HexCell — the LightCell tower unit, exploded
one alumina hex tile 150.7 mm OP  ·  101.6 × 1257 mm quartz OP  ·  315 cells / 420 m column OP  ·  live coupled radiative + chemical sim MODEL v3a  ·  full explorable ↗
Component list (one cell)
C1 · Hex header, bottomalumina SLA · seat+salt+injector · 150.7 mm OP
C2 · Hex header, topalumina SLA · sliding seat · 150.7 mm OP
C3 · Outer quartz tubefused quartz · 101.6×1257 mm · wall ~2.5mm · $49.62 OP
C4 · Inner PCA emitterpolycrys. alumina · sprung mount · ⌀≤100mm U
C5 · Optional sleevevac jacket / ITO hot-mirror U
C6 · Honeycomb columnextruded alumina · top→bottom T
C7 · Salt chargeNa reservoir salt, comp. TBD U
C8 · Springs (cool end)Inconel · ~10–20 N preload U
C9 · Gaskets (cool end)compliant, cool ends only
Cost stack: quartz $15–25 vol · alumina print <10% BOM (OP 4× below retail) · honeycomb cheapest ceramic extant · order $100–200/cell before internals + silicon.
Assembly sequence (COMPONENTS.md §4)
  1. C1 bottom header: salt charge into seat bed; injector flow-test cold.
  2. Drop C3 quartz into cradle; verify float — no radial bind.
  3. Insert C4 inner emitter on sprung mount; optional C5 sleeve.
  4. C2 top header on; C8 springs preload from cool end; C9 gaskets cool ends only.
  5. Cold leak/flow test; log per-cell serial. Cassette-level burn-in before hoist.
Tiles clip edge-to-edge. The hex tessellation is the structure — no cassette frame (that concept SUPERSEDED 2026-07-19). Bad tile → unclip, lift out vertically, refurb on bench.
Live physics · coupled radiative + chemical · spectral trace
LIVE PHYSICS · v3a cell-scale — loading… cell solver (v3a): fixed-point Pdep, no clamp, single-bounce greybody enclosure. True cell geometry — L=1257 mm, R up to 50 mm bore. Kernel heatmap uses bench-scale na_grid2d (R≤40 mm, L≤400 mm — its validity cap).
L (cell height) 1257 mm fixed at true cell length OP
—
T(r,z) — na_grid2d.zig bench-scale kernel (R≤40 mm, L≤400 mm). Cell solver above runs true geometry. — ledger: P_escape / P_wall / P_quartz — total ≡ Pin at convergence
conservation residual: —
emergent spectrum — cell_solver.js (v3a) · fixed-point Pdep (no clamp) · greybody escape gated · [MODEL v3a single-zone]
Assemble drag: exploded → nested
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Hover a numbered step (left) to highlight parts. Callouts fan out to fixed margin slots with leader lines — they track the parts as the slider moves; at slider=1 the stack collapses to seated geometry. Lengths and diameters are true-ratio (tube 12.4:1 L/D T), tile pitch 1333 mm OP.
Cross-section · looking down the bore
Hex flat-to-flat 150.7 mm OP · side a=87 mm der · inscribed ⌀ 150 mm der · quartz OD 101.6 mm OP · annular margin ~24 mm der · footprint 0.0197 m² der. Emitter side area / cell = π·0.1016·1.257 ≈ 0.40 m² = 20× vertical gain vs footprint der.
alumina hex (C1/C2)
quartz tube (C3)
honeycomb (C6)
PCA inner (C4)
Thermal — the governing mechanical problem
CTE mismatch — quartz 0.55 vs alumina 8 ppm/K T. At ΔT ≈ 800 K MODEL scenario over 1257 mm OP: quartz grows ~0.55 mm, alumina frame ~8 mm der: CTE×ΔT. → fixed seat at bottom, sliding seat + spring at cool top. Radial across 150 mm OP: alumina ~0.9 mm, quartz ~0.07 mm der — never clamp quartz radially hot; salt bed = compliance.

Links

../dyson-cylinder/ · live sim
HEX-CELL.md · unit doctrine
COMPONENTS.md · parts + assembly
../basis/ · na_grid2d recovered sim
Cassette → column → tower · cells hang, never load-bearing
interlocked tile plates (tiles clip edge-to-edge) → 315 tile-rows per 420 m column OP · 42 m ⌀ tower OP cross-section 1385 m² der · annular shell fill ~27% OP, not solid pack · per-plate burn-in on ground before hoist. Cell mass ~5–8 kg U · ~2 t/column der · tower structure supports plates at intervals; tessellation is the diaphragm.
HexCell · design per HEX-CELL.md + COMPONENTS.md · no fabricated thresholds — condensation is transport, not a limit · every number sourced or flagged · 2026-07
[T] textbook   [OP] operator datum   [UNSOURCED] needs derivation   [MODEL] modeling choice   [der] derived