Mining resources; heat problems; efficiency problems.

[Ion Man]

I have problems with drill and ISRU overheating. The drill overheats within 15 seconds and the ISRU does too. I can get rockets and spaceplanes up in the air, but I don't understand the heatsink problems with resource mining.

Is there any guide or "how to", that explains the inner workings of these parts?

I want to establish a probe controlled ground refuel station with transfer rover tankers.

Edit:

Solutions from comments:

-Use a big mass (fuel tank) as heat sink and light wing segments as radiator (all attached at the heated tank).

-Engineer Kerbal does help with temp problems, but is no option for a fully automated drone plant

This is my test rig. It's still not fully stable. Only one drill, which seems to be the limiting factor. Stable with an engineer in a capsule attached.

p.s.

thanks so far

Edited April 29, 2015 by Ion Man

[nekogod]

Lots of solar panels or wings work quite well as heat sinks.

[Radam]

Try using 9t fuel tank as a base to attach drill and isru to. Then attach solar panels to the tank.

[Streetwind]

There's currently no way to avoid the massive heat output of those parts without turning it off in the cheat menu.

As a workaround, you can mitigate it somewhat by attaching a large amount of wing segments to the same parts that the drill and refinery are attached to - ideally in such a way that they sit edge-on to the sun, or don't receive sunlight at all (this will boost the heat radiating capapbilities significantly). Solar panels are theoretically great at radiating heat, but in practical application they will make every attempt to turn themselves face-on to the sun, thereby getting all the sunlight and radiating inefficiently as a result.

Furthermore, RoverDude (who wrote the system) implied that heat output of the drill is inversely proportional to the drill's efficiency. In other words, if you mine in a resource poor location you get lots of heat, while mining in a high quality ore hotspot will generate less. Also, having an engineer Kerbal on the mining craft increases drill efficiency, thereby presumably also reducing heat output.

[bazz]

Would it help if the drill and the refinery were two separate crafts?

[THX1138]

There's currently no way to avoid the massive heat output of those parts without turning it off in the cheat menu.

As a workaround, you can mitigate it somewhat by attaching a large amount of wing segments to the same parts that the drill and refinery are attached to - ideally in such a way that they sit edge-on to the sun, or don't receive sunlight at all (this will boost the heat radiating capapbilities significantly). Solar panels are theoretically great at radiating heat, but in practical application they will make every attempt to turn themselves face-on to the sun, thereby getting all the sunlight and radiating inefficiently as a result.

Furthermore, RoverDude (who wrote the system) implied that heat output of the drill is inversely proportional to the drill's efficiency. In other words, if you mine in a resource poor location you get lots of heat, while mining in a high quality ore hotspot will generate less. Also, having an engineer Kerbal on the mining craft increases drill efficiency, thereby presumably also reducing heat output.

The part descriptions say that the radiators are on the backs of the panels and since the the panels face the sun, the radiators will face the opposite direction.

I personally suspect that the parts are bugged but I guess we'll find out in the fullness of time.