Do pre coolers work

[Duckytrask]

Do the pre coolers actually work?

Do they really cool the air so your engines don't explode?

Edited June 4, 2015 by Duckytrask

[TheMegaPlane]

From my experience they work. It's not the most significant effect though. For jet engines it gives a little bit more thrust higher up.

About cooling the air I think it cools the air since you get more thrust but I don't think it affects engine overheating.

However they conduct heat pretty well with a high heat tolerance so in a way if you place them close to engines it could

prevent overheating.

[Ferdoni]

The precooling is just a name for more efficient air intake

But it's also possible it is more heat resistant

[Requia]

They don't cool directly, but they radiate heat faster than almost all parts (only solar panels and wings match them).

[Red Iron Crown]

As far as I can tell they're just an inline intake + LF tank. If they do anything special heat-wise I haven't been able to detect it. I've gotten better heat management results by attaching engines to larger fuel tanks (the larger thermal mass means it will draw heat from the engines quicker).

[Randazzo]

As far as I can tell they're just an inline intake + LF tank. If they do anything special heat-wise I haven't been able to detect it. I've gotten better heat management results by attaching engines to larger fuel tanks (the larger thermal mass means it will draw heat from the engines quicker).

They are identical to engine nacelles with a single exception.

Engine Nacelles:

emissiveConstant = 0.6

Pre-Cooler:

emissiveConstant = 0.95

The difference this actually makes depends on the surface area of the individual parts. If they are identical, then the pre-cooler has a very slight advantage. Making generous assumptions, at a temp of 1000, that difference could be a rad flux that is higher by 100-200. Considering that incoming heat flux can be in the multiple thousands, the difference is arguably irrelevant, and it's fair to point out I've never done any air-breathing engine testing so the numbers might be less dastardly.