[1.12.*] Real Active Radiators v1.1

[siimav]

12 hours ago, Starwaster said:

@siimav That's usually set to 0 by RO, are you just using RP1 without a full RO install? 

I'll just rip that section out of there; it's got to do with the stock radiator code and it's not really  needed now. In the meantime if you patch it and set it to 0 like RO does then that would fix it.

Yes, I do have the full RO suite of mods installed. Did a search against my gamedata folder and RO does indeed try to set overcoolFactor to 0.0186367. What makes it extra strange, is that there are no other mods that set it to 0.25 either except the stock part configs from Squad. 

Anyway, I also ripped out the offending stock code and can now get LH2 boiloff to absolute 0. Thank you for taking your time to explain how KSP's internal radiator mechanics work.

[siimav]

I found a couple of more issues while using this mod. First, it doesn't really play nice when you add radiator parts from another mod onto the same vessel. Found out it's because of part.FindModuleImplementing<ModuleActiveRadiator>() does not check whether the returned item is actually of the correct type.

Another issue that randomly happened to me was that the throttle went totally insane on high time warp. I was seeing crazy high negative throttle values, like -700%. This seems be caused by refrigerationCost randomly getting negative values.

I think I have managed to get both of them fixed on my own fork. So would it help you if I created these fixes as pull requests on GitHub?

[Starwaster]

@siimav

do the pull request and I'll review your changes and see if they can be incorporated or if I need to request changes

also what mod's radiators are we talking about?

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Starwaster

[siimav]

13 minutes ago, Starwaster said:

also what mod's radiators are we talking about?

The radiator part was from USI: link. I'm building a hydrolox mining base in RO with USI + RealISRU and thought that adding one of those USI heatpumps is a good idea because drills quickly saturate the cooling capacity of regular radiators.

[winged]

On 5/26/2018 at 11:09 PM, siimav said:

the power requirements of radiators are way too insane to be of any use in RP-1 though. There's no reasonable way to supply 90kW of electricity in that mod

With few nuclear engines or nuclear reactors from NFE mod it's definitely possible to generate that amount of electricity.

Edited October 11, 2018 by winged

[Jim123]

how do you use it stop fuel boil off i haven't gotten it to work in RSS RO 1.3.1 at least the old heat pumps mod i saw this is a new thread. Thanks in Advance.

[Starwaster]

Make sure the radiator is placed where it can remove heat. The big ones can remove heat no matter how far they are from a part. Others need to be no more than one part away. (On the target part or one away)

Also important is passive thermal protection! Use the latest RF and install MLI on the tank with cryogenic tanks. (Right click the tank and move the MLI slider) even a few layers makes a huge difference. Centaur tanks had up to three. 

Service Module tanks also have dewar tanks for their cryogenics. Be warned that those tanks weigh twice as much as usual so if you use them for giant tanks (assuming you change tank type) then you will be penalized with extra mass. Those tanks benefit from MLI too. 

To summarize: ensure the radiator is placed correctly or can draw heat from anywhere and combine with insulation. Active + passive = FTW

Edited April 9, 2019 by Starwaster

[Jim123]

Thank you:)

[pt1243]

Hello, does anyone know if this is working with RO in 1.8?

Edit: initial testing shows that it appears to be working perfectly. Awesome mod!

Edited April 3, 2020 by pt1243

[Starwaster]

Updated for KSP 1.12

Real Active Radiators version 1.1

• Scale up radiatorMax (only for parts that do not explicitly define it)
• Don't scale down maxEnergyTransfer as it can interfere with ModuleCoreHeat's ability to move heat to the radiators.
• Clamp CoolingEfficiency lower value to 0
• Clamp radiator energyCap lower output value to 0
• Compensate for conducted heat of Real Fuels tanks even if if part looks cool enough to not need cooling.
• Information document on refrigeration systems
• Refrigeration throttle tries to leave a 0.1 kW buffer when under low power conditions.
• Renamed zzz_radiator.RAR folder to zzz_radiator
• Reduced maxCryoEnergyTransfer on deprecated parts. (just in case any are still in people's installations from Heat Pumps mod)
• Update zzz_radiator thermal characteristics
• Added NASA document quantifying research costs for space qualified cryocoolers
• Use radiator temperature instead of skinTemperature

https://github.com/Starwaster/RealActiveRadiators/releases/tag/v1.1