OTU Only: Heat radiators

[mike wightman]

While looking stuff up in Supplement 5 AHL I noticed this:

Power Plant Deck
The fins on the dorsal side of the ship (accessed by the air locks to port and
starboard) are used to radiate excess heat from the power plant when it is in overload
or high capacity function.

So it looks like there are waste heat radiators after all.

 

[Proneutron]

While looking stuff up in Supplement 5 AHL I noticed this:

So it looks like there are waste heat radiators after all.

Goes without writing.

 

[Straybow]

I dunno, fins work for the little power plant you'd have for life support on an early space age LEO station. Gigawatt range Trav power plant? You'd need handwavey tech to make the fins effective.

 

[mike wightman]

Yup, the 750GW plant of the AHL is going to task those radiators just a tad.

But it at least is a reference to ships needing radiators - I now have a mission to see if I can find any other references buried away in out of the way CT canon.

 

[Proneutron]

Yup, the 750GW plant of the AHL is going to task those radiators just a tad.

But it at least is a reference to ships needing radiators - I now have a mission to see if I can find any other references buried away in out of the way CT canon.

That was a good find BTW. Wish all of Trav materials were searchable...

 

[BlackBat242]

I dunno, fins work for the little power plant you'd have for life support on an early space age LEO station. Gigawatt range Trav power plant? You'd need handwavey tech to make the fins effective.

Yup, the 750GW plant of the AHL is going to task those radiators just a tad.

Only if they are passive radiators.

Now if they are active radiators, say - converting heat energy to light/gamma radiation/etc and transmitting that away from the ship.....

Of course this would only get rid of some of the heat, as the converters/transmitters would themselves produce some heat, but it would get rid of more heat per time period than would a passive radiator array.

 

[mike wightman]

Converting the waste heat not another form of energy generates even more waste heat since you have to do work to do so...

 

[Proneutron]

Converting the waste heat not another form of energy generates even more waste heat since you have to do work to do so...

Yup. That route doesn't reduce the amount of heat needed to be dissipated. That's why you cannot use a thermoelectric generator to turn waste heat into electricity to get rid of heat...

 

[gchuck]

So, the way I'm reading this, is that depending on the size of the ship, and the amount of maneuvering/power its using, said ship could be visible(in passive infrared) well outside of sensor range.

Naysayers?

 

[Proneutron]

So, the way I'm reading this, is that depending on the size of the ship, and the amount of maneuvering/power its using, said ship could be visible(in passive infrared) well outside of sensor range.

Naysayers?

Passive sensors like IR have a range much greater than active sensors. Has little to do with movement. It has everything to do with heat output.

 

[Enoki]

Converting the waste heat not another form of energy generates even more waste heat since you have to do work to do so...

Or, you have the same total amount of energy and are just changing its form. You still have waste heat to deal with, but some of that energy is being used in a useful way as you "dispose" of it. So long as you aren't adding 'new' energy to the system from somewhere, this will work.
What you would be trying to do is increase the overall efficiency of your system to make it give a higher output of work for a given input of energy.

 

[Proneutron]

So long as you aren't adding 'new' energy to the system from somewhere, this will work.

Nope, it will not. See laws of thermodynamics for further info.

 

[Enoki]

Nope, it will not. See laws of thermodynamics for further info.

Here's an actual example of what I'm talking about.

https://www.electrical4u.com/econom...nly used in industrial refrigeration... More

An economizer in a steam plant uses waste heat to pre-heat feed water to increase plant efficiency. It adds no new energy to the system but rather utilizes what would otherwise be waste heat to increase efficiency.

 

[Proneutron]

An economizer in a steam plant uses waste heat to pre-heat feed water to increase plant efficiency. It adds no new energy to the system but rather utilizes what would otherwise be waste heat to increase efficiency.

Yes, and the TOTAL heat leaving the system is not changed. And you cannot create energy ,etc., etc. Sorry, arguing against thermodynamics won't change the laws.

 

[coliver988]

as I was walking my dog & not thinking about work, for some reason I was thinking that another use for the excess heat could be to sterilize the atmosphere. In light of the current situation there are a few companies that use various methods to sterilize the air getting processed as reduce potential infections. While it is only a minute fraction of the heat, thought it could be an interesting use for the power plant as well.

 

[Proneutron]

as I was walking my dog & not thinking about work, for some reason I was thinking that another use for the excess heat could be to sterilize the atmosphere. In light of the current situation there are a few companies that use various methods to sterilize the air getting processed as reduce potential infections. While it is only a minute fraction of the heat, thought it could be an interesting use for the power plant as well.

Probably used in the air and water recycle system. Sanitizing the air as you mention and vaporizing the water from all waste to reclaim as potable water.