(WIP) A (sort of) stock Ore-Fission Reactor for electricity production (help needed)

[Araym]

Around there there are plenty of mods that add features like to the electrinc needs of any spaceship/bases...

But almost of them, thru plugins, add a pletora of new resources (Uranium... depleted uranium... bla bla bla) and features to simulate the heat production of fission reactor.

My idea is a bit different: trying to NOT resort to any plugin, I thought about a sort of reactor that use the RAW Ore as a "fission fuel" (or sort of it: I'm not interested to consider it like a "real nuclear fuel" with its drawback), but, obviously, I wanna the "part" in development to have some HIGH drawbacks, mostly as an HIGH working temperature when active.

I'm pretty new to part development, and actually I have not a model for a reactor (I'm using various 2.5m Tanks as development part, as they fill my idea of dimensions), focusing mostly to define the cfg definition to obtain the needed functions.

The part (In my ideas) should work as:

1- an activable part, that produce electricity thru conversion of ORE (like a fuelcell that use liquid fuel/oxidizer) - BONUS

2- it should have an hi mass (not very practical to be the MAIN electricity generator, to let RTGs and solar panels as the BEST option to small-medium size crafts) - MALUS

3- MAIN POINT: on activation, it should produce A LOT of heat, to add the drawback to work together with STOCK heat dissipator (I thought about the "exploding nuclear device", if not cooled properly) - BIG MALUS

... I know the basic of cfg creation, but, from 1.0 onward, I do not really get how to manage the "thermal caracteristics" added in the game:

I look at the fuelcell as "generator", I modified it to work as an ORE-using reactor, BUT I do not know if, with proper thermal caracteristic, or added line in the generator module, can transform a part as a "heat production part", capable to overheat (and explode) if not properly cooled.

(I really never get how the new thermal caracteristics work PRACTICALLY, differently as many of older part modules)

As side development, I thought also to use a sort of "Engine Module" that DOES NOT produce an actual thrust (mostly coping then the nuclear engine module, giving to the part MORE electricity production, and using the LV-N as HEAT-PRODUCER part, in comparison), but I do not like this more strange idea

Any ideas/hints to help me from any proper modder out there???

Is it actually possible on a STOCK KSP, without using a plugin, to create a HEAT PRODUCING PART on activation???

Thanks in advance for any help

[Joshwoo70]

Is it actually possible on a STOCK KSP, without using a plugin, to create a HEAT PRODUCING PART on activation???

Yes it IS possible! You turn the heat production to a higher level. You will need to use the engine as an example as they contain module which is moduleengines which has a heat production.

[Randazzo]

If you want it to be a device you switch on and off, it's easy enough to make it generate heat. Just use ModuleResourceConverter and make sure it has the following lines (It needs others, as well. The ISRU converter or a fuel cell are good examples to look at):

 MODULE
 {
  name = ModuleResourceConverter
  GeneratesHeat = true
  TemperatureModifier = 150 // this can be turned up or down
 }

Using ModuleEngines will be problematic. No Thrust = No fuel flow = no heat/no power generated.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Randazzo