Thermal Control Systems and Radiator Panels

[Snark]

21 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Do high-temperature shadow shields do anything to mitigate the heat absorbed by vessels down close to the star?

I believe that the game does model shadows-and-heat, i.e. the radially attached gizmos on the sunward side of the ship will get hotter than the radially attached gizmos on the shadowed side.  Not totally sure about that, but that's what I believe.

22 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

If so, is it based off of a point source, or off the actual model of the star's photosphere?

It's a point source.

Hardly surprising, because modeling a radiative source (for light, heat, or anything else) that's not a point source would be prohibitively expensive, computationally speaking-- not to mention a hella complicated wodge of code.

I've done some sundiver missions before, and my go-to solution is to just spam the hell out of the deployable radiators.  They work great.

• They're sun-tracking, so they always hold themselves edge-on to the sun, meaning minimum heat absorption and maximum heat radiation.  (The fact that the sun is a point source is what makes this work.  If the sun were modeled as a sphere of its actual size, then when you get really close to the sun, being edge-on to the sun's center wouldn't actually help you all that much.  But it's not, it's a simple point source, so the radiators work great regardless of how close you get to the sun's surface.)
• They pump heat from the entire ship, which means you don't have to worry about some part getting left out and going kablooie.  It also makes it easy to spam them, because you can attach them basically anywhere.

If you just spam the deployable radiators until your ship looks like a cyberpunk hedgehog, you'll find that you can get really close to the sun without going kablooie.

[NewtSoup]

I'm now expecting to see a full Kerbal re-enactment of the film "Sunshine" by the end of the month.  Hippety Hop, quick like a bunny!

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by NewtSoup

[MaverickSawyer]

1 hour ago, Snark said:

I believe that the game does model shadows-and-heat, i.e. the radially attached gizmos on the sunward side of the ship will get hotter than the radially attached gizmos on the shadowed side.  Not totally sure about that, but that's what I believe.

It's a point source.

Hardly surprising, because modeling a radiative source (for light, heat, or anything else) that's not a point source would be prohibitively expensive, computationally speaking-- not to mention a hella complicated wodge of code.

I've done some sundiver missions before, and my go-to solution is to just spam the hell out of the deployable radiators.  They work great.

• They're sun-tracking, so they always hold themselves edge-on to the sun, meaning minimum heat absorption and maximum heat radiation.  (The fact that the sun is a point source is what makes this work.  If the sun were modeled as a sphere of its actual size, then when you get really close to the sun, being edge-on to the sun's center wouldn't actually help you all that much.  But it's not, it's a simple point source, so the radiators work great regardless of how close you get to the sun's surface.)
• They pump heat from the entire ship, which means you don't have to worry about some part getting left out and going kablooie.  It also makes it easy to spam them, because you can attach them basically anywhere.

If you just spam the deployable radiators until your ship looks like a cyberpunk hedgehog, you'll find that you can get really close to the sun without going kablooie.

Nice. So, as long as I keep the radiators in the shadow of that shield, then I should be fine.

Also, legit lol'd at "Cyberpunk Hedgehog". Hopefully that's not needed, but hey, what are experiments for?

59 minutes ago, NewtSoup said:

I'm now expecting to see a full Kerbal re-enactment of the film "Sunshine" by the end of the month.  Hippety Hop, quick like a bunny!

 

I'm afraid my computer would explode before I could build a ship THAT impressive. Stupid old laptop. 

[Snark]

6 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Nice. So, as long as I keep the radiators in the shadow of that shield, then I should be fine.

I think so, but then I don't recognize the radiators you're using-- I'm guessing from some mod?  It wouldn't work with the static radiator panels from the stock game, because those only cool down the parts right next to them so the other end of the ship would get fried.

My solution is to just use the deployable radiators and then not have to worry at all about shadows or anything else, with the extra benefit that I generally don't have to care about ship orientation.

8 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Also, legit lol'd at "Cyberpunk Hedgehog".

Come to think of it, that would be a pretty good name for a band. 

[Xtra]

I don't know if this has been discussed or not but the Thermal dynamics in this game/simulation SUCK!

If I place parts INSIDE another part... Or even behind one... that Part should NOT/NOT over heat while just flying through Kerbin Airspace below 300 m/s!  I've tried attaching radiators (and turned them on) to the hidden parts but still the temps run ram-pet.  I've put Heat Shields in front of the part hidden inside... 

I can't fly from KSC to the Mountains without landing and warping until the part cools down!  I understand about DRAG... but there shouldn't be any if it's behind another object.   I have lamps, ladders, and instruments that are blowing up with Radiators, heat exchangers, and coolant tanks installed.  I can't install extendable radiators during Flight... they fly off!

What good are thermal systems if they are not going to cool the systems they're attached to?  And why is it that Only deployable radiators cool the whole vessel and the fixed ones only what they are attached to???  That's seems dumb... If I was hooking up a radiator system with a coolant tank.... it would be like a Ground wire... running throughout the vessel.  

[darthgently]

41 minutes ago, Xtra said:

What good are thermal systems if they are not going to cool the systems they're attached to

Radiators don't work for atmospheric heating.  You probably have to slow down.  How fast are you moving through the atmosphere?

[Xtra]

8 minutes ago, darthgently said:

Radiators don't work for atmospheric heating.  You probably have to slow down.  How fast are you moving through the atmosphere?

Less than 300 m/s

I should mention that this typically happens with VTOL craft.   This time it was with the Space:1999 Eagle with science equipment mounted inside.

Radiators will take most of the heat but take forever to cool down and then the parts still heat up.

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Xtra

[darthgently]

4 minutes ago, Xtra said:

Radiators will take most of the heat but take forever to cool down and then the parts still heat up.

It doesn't sound like you are using the stock heat model at all.  What mods to you have installed?

[Xtra]

1 minute ago, darthgently said:

It doesn't sound like you are using the stock heat model at all.  What mods to you have installed?

Too many to mention.  When I load up... I have over 32k of patches.

Right now I'm mocking up a new Coolant tank using some cfg info from the Stock radiators to see if I can bring a cooling system online.

 

[darthgently]

2 minutes ago, Xtra said:

Too many to mention.  When I load up... I have over 32k of patches.

Good luck with all that then

You should probably move this help request to https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/forum/70-technical-support-pc-modded-installs/