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Introduction

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The question here is, with the available technology and growth of technology in the world today can the Ironman suit be made or its just a fiction from comics. I would be writing about the structural analysis, energy analysis and thermal management of the iron man.

There have been different comic movies and we have seen different types of suits and we know there is the technology behind them even if its movie like some will say film trick. I am sure engineers don't believe in tricks because if they can show us on TV, then there is a science backing to it.

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If you have seen the movie District 9, you would know the Ironman suit is a small exoskeleton compared to some of the suit in District 9. The special thing that makes them different is the fact that the Ironman suit has flight abilities. In the Ironman comics, there are several alterations of the suit that the character of TONI STARK has developed over time. All these super suits have similar capabilities like the external armour, supersonic flight capability, hovering, weapons and decoy flares also the suit can be used for military offence, defence, search & rescue and espionage.

Quickly let's look at the structural analysis, energy analysis and thermal management

Structural Analysis

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The iron man suit is wear resistant, capable of absorbing shock. The material that is required for such property would be very hard and ductile and funny enough iron cannot meet the requirements. In the comics, the suggested material is iron/steel and the only material close to such property is titanium alloys.

Titanium allow are not just extremely strong in tensile strength but they are also lightweight which means it would provide fluidity of movement compared to any heavy material.

Exoskeleton requirements

Having an outer hard material is very good due to the provision of strength against penetration. You must also put in consideration that if the material is too hard, any impact load in the suit would be passed on the human wearing the suit. Taking for examples in vehicles (automobile) the metals used for the body of cars are deliberately made to squeeze in when you bash the car in order to reduce the impact or shock on the driver inside. Here the exoskeleton armour is not meant to crumble.

The only way structural requirements cannot be compromised is by the use of an extremely soft material as an inner lining behind the titanium body. A material that is available and can be used for the inner surface is called Sorbothane.

Sorbothane is very sensitive and very soft, has the ability to convert shock load into heat transfer at a molecular level to the extent that if you drop an egg on the bed of sobathane, the material is soft enough to take away the impact and would not allow the egg to break. The technique of having a very hard material on the outside and the soft material on the inside is not a new stuff, it makes the material able to resist any shock load.

For centuries now the outer hard material and soft inner material have been used to make armoured swords in Japan. The hardness of the sword gives it the cutting edge and it's penetrative power, the ductility of the sword allows it to absorb the shock loads when it strikes or it is struck.

Energy Analysis

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One of the major features that make the Ironman suit unique is the hovering capability. Hovering requires a large out of energy most especially when the suit is used for a long period of time. It should be noted that energy usage for hovering is dependent on the method used for hovering (different hovering methods require different energy). Example, magnetic levitation required no energy at all but it is limited to the presence of magnetic field.

Another most energy efficient for hovering is the use of ducted propellers as well as open propellers. Different human helicopters have been made over time that have to achieve flight, it has been experimentally recorded that using a helicopter with a 78kg person and 55kg copter requires only 1.1kw to climb and just 600watts to maintain altitude. Hovering through jet thrust is one of the least energy efficient meaning remaining in one place in air through jet thrust is less energy efficient. If needed thrust is used, then over 1kN of thrust force would be required depending on the weight if the jetpack and the person because thrust to weight ratio should be greater than 1 for the jetpack to achieve liftoff. Also if wings are attached to the jetpack then horizontal flight can be achieved with the ratio lower than 1 and that improves the duration of the flight and the range.

For hovering an flight capability, there has been jetpack a made in the past and the fluids used in the jetpack are mostly hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide provides thrust at a lower temperature making the pack safer compared to the fluids. Hydrogen peroxide also has a low energy density which is 810Wh/kg. Yves Rossy, known as the jet man as successful uses kerosene oil in his flight but the thrust if the jet has to push away from the body. His jet suit allows him several minutes of flight compared to the jet bags that have only managed up to 30sec of flight, the point to note here is that even using energy rate fossil fuels gives limited flight time. If the heavier suit is used of about over 25kg then hydraulics would be required which implies you need additional energy and it would slow down mobility. The Ironmonger suit a good example of mobility suit.

In the comics, TONI STARK managed the suit energy requirements including running a thermal management system and an artificial intelligence system through fictional arc reactor. The reactor is able to provide almost limitless clean energy despite being a very small device. In real life, the only thing that as energy density comparable to the arc reactor and would meet all the energy requirements of the suit would be a nuclear power.

NOTE: uranium(fission) has an energy density of 80,620,000Mj/kg

However, putting nuclear power in the suit that a human is going to wear is not a good idea unless the human is Hulk.

Practical solution of battery energy solution storage technology

If lithium batteries are used with ducted propeller blade, flight time in the order of minutes can be achieved and also the batteries can readily power suit electrical and electronics requirements.

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NOTE: lithium ion battery energy density has 150Wh/kg (0.5Mj/kg)

However, fossil fuel has greater energy density than batteries but a generator is required to power the suit electrical requirements. There is a silver lining call the lithium sulphur battery. This battery has 5times more energy compared to lithium-ion batteries. Lithium Sulphur packs have already powered the longest flight for more than 30hours. If the fictional arc reactor, lithium battery could be just the thing to power up the suit but the downside is just that it would take hours to charge just minutes if flight.

Thermal Management

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The Ironman suit cannot be hermetically seal meaning ventilation needed for good supply of oxygen that means there must be a layer of core text and vent holes for air to coming and go out to remove body heat and prevent any internal condensation to settle. Sorbothane can function as a thermal and electrical insulator, then the suit would be too hot or too cold from the outside and it cannot be transferred to the inner layer. With the technology available today, the thermal management if the suit is easily manageable. There are also solid state devices like thermal electric generators. The electric generators can make surfaces hot or cold depending upon the polarity of the current and it can be a major component of the suit for controlling the internal temperature.

Conclusion

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With the technology today, it is possible to achieve an exoskeleton that can perform a variety of operations. The US army has one called the TALOS project also various power exoskeleton has already been developed for medical applications which includes the hybrids assistive limb technology. For improvement of ergonomics, loading suits have been made similar to the iconic power loader p form the movie aliens. Koreans have made a robot that allows the pilot to sit in the chest cavity. The robot copy exactly what the human in the chest cavity does similar to the one in the movie Avatar. The obvious and good news is that the suit can be made with the technology available today but with limited functionality. The main issue is the energy requirement and it cannot be made to the level shown in the movie.