Overheating Ladders

[AaronLS]

Tried putting this ladder on a trailing edge thinking that might shield it from drag, but it still heats up much faster than other parts and eventually blows way before any other part is close to blowing, unless I limit speed. They are a 2000 degree part like most everything else. Flying at 18k-20k altitude at 1200m/s. Just wondering if there's anything that I can do to improve the situation.

[Murph]

It might have nothing to do with it, but the single->double->single style of build could possibly be causing issues with the heat flux. Only 1 of the 2 singles will actually be connected to both doubles, the other will only be connected on one side. In real physics (ignoring for a moment that the real world doesn't have restrictions on connection types), there's only half the path for heat to be conducted there, but not sure if KSP physics cares about connection size for heat transfer.

[helaeon]

From what I can tell there may be a missing piece of the config (I'm looking into this as well).

It appears to be missing from the configs:

thermalMassModifier = 4.0

emissiveConstant = 0.95

I'll be testing on this later, but you might want to give it a try first. Those mass values from looking at other parts should be correct.

[AaronLS]

From what I can tell there may be a missing piece of the config (I'm looking into this as well).

It appears to be missing from the configs:

thermalMassModifier = 4.0

emissiveConstant = 0.95

I'll be testing on this later, but you might want to give it a try first. Those mass values from looking at other parts should be correct.

Yeh I wondered about that to. 1x6ShroudSolarPanels.cfg has

emissiveConstant = 0.95

heatConductivity = 0.04 // 1/3 the default

If we consider the ladder's case to be a similar shielding, seems like it would be similar. I'll give that a try after I get some sleep.

[helaeon]

Yep setting them like the solar panel does appear to be better. (Just did a quick entry with them). Probably they could stand to be a bit stronger than the solar panels, but this is better. Here's the MM patch.

@PART[telescopicLadder*]
{
	%thermalMassModifier = 2.0
	%emissiveConstant = 0.95
	%heatConductivity = 0.04 // 1/3 the default
}

[Geschosskopf]

I just raised their maxTemp to some arbitrarily high level. Problem solved. I mean, saying that no temperature can be above a certain number because of how various materials behave on Earth is silly when Kerbin and Earth have no elements in common on their periodic tables. All values in KSP are arbitrary, so I feel free to be arbitrary myself.

[cybersol]

The thermal mass multiplier is likely the key missing line. The emissive constant is for radiating heat, which is one of the special things that solar panel do -- so that should likely not be applied here.

If you want to fix it without mods, you can put the ladder inside the sonic shockwave of something else. The sonic shockwaves extends out in a cone from the origin part, but only has a limited length. They basically seem to correspond with the cone of flame you can around the various pieces. If you put it inside that cone, with a length from it lower than the length of the flames, then it should be much more protected. I think NathanKell or Claw posted a diagram of this protective cone somewhere on the forums.

Edited May 25, 2015 by cybersol

[Temeter]

The reason ladders always blow first is their low thermal mass, which causes them to heat up faster. Might also be accelerated since they are external, drag inducing parts.

Yeh I wondered about that to. 1x6ShroudSolarPanels.cfg has

emissiveConstant = 0.95

heatConductivity = 0.04 // 1/3 the default

If we consider the ladder's case to be a similar shielding, seems like it would be similar. I'll give that a try after I get some sleep.

The heat emission - our beloved radiator-capability - of solar panels and wings is because of their large surface area, so i'd go, as others said, rather for thermalMassModifier or a higher max temp as to not touch the heat game mechanics.