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nuclear technology for power generation. In the 1970s, the research was continued since this technology seemed to offer superior efficiency for conventional coal-fired thermal power plants. However, its use in electricity generation was inferior to the combined cycle power plants, which appeared in the 80s. Nevertheless, several countries had research groups continuously working on this concept. A
378:, and his mother, Ilona Hanauer, was the daughter of the local ironmonger. Béla was the youngest of the three siblings. He has finished the local Catholic secondary school in 1922, which was in the neighborhood of his father's pharmacy. He graduated in 1926 from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the
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and which was expected to give 50% higher efficiency compared to the contemporary electricity generation methods using heat engines. Béla
Karlovitz was unable to exploit his invention in Hungary due to the lack of funding. The Mayor of Budapest recognized the revolutionary potential of MHD generation
185:
Béla
Karlovitz received his M.E. degree from Technical University, Budapest, Hungary and his E.E. degree from the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. Besides his publications in MHD, he is the author of many publications on turbulent flames and combustion instabilities. He was the
441:
Development and research on MHD generation, which was interrupted by World War II, continued in the 1960s. The first dedicated conference on MHD generation was held in the UK in 1962, which was followed by two others biannually. MHD research went out of fashion in the 1960s due to the emergence of
417:
His work there resulted in the world's first patent for the MHD power process on August 13, 1940 (U.S. Patent No. 2,210,918, "Process for the
Conversion of Energy"). He worked at Westinghouse until 1947. Later, he mainly dealt with combustion science research at the Explosives and Physical Science
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His name appears on two, less-cited patents from his later career stage. With his colleague, Bernard Lewis, they have worked on the improvement of aluminum production for increased efficiency and process safety He also worked for Toyota to reduce the pollutant emission of their
186:
Head of the Flame
Research Section, Explosives and Physical Science Division, Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. Subsequently, he was with Combustion and Explosive Research, Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA. In combustion, Karlovitz is known as the first to introduce the concept of
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in the USA. He arrived at the
Westinghouse research facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with colleague Dénes Halász in 1938, and the company provided them US$ 500,000 to realize their concept. His family intended to follow him in the subsequent year, but
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He was survived by one of his 3 children, his 12 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. He was buried at Mount
Lebanon Cemetery, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, ID: 126388715, next to his wife, who died in 1982.
461:. In the 1990s, Mitsubishi built several further prototype ships propelled by MHD systems, but their maximum speed was only 8 kn (15 km/h), therefore the development of this technology was abandoned.
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broke out, and they could unite only in 1946. Even though they planned to return to
Hungary shortly, the political situation in Hungary and his career development both inclined them to stay in the US.
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After returning home, he started working at the
Budapest Electric Works. Béla Karlovitz and his coworker Dénes Halász developed a method that was based on the principle of
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Béla
Karlovitz pursued a scientific career even after his retirement, up to his death at 99 on the leap day of 2004. His last scientific paper was published in 2000.
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The potential of MHD propulsion was realized by the navy in the 60s. However, the first practical working propulsion device was not built until 1992, which was the
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and guaranteed Béla
Karlovitz a fully-paid leave for one year to elaborate the concept. In 1938, Béla Karlovitz from Hungary approached the
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develops a submarine, using MHD drives, providing the vessel stealth capabilities. The film was an adaptation from the debut novel by
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382:. There was no electric engineering education in Hungary at this time, therefore he subsequently continued his studies at the
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Division, Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh. From 1953, he was working with the Combustion and Explosive Research, Inc.
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directly from a body of hot moving gas without any mechanical moving parts. This process is known as
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company with a request to develop an MHD generator using combustion gases. Siemens referred him to
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team succeeded first to build a working plant in 1989, followed by two other plants in the US and
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476:. Even though it was a fiction, the technology behind it was made real within a few years.
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is the unit area of the flame and consists of the points that stay on the flame surface.
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515:"Newsletter of the Benedictine student union (in Hungarian),15(2), 2004 September"
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483:. These devices are precise, reliable, however, limited to conducting liquids.
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is named after him. It is a non-dimensional quantity defined as:
620:. Vol. 35. McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. March 1962. p. 27.
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Thermal reduction process of aluminium, Patent # 4,146,389
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Nevertheless, the principles of MHD are utilized today by
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United States Patent Office patent Patent number: 2210918
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695:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 1 to Mar. 3, 2004
605:Filing date: Aug 12, 1936, Issue date: Aug 1940
548:Magnetohydrodynamic Electrical Power Generation
464:The world fame of MHD generation is related to
109:Budapest University of Technology and Economics
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655:"The Electromagnetic Field in Plasma Systems"
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437:History of MHD generation and MHD propulsion
374:family. His father, Adolf Karlovitz, was a
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366:Karlovitz was born on 9 November 1904 in
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500:The record of Béla Karlovitz at geni.com
264:is the characteristic flow time (s) and
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574:"The future for MHD power generation"
230:{\displaystyle {\mathit {Ka}}=kt_{c}}
16:Hungarian-American engineer, inventor
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642:Emission control, Patent # 4,176,649
545:Messerle, Hugo K. (8 August 1995).
160:Principal scientific contributions
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284:is the flame stretch rate (1/s):
386:. Béla Karlovitz got married in
380:Technical University of Budapest
174:who pioneered research into the
466:The Hunt for Red October (film)
395:magnetohydrodynamic generation
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180:magnetohydrodynamic generation
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182:or MHD generation for short.
459:Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
331:{\displaystyle k=(dA/dt)/A}
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706:Memorial of Béla Karlovitz
590:10.1088/0305-4624/10/5/I04
176:generation of electricity
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659:Journal of Fusion Energy
653:Karlovitz, Bela (2000).
572:Rietjens, L.H.T (1979).
679:10.1023/A:1015234802654
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578:Physics in Technology
424:spark-ignition engine
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257:{\displaystyle t_{c}}
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551:. Wiley. p. 7.
481:magnetic flow meters
390:to Maria von König.
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724:Hungarian engineers
671:2000JFuE...19..303K
370:, Hungary, into a
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729:Fluid dynamicists
558:978-0-471-94252-8
351:{\displaystyle A}
277:{\displaystyle k}
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134:Scientific career
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665:(3/4): 303–306.
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192:Karlovitz number
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57:29 February 2004
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584:(5): 216–221.
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165:Béla Karlovitz
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61:(aged 99)
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23:Béla Karlovitz
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529:. Retrieved
522:the original
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470:Soviet Union
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457:ship by the
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412:World War II
407:Westinghouse
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59:(2004-02-29)
739:2004 deaths
734:1904 births
617:Electronics
444:Yugoslavian
388:Switzerland
90:Citizenship
80:Nationality
718:Categories
531:2020-08-12
487:References
474:Tom Clancy
384:ETH Zurich
376:pharmacist
148:Combustion
114:ETH Zurich
65:Pittsburgh
35:1904-11-09
169:Hungarian
84:Hungarian
455:Yamato 1
372:Catholic
338:; where
172:engineer
667:Bibcode
403:Siemens
94:Hungary
555:
448:Russia
400:German
237:where
190:. The
167:was a
140:Fields
525:(PDF)
518:(PDF)
553:ISBN
368:Pápa
362:Life
54:Died
43:Pápa
29:Born
675:doi
586:doi
720::
687:^
673:.
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661:.
657:.
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506:^
450:.
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73:US
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69:PA
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681:.
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534:.
346:A
326:A
322:/
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315:t
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308:/
304:A
301:d
298:(
295:=
292:k
272:k
250:c
246:t
223:c
219:t
215:k
212:=
207:a
204:K
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33:(
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