers did not want to give exact amounts. Perhaps they were afraid to draw the wrong conclusions early. However, an approximate estimate was given not in numbers, but in words. That is, “everything is very expensive.” Well, this was quite to be expected, having assessed the essence of the matter simply logically. About serial release in industrial scale It's probably too early to say. We can only hope that over time, alternative technologies will be found that will make it possible to create a nuclear battery without compromising its reliability and practicality, but at a much lower cost.

By the way, TASS estimated 1 gram of the substance at 4 thousand dollars. Thus, in order to gain the necessary mass of atomic substance, which will ensure long-term use of the battery, it is currently necessary to spend 4.5 million rubles. The problem lies with the isotope itself. It simply does not exist in nature; the isotope is created using special reactors. There are only three of them in our country. As stated before, it may be possible over time to use other elements to reduce the cost of producing the source.

Tomsk Atomic battery

The invention of atomic batteries is not limited to professional engineers and designers. Recently, a graduate student developed a model of a new nuclear-powered battery. This man's name is Dmitry Prokopyev. Its development is capable of functioning normally for 12 years. During this time, it will not need to be charged even once.

The center of the system was a radioactive isotope called tritium. When used skillfully, it allows you to direct the energy released during time in the right direction. In this case, energy is released in parts. You can say dosed or portioned. Let us recall that the half-life of this nuclear element is about 12 years. That is why the use of the battery on this element is possible within the specified period.

Benefits of tritium

Compared to a atomic battery, which has a silicon detector, a tritium-based atomic battery does not change its characteristics over time. And this is its undoubted advantage, it should be noted. The invention was tested at the Novosibirsk Institute of Nuclear Physics, as well as at the Physics and Technology Institute of Tomsk University. A nuclear battery, the operating principle of which is based on a nuclear reaction, has certain prospects. This is usually the field of electronics. Along with it are military technology, medicine and the aerospace industry. We have already talked about this.

Conclusion

Despite the high cost of producing atomic batteries, let's hope that we will still see them in phones of the near future. Now a few words about the element that will form the basis of the battery. Tritium is, of course, nuclear in nature. However, the radiation of this element is weak. Harm human health it can't. Internal organs and the skin will not suffer from skillful use. That is why it was chosen for use in batteries.

Old Digital Watch could work for more than a year using one small battery. But modern electronic devices so multifunctional that the problem small capacity modern batteries cost full height. While smartphones and tablets have a lot of space in their bodies, compact electronics like smart watches suffer from a lack of capacity especially strongly, which significantly hinders the growth of their popularity. On the other hand, futurologists of the fifties and sixties were in full swing painting pictures of a “bright nuclear future”, where cars do not need to be refueled and batteries do not need to be charged.

Perhaps this future is not completely lost. Scientists from the University of Missouri have achieved significant progress in the creation of “atomic batteries”. Don't be scared, we're not talking about a pocket nuclear reactor at all. The creation of such a reactor at this stage of technology development is impossible. The principle of operation of the battery created within the walls of the university is very similar to conventional solar panels, but if the process occurring in the latter is called “photovoltaics,” then in the described development “betavoltaics” takes place, that is, the absorption of beta radiation by a semiconductor device.

This is not to say that beta radiation is harmless, but, unlike gamma radiation, it is a stream of charged particles and has a relatively short range, about two meters in the air and about ten millimeters in body tissue. But two or three millimeters of aluminum or a couple of centimeters of organic glass is enough to completely screen such a flow. The “atomic battery” design uses a titanium dioxide electrode coated with a layer of platinum, water and a source of beta radiation. The latter is the strontium-90 isotope with a half-life of about 29 years. During the decay process, it emits an electron (the notorious beta radiation), an antineutrino, and side effect reaction is yttrium-90. The latter has a half-life of only 64 hours, also emits electrons and antineutrinos, and at the end turns into stable, non-radioactive zirconium. There is virtually no gamma radiation in these reactions.

The idea of ​​batteries using the betavoltaic process is not new, but a team of scientists at the University of Missouri was able to significantly increase their efficiency using... simple water. Yes, that's not a typo. Water absorbs beta radiation very well, protects the semiconductor receiver from destruction, and the radiation itself splits water molecules, allowing you to extract an additional portion of electricity, and therefore increase the efficiency of the beta battery. As one of the developers stated, their solution is weakly affected low temperatures and can be used in a variety of scenarios, from car batteries to spacecraft power supplies.

Of course, there are no theoretical restrictions on the use of this technology in wearable electronics. However, radiophobia is very widespread these days; most people are unfamiliar with even the basics of nuclear physics and will take any mention of “radiation” with hostility. Frightened by cases of fire of conventional lithium-ion batteries, users will not even want to hear about “atomic batteries”, despite their “eternity”, although for safe use Beta batteries require a strong shielding case and compliance with basic safety regulations. Lithium-ion batteries are also not recommended to be opened and tested.

But the described technology will certainly be brought to perfection and will find application in the military and space industries, and anywhere where the lifespan of a power source is a critical characteristic that outweighs all possible risks. And then, who knows - perhaps our descendants will overcome the irrational fear of nuclear technology and will safely and happily use their fruits.