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Showcase: Kraken Drives

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Rune

Rune

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Anyone have sub-assemblies with kraken-drives? I want to bolt one into a shuttle bay and get it to Duna and back...

Or, to be more specific, is there someone who knows the principle of how to make a kraken-drive? I am curious to how it could be potentially scaled up...

Google a bit for forum threads, and you will get both, I myself have provided more than one lengthy explanation here and there... a good place to start would be Tyrene Technology Solutions, the company thread Comrade Jenkens set up on the Rocket Builders subforum to market the discovery.

Rune. The power of kraken propels you!

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sgt_flyer

sgt_flyer

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this was a testbed i built around a variation of the krakendrive, the JD-drive (much more reliable, but less acceleration :P) the JD-drive is mounted inside the hull.

kKKVO4Jl.png

Tz6WrBWl.png

ended up on laythe with it, after a less than optimal intercept (yeh, understatment here ^^ 8000 m/s of delta-v for a jool intercept, no problems with a krakendrive :P)

miQrrC8l.png

g6QNCyll.png

this one supports the activation of the krakendrive in atmosphere (although only when you reach speeds higher than 750 m/s - and the low acceleration might have a hard time in overcoming the drag, so you can use the rapiers in airbreathing mode until the Krakendrive is enough to get you out of atmosphere) - the rapiers also have a bunch of delta-v in rocket mode when you need to do orbital manoeuvers at speeds under 750 m/s.

here's the .craft :

http://www./view/29ev6dodl38r1x1/JDdrive_SSTO.craft

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daemonCaptrix

daemonCaptrix

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Caprix that's a really nice looking ship. :)

I'm also using the archer drive but when I put two in parallel the ship just span out of control. :(

Make sure absolutely nothing is clipping with them, nothing is attached to any part except the forward reaction wheel, and your action group is controlling all four landing legs (two for each drive).

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  • 2 weeks later...
The14th

The14th

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My fourth K-Drive test ship (previous three didn't make it out of Kerbin orbit) was supposed to do a fly-by around Eeloo and back to Kerbin.

Unfortunately the drive broke while decelerating near Eeloo's, and it took all of it's conventional fuel just to slow down enough to crash-land on the surface.

Anyway, I love a good rescue mission me, so I went about building something that could rescue my stranded test pilot before he dies of old age.

The Yuki-Onna has two K-Drives to prevent a repeat of the test flight. If the Primary drive fails, it can be jettisoned and the Secondary can take over.

If the Secondary also fails, the vessel has enough conventional fuel to return to civilisation the slow way. Additional parts can be jettisoned should the crew need to shed mass.

2014-03-25a.jpg

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2014-03-25c.jpg

She rocks gently while the K-Drive is engaged, as if she were on an ocean which I find strangely fitting for Kraken power.

Of course, it's still a dangerous risk. If both drives fail while the ship is still travelling at 20Km/s I'm not sure there's enough delta-v to prevent solar escape.

This will probably be my last K-Drive powered craft. It was fun to try out, but the technology is still a bit... temperamental. :sticktongue:

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Elmetian

Elmetian

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I'm just gonna leave this here :cool:

Tonight was my first attempt at playing with K Drives. I downloaded the Archer Class Warp Drive subassembly by FCISuperGuy, took it apart, then tried to miniaturise it. I've conducted a few hundred tests in the past couple of hours, mostly by hyperediting the drive into orbit and then spending 10 seconds with it engaged. About half of the test drives produced no net force, and most that did produced unwanted torque. I've found that the fewer number of landing legs used, the less likely you'll get torque due to them clipping asymmetrically when deployed. My drive also uses two docking ports held slightly apart by struts yet technically docked, and only a small probe body to provide control. I hoped that this would increase the force, but I haven't got a benchmark to measure it against yet. I used the Select Root mod extensively when building this drive.

The Mk3 shown is actually the thirty-somethingth iteration of the basic Mk3 layout. You can just see that there is still a little unwanted torque when I first activate it, but otherwise all of the turns I make are intentional. It's actually very easy to control and consistently produces the same force. I haven't attempted to add it to any of my craft yet though. I'm hoping that my next tiny SSTO will have a K Drive, and that Squad don't fix joints too well in the next update :sticktongue:

2014-03-25a.jpg

Also, that's a very beautiful ship there, The14th. Good idea taking a backup K Drive. I'd love to know how well mine fairs against those on the Yuki-Onna.

Edited by Narcosis
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The14th

The14th

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I'm just gonna leave this here :cool:

The Mk3 shown is actually the thirty-somethingth iteration of the basic Mk3 layout. You can just see that there is still a little unwanted torque when I first activate it, but otherwise all of the turns I make are intentional. It's actually very easy to control and consistently produces the same force. I haven't attempted to add it to any of my craft yet though. I'm hoping that my next tiny SSTO will have a K Drive, and that Squad don't fix joints too well in the next update :sticktongue:

Oooo... that's actually very quick and smooth - I like that one.

It looks like small is the way to go. I'll look forward to seeing the SSTO you come up with!

Also, that's a very beautiful ship there, The14th. Good idea taking a backup K Drive. I'd love to know how well mine fairs against those on the Yuki-Onna.

Thank you! :) Sadly, I'm only getting a little over 1m/s per second acceleration from the Yuki-Onna's Primary drive, where as the test ships were much lighter and much quicker (and more shaky!). She'll get the job done (ETA on Eeloo 60 days), but she's not the fastest Kraken Rider.

@The14th

Can you show pictures inside you're K-Drive? or is it just one of the already made designs?

I built the modules, but I pretty much used the same parts as FCISuperGuy did for the Archer Mk.IV (since that's the drive I pulled apart to see how it worked), so I consider them a personal modification of his drive rather than my own unique K-Drive design.

The only twist on mine is that I'm using the clever Interstage Adapter from Procedural Fairings to attach the drive to the rest of the ship. It also means I can eject a failed drive simply by jettisoning it's fairings.

TBH, I didn't have time to try out my own ground-up design. My fourth test ship was my first successful proof that I even understood the concepts involved, after which I immediately started planning the rescue.

the14th: The drive probably broke due to you going under 700m/s while decelerating at Eeloo. If you try to activate the drives while going under that speed they'll break, (In the best case scenario...)

When Kickback IV stopped decelerating and started to spin, that was my first thought. But at the time it still had a hyperbolic course back out of Eeloo's SOI and was travelling way over 700m/s relative to Eeloo.

Strangely, despite there being nothing in the Kickback IV's flight log about the any part collisions, or broken links between parts, when I went to the tracking station later I was surprised to find a single lander leg on solar escape trajectory! So I'm not sure what strangeness happened there. :confused: I'm sort of reminded of a faster than light drive in Red Dwarf that shot off by itself leaving Starbug behind!

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Elmetian

Elmetian

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Oooo... that's actually very quick and smooth - I like that one.

It looks like small is the way to go. I'll look forward to seeing the SSTO you come up with!

Thank you! :) Sadly, I'm only getting a little over 1m/s per second acceleration from the Yuki-Onna's Primary drive, where as the test ships were much lighter and much quicker (and more shaky!). She'll get the job done (ETA on Eeloo 60 days), but she's not the fastest Kraken Rider.

Yeah, I was wondering if they actually applied a measurable force or whether the acceleration was just a product of the glitch, but it seems that when you attach a larger mass to them they accelerate slower, just as they would with a chemical rocket. My 7th gen K Drive manages about 11g without a capsule, but that drops to 4.5g once one's added.

I tried to make a multifunction drive today using 2 sets of legs placed a slightly different distances from the docking ports. The idea was that one set of legs would produce 1g when extended for fine control, and the other set would produce at least 3g for cruising. Didn't work unfortunately, but I think my drive is limited by its size. The two sets of legs interfered with each other.

My 7th gen drive is now rock solid though. Haven't had a leg break yet, and it produces no unwanted torque. I've tried it as a subassembly in craft ranging from 1 to 10 tons so far. I'm considering just posting a download link for the drive rather than making people wait for an SSTO. Here's my Mk7 getting one unlucky Kerbal to Eve in just over a day. I didn't intend to send him there, but the planets aligned for me. Unfortunately my parachute was torn from the capsule instantly. I shouldn't have been surprised, the capsule hits the atmosphere at 50km/s! Just look at the clock in the top right; it takes 93 seconds to cover 4400km :confused:

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The14th

The14th

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Sometimes K-Drives will explode.. break.. Smart thing to do would be to quicksave before activating it.

Ah, but where's the fun in that? Rescue missions are fun! :D

My 7th gen drive is now rock solid though. Haven't had a leg break yet, and it produces no unwanted torque. I've tried it as a subassembly in craft ranging from 1 to 10 tons so far. I'm considering just posting a download link for the drive rather than making people wait for an SSTO.

I think you should. It sounds like a really effective design. Actually despite what I said earlier I'd quite fancy trying it out too! (On a much smaller craft this time! :) )

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Elmetian

Elmetian

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I think you should. It sounds like a really effective design. Actually despite what I said earlier I'd quite fancy trying it out too! (On a much smaller craft this time! :) )

I've zipped up two versions of the drive. One is the standalone craft file (it makes for an impressive demonstration, but you might need to hyperedit it into orbit), the other is the subassembly. Both have the legs bound to action group 1 as the 'g' button seems to require toggling twice before the legs deploy for some reason. When attaching the subassembly inside a craft I recommend you avoid having other parts clipping through it. It seems to work fine as long as it's completely within another object, such as a fuel tank, but if it's clipping through other parts it might cause unwanted interaction with the legs. I also recommend that you do not attach it to the same node as something else. Notice that it's attached to a FL-A5 Adapter on my first K Drive equipped lander (see pics below).

I'm pretty chuffed with how this turned out. Unlike the original, the Mk7 relies on being able to push the two docked clamp-o-trons apart. This means the docking ports can be attached directly rather than requiring cubit struts to hold them slightly apart. You'll see the difference when you test the standalone craft file. Unlike the one shown in my first video with the twitchy legs, when the MK7 is activated there is no discernible movement. It's ridiculously stable when flown in this configuration, though you might see some of the slight vibrations when the drive is attached to a larger ship.

TyAWkuJl.png bRTRuw7l.png

Mediafire Download

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The14th

The14th

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Posted (edited)
I'm pretty chuffed with how this turned out. Unlike the original, the Mk7 relies on being able to push the two docked clamp-o-trons apart. This means the docking ports can be attached directly rather than requiring cubit struts to hold them slightly apart. You'll see the difference when you test the standalone craft file. Unlike the one shown in my first video with the twitchy legs, when the MK7 is activated there is no discernible movement. It's ridiculously stable when flown in this configuration, though you might see some of the slight vibrations when the drive is attached to a larger ship.

Thanks Narcosis. I'm having fun with the Horizon Heavy Industries Mk7 K-Drive.

From our previous conversation it seemed obvious small is the way to go, so I've fitted your drive to a new line of as-yet-unnamed ultra-light kraken riders I'm developing.

This is the S version (S for Stock), which weights just 2 tons.

2014-03-26a.jpg

It has no chemical rockets of it's own, and is brought to orbit in homage to a certain Canary... :P

2014-03-26b.jpg

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Performance seems to vary from flight to flight with no obvious pattern. One test the drive refused to pull anything more than 4.5G, but the majority of tests so far have been over 8G.

My record so far has been 9.8G!

That test run took 12 minutes (including the journey from the surface via the lifter - I forgot to make a note of the time I actually started the drive *facepalm*) and reached a whopping 40Km/s!!! :D

2014-03-26f.jpg

I'm also testing an M-Type (modded) version:

2014-03-26g.jpg

This version is slightly heavier at 2.9 tons, but can carry two Kerbals so it could be used for rescuing solo pilots stranded in solar orbit depending on the practicality of trying to do a rendezvous with only two speed settings: RCS and Ludicrous Speed.

It also has it's RCS and batteries hidden away in a service compartment - although the little bulb tail of the S-Type is actually starting to grow on me!

What do you think so far?

I really like your K Drive - both version of my craft run incredibly smoothly without any of the shaking or lurching that I've seen with other drives - and I've done 10 test flights so far, and although the speed has varied slightly from flight to flight there have been no breakages or failures (touch wood). All in all, a very impressive drive!

Edited by The14th
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