U.S.S. Voyager :
EPS SYSTEM (ELECTROPLASMA SYSTEM)

This page describes the electroplasma system (EPS), as well as its components such as EPS taps and EPS relays, primary and secondary systems powered by the EPS, service access, specialised delivery networks, dangers related to the EPS system, comparable technology of other species, and non-Starfleet modifications. There is also a short summary at the end.

The EPS, trunking, and relay systems form the primary power supply for all devices and systems on board a ship or facility. These are so important that they are one of the first networks designed and integrated into the development of a new starship. EPS power relay systems are common on all Starfleet vessels, and have been in existence from the earliest days of the Galaxy-class starship development in the 2340's. An earlier EPS system was referred to as the Internal Power Grid ([TNG: The Disaster]), but by the introduction of the Defiant-class in 2371, this alternative term has become redundant.

The EPS relay system has also had to undergo a number of modifications with the introduction of new energy technologies, such as the induction relays used to transfer power in Federation starship computers, and the anodyne relays used on Intrepid-class vessels. The EPS system also has the ability to act as a step-down transformer, reducing the amount of energy for devices requiring a lower input. The main feed for the EPS power distribution network on a Galaxy-class starship comes from three potential areas, and the same broad configuration is likely to apply to the slightly later Intrepid-class starships (such as USS Voyager) because the configuration of Sovereign-class starships, which are roughly contemporary with USS Voyager, is the same. The three potential areas are:

• The warp drive system
• The impulse drive system
• Tn times of emergency, the auxiliary fusion generators.
  The auxiliary fusion generators are tied into both the primary and emergency EPS conduits, and receive deuterium from the fuel transfer network. (Those on Deep Space 9, which were installed by Starfleet engineers, are approximately one-sixth the size and power output of the standard impulse power plants found on most Starfleet space vessels such as USS Voyager.) (The Bussard collectors, large electromagnetic devices located at the front of the warp drive nacelles of Federation starships at this time, attract interstellar hydrogen gas that can be used as fuel by the ship's fusion reactors. But it would seem that operation of the Bussard collectors relies on the EPS system so that an advance stored supply would be required to use them to power the fusion generators in an emergency.)

EPS power taps; conduits; repair and maintenance

For Federation starships the power conversion level is very high, the level being the measurement of the actual usable energy obtained from an energy-conversion system, and typically Federation starships can utilise 97 percent of the energy created in the matter/antimatter reaction in the warp core, but that utilisation depends on efficient distribution throughout the ship. The energy capacity and its efficient distribution are directly related to the source of the EPS taps and the devices they are feeding - hence major power supplies are sourced from the warp propulsion and main impulse engines, while equipment requiring a more specialised kind of energy is supplied through a secondary power distribution; USS Voyager has the same system or an improved one than the earlier Galaxy-class starships which have three main types of EPS power taps (Type I: accepts 0.1 capacity flow for high-energy systems. Type II: accepts 0.01 input for experimental devices. Type III: low-power input for energy conversion applications). EPS taps are usually located on the power transfer conduits, and a measure of the huge amount of power available to the EPS system can be given by the fact that it is used to initiate the matter/antimatter reaction from a warp core 'cold' start. Regardless of the source, all EPS power taps direct their microwave energy to a main EPS power distribution node. The dimensions of the EPS trunking and conduits vary in size depending on the current being handled, but conditions within them are extremely dangerous.

[#32 Meld] [#76 and #77 Year Of Hell] [#44 Flashback]

An example of how dangerous close contact with the EPS network can be is given by the actions of the mentally deranged Lon Suder who, in 2372, attempts to vaporise the body of Crewman Frank Darwin, whom he has murdered, by putting it inside an EPS conduit in main engineering. Subsequent events are seen in [#32 Meld]. In [#62 Favorite Son], Torres tells Ashmore to open up an emergency vent in order to try to relieve the pressure building up in plasma conduit G-6 (indicating that, as expected, all components on Federation starships have a designation for the purposes of identifying its location and function). In one of the two eventually unrealised timelines known as the Year of Hell, in the one depicted in [#76 and #77 Year Of Hell] (the other is in [#63 Before And After]), Janeway and Neelix find 35 ruptured EPS conduits as they survey damage to Voyager on Day 207 of the Year of Hell. The dangerous consequences of being caught in explosions caused by ruptures in plasma conduits are seen in [#44 Flashback] when, 'conveyed' back in time to 2293 via a Vulcan mind-meld, Janeway and Tuvok spend time on the bridge of the USS Excelsior. There Ensign Tuvok detects that there is a rupture in the plasma conduit behind Dmitri Valtane's console and tries to warn him about it. Valtane is killed when it explodes (although Valtane survives in the film [Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country], whose events are generally re-created in [#44 Flashback] as part of the Star Trek 30th Anniversary tribute.) Individual conduits are spread out to minimise damage in the event of hostile action or catastrophic failure, instead of being clustered together with small lead-out points. Conduits are fabricated from toughened materials (at Deep Space 9 the construction is toranium-durmanite) and are probably, like those at Deep Space 9 which Starfleet started to assess/improve from 2369 i.e. before Voyager was launched, hardened against radiation interference and structural impacts. Probably they also incorporate an energy polarisation bed, emergency venting and cooling jackets (these would be consistent with the 'heat wave' situation in [#54 Macrocosm]), and flow accelerator coils to maintain directional plasma pressure toward critical systems.

EPS conduits are arranged in convenient locations within corridor hatches and within Jefferies tubes, but caution has to be maintained at all times by engineering crews working on them. The EPS distribution network is hard-wired into every section of the ship that requires power and it feeds a number of vital systems such as the optical data network (acronym ODN; a system of fibre-optic data-transmission conduits serving as the nervous system of the ship's computer network).

excerpt from [#6 The Cloud], after the cloud creature stops pounding the ship:
Kim: "Electroplasma leaks reported on deck 14. Repair crews are being despatched. Otherwise we seem to be in one piece."
Chakotay looks at the monitor he shares with the Captain. "I believe the optical data network is down, Ensign."
Kim: "Yes, sir. I'll get right on it."

In view of the importance of the EPS system, as regards maintenance the most important factor is ease of access for the engineers who need to be able to service or repair vital systems as quickly and conveniently as possible. Hence the electroplasma system may be hidden away behind bulkheads or left exposed, depending on the system and area of the starship or facility in which it is situated.

typical electroplasma system

Regulation of plasma flow; primary and secondary power requirements

Secondary power requirements come from the gravity generation network, personnel and freight transporters, holodecks, replicators, and solid waste recycling systems, all of which help makes the modern Starfleet vessel that Voyager is both comfortable and desirable to work in. When in [#54 Macrocosm] the heat from the warp plasma conduits cannot be vented, the environmental controls fail which causes a "heat wave" on the ship. It should be noted that the breakdown of a secondary power conduit can severely affect the function of its entire system. This is demonstrated when in early 2373 Lon Suder, on Paris' orders, disables the secondary phaser couplings during the Kazon-Nistrim occupation of Voyager, in [#43 Basics, Part 2].

Specialised networks

 

Plasma gas Plasma gas leaks into the cargo bay where Tuvok and four crewmembers are present, after one of the conduits blows out. Plasma gas, once it leaks from the sealed conduit, becomes toxic within minutes. [#16 Learning Curve]

[#16 Learning Curve]

Examples of repair and maintenance work on Voyager

In 2373, in [#55 Fair Trade]:
Torres: "Ensign Vorik, get me a duotronic probe. I'm having problems regulating the plasma flow."
Vorik: "May I suggest a gravitic caliper instead. You might find it a more precise instrument."
Torres: "Good idea, so bring me both." .... To Neelix: "The plasma flow and the manifold seems to be constricted."
Neelix: "Oh, er, have you thought of phase locking them to the dilithium matrix?"
Torres: "It was the first thing I did."

In [#88 Vis à Vis], a very busy Torres leaves Vorik in the middle of an EPS recalibration in order to go to a transporter room to meet Paris, who is actually a DNA-swapping alien who has assumed Paris' identity. A recalibration would include the plasma injectors.

warp plasma particles

Neelix contemplates stealing warp plasma from Voyager [Fair Trade]

Neelix, holding a canister of warp plasma, with Wixiban [Fair Trade]

warp plasma explosion [Fair Trade]

 

Non-Starfleet modifications The entire EPS system undergoes extensive power conservation modification under the instruction of the Enarans in 2373, in [#48 Remember]. Borg technology is added to enhance key power couplings in 2374, in [#70 The Gift]; Kim and Seven of Nine start work by going to modify the plasma relays in Jefferies tube 13 alpha, section 12.

[#70 The Gift]

Comparable technology of other species

[#161 The Void]

In early 2377 Voyager rescues the occupants of a Nygean starship whose captain/chief warden Yediq says that a plasma conduit has ruptured and flooded his ship with plasma radiation. Another species that uses comparable EPS technology is the Borg. In 2376 Voyager encounters a crippled Borg cube on which only a few neo-natal drones have survived. Those child drones direct a tractor pulse (the Borg term for a tractor beam) at Voyager's main deflector, trying to pull it off.

[#136 Collective]

excerpt from [#136 Collective]:
Tuvok: "Captain, I've found a fluctuation in their shield grid near a plasma duct. It's too intermittent to beam out the hostages but we could use it to deploy the pathogen. Captain?"
Janeway: "Not yet."
Tuvok: "There is no alternative."
Janeway: "There's always an alternative. We just need to find it. Their tractor beam draws power from the same grid as their shield matrix. If we use the deflector to send a feedback pulse along the beam it could disrupt their shields. Do it."
Torres: "Re-routeing warp plasma. If this doesn't work it'll do us more damage than the cube."

Summary

 

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