On Tue, 1 Jul 2008, John B wrote:

On 1 Jul, 22:01, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

Regen braking has a place here, too, if you can shove the heat from
the necessary resistors outside.

If it's regen braking, rather than rheostatic, the heat goes as energy to
other trains and not into resistors.

Ish. On AC, absolutely right; on DC, you need banks of resistors as well
because putting it back to the grid if there isn't a conveniently placed
train to take it is Too Bloody Hard.

But there are places to send it other than the grid, surely? Supercaps?
Pumped storage? Flywheels? A giant laser firing into space?

tom

--
.... which may end up with the women in your office cornering you at the
office xmas party and taking turns at jamming their bootclad feet into
your genitals. This is what is known as the Wrong Kind of Footsie. --
Lord Foom