Heat Electricity generator

[Benji boy]

I you have an solar base it will take heat but if you can make that heat into energy that would be awsome

[mattinoz]

Thermocouples turn heat in to electrical energy. They do need a fairly substantial temperature differential to work as they are constrained by the law of thermodynamics still could be good. Potential add on part to the new radiators.

[Guest]

Thermocouples turn heat in to electrical energy. They do need a fairly substantial temperature differential to work as they are constrained by the law of thermodynamics still could be good. Potential add on part to the new radiators.

Maybe the radiators could have active, passive, and generator modes, where they either take in electricity to cool the part using a heat pump, maybe a peltier unit, radiate passively like a plain old heat sink like they do now, or generate electricity from the temperature differential but conduct slightly more slowly, like a peltier unit used as a generator?

I don't know how this fits in with the current parts though- it kind of creates the need for a heat generating part, but we already have parts that create electricity directly from light, fuel, and fission, so what could this do that they can't? I suppose it could be more powerful per area than solar but heavier, more powerful per mass than fuel cells but less efficient per unit fuel, and as far as fission, a 1m part could generate the heat, but maybe since it would conduct to the rest of the craft, if you don't radiate the heat well enough the control rods automatically get shoved in and it shuts down to avoid a meltdown. The regular generators are small and weak but would be lighter and run without external radiators.

As far as heat mechanics go, if it doesn't already do this it should conduct in air or water better than vacuum and it should also conduct more heat and generate electricity more efficiently the greater the temperature difference.

[austincurr]

Maybe the radiators could have active, passive, and generator modes, where they either take in electricity to cool the part using a heat pump, maybe a peltier unit, radiate passively like a plain old heat sink like they do now, or generate electricity from the temperature differential but conduct slightly more slowly, like a peltier unit used as a generator?

I don't know how this fits in with the current parts though- it kind of creates the need for a heat generating part, but we already have parts that create electricity directly from light, fuel, and fission, so what could this do that they can't? I suppose it could be more powerful per area than solar but heavier, more powerful per mass than fuel cells but less efficient per unit fuel, and as far as fission, a 1m part could generate the heat, but maybe since it would conduct to the rest of the craft, if you don't radiate the heat well enough the control rods automatically get shoved in and it shuts down to avoid a meltdown. The regular generators are small and weak but would be lighter and run without external radiators.

As far as heat mechanics go, if it doesn't already do this it should conduct in air or water better than vacuum and it should also conduct more heat and generate electricity more efficiently the greater the temperature difference.

Oh, I see an advantage though! What about adding a thermal jet/prop engine? Runs on heat and intakeair, like that one mod. Maybe also add other various stuff like fuel heat generators using intakeair or oxidizer, electric heat generators, etc.

Edited July 15, 2015 by austincurr

[mattinoz]

Oh, I see an advantage though! What about adding a thermal jet/prop engine? Runs on heat and intakeair, like that one mod. Maybe also add other various stuff like fuel heat generators using intakeair or oxidizer, electric heat generators, etc.

That's a Stirling idea.

[austincurr]

That's a Stirling idea.

Slow clap.

Well, it could be stirling, but those don't make much power, although they're efficient, so if they were used then there should be other options with more power. If electric, fuel-buring, and stitling motors were added, it would open up a lot of possibilities, and it would be possible to put together, say, a plane powered by a nuclear plant generating heat that runs a stirling engine that turns a propellor. Maybe that's too much to do all at once, but I think that's be a nice goal to aim for?

I think other than motors turning parts attached to their nodes, we can do most of this stuff. Infernal robotics has the motors, config editing can make generators turn whatever into whatever, the hardest part would be tying it in with the heat system, right?

[Rath]

Maybe the radiators could have active, passive, and generator modes, where they either take in electricity to cool the part using a heat pump, maybe a peltier unit, radiate passively like a plain old heat sink like they do now, or generate electricity from the temperature differential but conduct slightly more slowly, like a peltier unit used as a generator?

I don't know how this fits in with the current parts though- it kind of creates the need for a heat generating part, but we already have parts that create electricity directly from light, fuel, and fission, so what could this do that they can't? I suppose it could be more powerful per area than solar but heavier, more powerful per mass than fuel cells but less efficient per unit fuel, and as far as fission, a 1m part could generate the heat, but maybe since it would conduct to the rest of the craft, if you don't radiate the heat well enough the control rods automatically get shoved in and it shuts down to avoid a meltdown. The regular generators are small and weak but would be lighter and run without external radiators.

As far as heat mechanics go, if it doesn't already do this it should conduct in air or water better than vacuum and it should also conduct more heat and generate electricity more efficiently the greater the temperature difference.

The RTG is not a reactor and therefore cannot melt down.

[Coga19000]

The RTG is not a reactor and therefore cannot melt down.

It can still melt down-literally. The radioactive isotopes still create heart all the time, and if you cannot get rid of the excess heat, the case may melt.

Anyways, this is not a bad idea. I'm not sure if it is practical to generate big enough temperature differentials, though.

[austincurr]

Maybe it isn't a good idea to tie all this in with the heat system fully... what about making the heat being generated and used in these devices a resource (some sort of coolant pumped around to transfer heat), and later on add the ability to pull heat from parts and turn it into the heat resource. That could be a function of the radiators maybe.

[Azimech]

It's already there!

As a mod.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/118884-1-0-2-JSeebeckUtils-Electricity-from-heat-gradients-BETA-v0-9-2-May-2015

Now give some love to the dev so it will be developed further