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A comment on NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclear reactor. Parent comment

Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by taejo on Friday May 04, 2018 @05:22AM (#16993248)
> for a Stirling engine, a few percent would be considered excellent efficiency.

Wikipedia says "Stirling engines have a high efficiency compared to internal combustion engines, being able to reach 50% efficiency," which seems to contradict that. What's the discrepancy?

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Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by hatsunearu on Friday May 04, 2018 @05:49AM (#16993333)
Yeah, even thermoelectric piles (Peltier effect devices) can easily get ~~double digit efficiencies. Not sure what that guy is talking about~~.

Thermoelectric piles are basically the worst form of generating electric power with heat (it has 0 moving parts, so it's used in various places), and it's still not that bad.

edit: Never mind, apparently they are worse than what I thought they were, at 5~8%. But they are still the least efficient way to turn heat into electricity, and yet they can achieve what that guy said.

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