Chapter 544: New Source of Power
The longing for a new world… Roland smiled wryly.
Then he had Nightingale summon Anna.
At times like these, the former would automatically withdraw, giving the two of them space to be alone.
Anna was wearing a light blue, short-sleeved dress today, with black knee-high socks visible beneath the skirt, and a pair of buckskin boots, making her look full of vitality. These rather modern-style clothes were all made under Roland's guidance during his leisure time, and the fabric was the flowing coating provided by Soraya, which was not only light to wear but also very durable, making it perfect for her to use when processing tools.
When he saw her watery eyes, Roland couldn't help but smile.
Of course, he no longer needed to be as honest as he used to be.
Pulling Anna onto his lap and smelling her hair from behind, Roland first showed her some affection before getting down to business, "I want to develop a new source of power."
"Like a steam engine?" She turned her head, and along her fair neck, her protruding collarbone could be seen.
Roland couldn't help but reach out and touch it, causing the latter to let out a soft chuckle.
"Your Majesty, let's talk business."
"Ahem, alright," he put Anna down and pulled out a stack of blueprints from the documents on the table, "Take a look at this first… how much of it can you understand?"
"Hmm…" Once she entered a state of learning, Anna's expression would become completely immersed. Just watching her focused look would make Roland feel a sense of shame—as if he was sitting in a bright and clean classroom, stealing glances at the diligent bookworm beside him.
To balance this mentality, he decided that he would make Anna beg for mercy tonight.
"I understand it roughly," Anna nodded after flipping through the last drawing, thinking for a moment, "It's also driven by steam, but instead of using a piston to push, it uses windmill blades, which eliminates the reciprocating motion of the connecting rod, am I right?"
"Absolutely correct," Roland put away the reverie in his mind and put on a serious face, "It's called a steam turbine, and it still uses high-pressure steam to drive it, but it's much more efficient than a reciprocating steam engine."
This was the revolutionary product that Roland had been thinking about for a long time.
It could be said that freeing the basic industry from the restriction of witches was also for this purpose—so that Anna could concentrate on producing more high-end machinery.
The steam turbine was his attempt in this field.
Steam turbines have a wide range of uses, both as marine power and for thermal power generation, especially the latter. It could be foreseen that after the recapture of Falling Dragon Ridge, Earl Sperber would have to stay in her town for a long time to deal with government affairs. Relying on Mystery Moon's magic alone to maintain the night lighting in the factory area would be difficult, not to mention the electrification project in the residential area. Roland certainly did not want to admit that this was a planning failure caused by his lack of experience, and if he wanted to make up for this mistake, he could only use conventional means to generate electricity.
Due to the inherent defects in the circulation principle of steam engines, the current generated is sometimes high and sometimes low, and circuit stabilization is Roland's weak knowledge, so using steam turbines with more stable output power and higher thermal efficiency is a more suitable choice.
"What should I do first?" Anna asked.
"Like the last time with the gunboat," Roland turned to a page with a drawing of the blades, "Make a working verification model, not too big, about a meter or so, mainly to solve the angle problem of the blades, so that high-pressure steam can pass smoothly through each row of stationary blades. As long as you do this, you'll be halfway there."
Without detailed data, how could a usable finished product be made?
Only through repeated experiments.
Regarding the core of the steam turbine—the impeller—Roland was not worried about the difficulty of processing. Blackfire's cutting precision far surpassed the precision machine tools of later generations. He also didn't have to worry about the strength of the material. After all, the impeller's working temperature was between five and six hundred degrees, and the alloy steel that Lucia had developed was enough to handle this working strength. The key was the angle coordination between the stationary blades and the moving impeller. The former was like a fixed fence, adjusting the angle of the steam passing through
to prevent it from hitting the impeller in a swarm, producing chaotic or even opposing forces, essentially like a comb to smooth out the turbulent airflow.
If the model could run normally, there would be no difficulty in scaling it up proportionally.
When the processing methods and material levels are improved, the fruitful industrial fruits will inevitably be produced.
"I understand," Anna's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Don't rush," Roland held her hand, "You should have heard Wendy say that I have decided to take the initiative to capture the devils."
"Mm," Anna blinked, "Are you going this time?"
Roland slowly shook his head.
"That's good," she leaned her head on his shoulder, "I was so scared when I saw you injured last time."
"Really? But I heard Nightingale say that you were the calmest one on the scene. If it wasn't for your decisive handling, I might have really—"
Before he could finish, Anna covered his mouth with her soft hand, "Don't say that word casually."
"I know," she released her palm when Roland nodded, "Anyway, what I want to say is that you must protect yourself, understand? If anything unexpected happens, use the Divine Will Seal immediately, don't hesitate, even if you don't catch the devil… I'll be waiting for you in the castle for your triumphant return."
"Don't worry," Anna smiled, "I won't let them hurt other witches."
……
After she left, Roland was silent for a long time before he said in a deep voice, "Are you there?"
"Of course," Nightingale's figure appeared on the table, "But I didn't eavesdrop on what you said. I only came back after she left."
He stood up and walked to the window, looking in the direction of the snow mountain, and roughly described the hunting plan he had in mind, "Before departure, you have to rehearse a few times in advance to familiarize yourself with the entire capture process and the tasks each of you is responsible for. However, this is only a plan set up for a small number of chasing devils. How to do it specifically depends on the actual situation." At this point, he paused, "If the capture operation encounters the worst-case scenario… I mean the kind that can't be undone, you must bring Anna back no matter what."
Nightingale did not answer immediately. It was not until Roland turned to look at her that she said with a complicated expression, "Is this the real reason why you're not going?"
Roland did not deny it, "Otherwise, you would definitely choose to save me, right?"
"…I understand," she sighed softly, "I will do my best."
"I'm counting on you for everything," Roland patted her on the shoulder and said word by word.