Help to make a mod: Radiators

[Dragonchampion]

So I want to take the old Interstellar mod's radiators and turn them into a fully functional part with the new 1.0 update. As you all know the Nuclear Engine now overheats even at 50% thrust, and needs wings and other parts placed on the tank to radiate heat. I want the radiator part to have a very high heat tolerance and be able to radiate that heat and be equivalent to the 24 new objects we have to place on the ship until SQUAD makes a new radiator part.

However, I don't know where to begin at all. What do I do? How do I start?

[SmallFatFetus]

I can make you models/animations if you would like. I am a beginner, but I'll try my best.

SmallFatFetus

Edited April 29, 2015 by SmallFatFetus

[Mecripp]

Can you make them glow alittle when there hot

[Hotblack Desiato]

neat idea.

just a thing. apparently, KSP now monitors heat radiation from parts and the effect of that radiation to other parts in close proximity, as it is in reality.

just look at the ISS-image, the radiators are mounted in a way, that they don't possibly radiate towards any other part. a mod which takes care of that could possibly as important as others like deadly reentry, procedural fairings and so on

[Mecripp]

And there are a couple of mods that have them parts or look really close and then there is some parts from ZZZ that anyone can use.

EDIT- Lot of good stuff here http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43840-Hab-Hub-%28and-other-strange-things%29

But not sure how to get it to work with the KSP setup.

- - - Updated - - -

SmallFatFetus can you texture too ?

[sp1989]

I know this sounds obvious and in sure you thought of it but don't forget to make a range of sizes. From .675 to 3.5

[regex]

Basically just make the part as normal. You may need a MODULE for animating the heat sink but otherwise the important things are emissiveConstant (which should never be above 1.0!), of which I would suggest about 0.97 ~ 0.98, and thermalMassModifier, which you could probably up a little bit for a radiator, depending on how heavy it is to begin with (you might want to try it at 8.0 or something). The other important thing is the drag model of the part, which i think is partly based on mesh size, which accounts for the surface area of the part. Basically bigger means more radiative area, heavier means more "stored heat".

You can turn the Wing Connector Type C into a radiator by removing the ModuleLiftingSurface and increasing the other values as appropriate. For instance, with ModuleManager:

+PART[wingConnector3]
{
    @name = radiator3
    @title = Radiator Type C
    @description = A useful heat radiator.
    @mass = 1.0
    @thermalMassModifier = 4.0 // probably plenty for this, but might want to try more
    @emissiveConstant = 0.98
    !MODULE[ModuleLiftingSurface] {}
}

E: Now that I think of it, adding more thermal mass just turns it into a heat sink, which might be quite useful in its own right, but not really for a radiator.

[juanml82]

Question regarding the design and the science behind radiators. Can space ship radiators be basically metal radiating heat elsewhere or can they use some fluid in a closed cycle to "collect" heat, cool down elsewhere in the pipes or whatever, rinse and repeat? I remember reading something like that in a hard (of sorts) scifi novel, but I'm not really sure about the science, cost and practicality of such a thing. I'm basically thinking something like a water cooling kit but fancier and in space.

Of course, that makes it harder to mod, as it can't simply be based on the stock solar panels (retextured) as well, so it may be a bit pretentious.

[Mecripp]

Thats how the ISS in real life but in game from what it sounds heat is transfer from part to part lol like a pumped system, I guess hehe.

[SmallFatFetus]

@Mecripp I'm learning, so don't expect porkjet but yes, I can texture to a degree.

@juanml82 On earth a radiator works by transferring heat to it's environment, (air, water, etc) In space, because there is no air, heat is radiated away via infrared. This is not nearly as efficient as heat transfer, but we've come up with some pretty clever ways to do it.

SmallFatFetus

[3Dave]

This is a cool idea. But arn't there already a few mods with radiators included? interstellar, near future tech, etc. pretty sure when updated those mods will be using the new heat system.

But a radiator only mod might be cool for people that dont want reactors and warp engines. etc.

[NathanKell]

You also might want to increase heatConductivity, if the attachment area is small enough that not a lot of heat gets conducted.

3Dav: well, none of them are cfg-configured for 1.0...

[regex]

You also might want to increase heatConductivity, if the attachment area is small enough that not a lot of heat gets conducted.

That's normally commented out, is that more for sucking heat from other parts and what are the bounds if so?

[Dragonchampion]

Well, I didn't mean to make an entirely new mod, as I have no experience with that, but I was going to take the old, abandoned information from Interstellar, including models, and port it to 1.0, hopefully figuring out how to make them radiate the heat that the craft receives.

[SmallFatFetus]

How do I embed a video?

Animation is done! what do you think?

.blend file will be uploaded soon.

Here it is

SmallFatFetus

EDIT: Just saw your post. I always thought interstellar's radiators were way to sci-fi looking. Would you consider trying to make a realistic radiator mod with me/anyone who will help?

Edited April 30, 2015 by SmallFatFetus

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

That's great! I haven't really started playing a lot yet (waiting for Dmagic science to update) but with all the controversey with the nukes, it sounds like something I would definitely get!

[Mecripp]

Nice job with them

[NathanKell]

regex, the conductivity scalar between two parts is the minimum of the contact area of the two parts, times each part's heatConductivity. So if you increase it, the conduction will go faster between that part and anything else it's attached to / attached to it.

The bounds are >= 0. Default is 0.12.

[Dragonchampion]

I always thought interstellar's radiators were way to sci-fi looking. Would you consider trying to make a realistic radiator mod with me/anyone who will help?

I'd love to if I could. But just note that all I know from KSP modding is the stuff I know from manually modifying some parts from other mods. I'm completely new to ever making a new part and I'll probably have to use a part from an up to date mod to serve as a basis.

That's great! I haven't really started playing a lot yet (waiting for Dmagic science to update) but with all the controversey with the nukes, it sounds like something I would definitely get!

DMagic just updated. Check the Release thread.

[neamerjell]

I knew it! It wouldn't be long before a modder started development of a heat sink or radiator for 1.0! I was just about to request one too. I too am aware of the radiators available in some mod that Scott Manley used in his Interstellar Quest series. I wonder if these could be reverse engineered and adapted to the new heat model to make inline and radially attached heat sinks...

Here are examples of what I had in mind:

Radially attached:

Cylindrical:

[Jarin]

Most of those heat-sink style radiators require airflow, as I understand it. Vaccum-radiative heat dispersion would be horribly inefficient with the blades that close together, I think.

[Alshain]

Yeah I think the ISS style would be great. Good job on that model, I'll be watching this closely.

[SyberSmoke]

I will toss in a couple thoughts for you.

1. A set of Radial rigid radiators. Essentially exposed blocks of fins like you have in your computer. Interstellar had some for aircraft. But there would be a second part. Since drag is a thing now, I also would suggest a second part, a cowling that can be used to cover the radiator and reduce drag. This could be animated so it can retract, or could just be there temporarily, explosively detaching permanently exposing the fins.

2. Heat Sump: An object that while small is heavy and can store large amounts of thermal energy for dissipation. As it stands our fuel tanks are the heat sumps right now. But to get good efficiency you need a big tank. There are materials though that are very good at storing heat, like plane old water. As an interface between a heat generator and the ship, the player could put this sump in between. The heat would be stored and radiators could then be used to dissipate the energy.

3. Thermocouple module: The same tech as an RTG uses, Heat is converted into charge. The heat is still there and would need to be radiated away. But if it is hot...it is making power. Not much...but hey every unit of energy counts right?

Ok, there you go, my thoughts. I want some radiators also and I would prefer not to have to dump on tons of solar panels. So I hope this comes to fruition, good luck.

[Tajin]

I think modded variants of the default solar panels would be great.

Just make em so they do not produce any power but in turn radiate more heat.

[Cdr_Zeta]

Hello,

I have a thought...this heat must be a resource somewhere; perhaps wasteheat or convert it to wasteheat then I use HeatSupply to keep my Kerbalnauts warm.

If parts rise in temp you can use peltier cooling...run liquids thru the parts...

Zeta