Radiators without Converter?

[Zosma Procyon]

I'm preparing to launch my Eve Airplane to its 130 day parking and refueling orbit, and I remembered I didn't put any radiators on it. Because its fully electric, powered by about 100 Nuks, it doesn't carry any mining or fuel refining equipment. During entry to Eve's atmosphere, it will be protected by a fairing and 9 inflatable heat shields. But surface temperatures on Eve are still rather high. Should I add radiators, for crew comfort in anything?

[jimmymcgoochie]

2 hours ago, Zosma Procyon said:

I'm preparing to launch my Eve Airplane to its 130 day parking and refueling orbit, and I remembered I didn't put any radiators on it. Because its fully electric, powered by about 100 Nuks, it doesn't carry any mining or fuel refining equipment. During entry to Eve's atmosphere, it will be protected by a fairing and 9 inflatable heat shields. But surface temperatures on Eve are still rather high. Should I add radiators, for crew comfort in anything?

While it is rather hot on Eve, KSP has rather ludicrous heat tolerances for parts and most (all?) crew parts can survive an internal temperature of up to 1000K, which is hotter than the melting point of Aluminium...

Drills and ISRUs generate heat while operating and need radiators to cool them, otherwise you don't need radiators. RTGs generate a bit of heat, but they should be able to dissipate their own heat as well. Why exactly do you need so many of them though? Eve is a good place for solar power and some big static panels mounted flush with your wings will generate plenty of power without adding too much drag.

[bewing]

Precise cooling requirements change from version to version. But it's been a long time since you've needed radiators for anything but mining. You can roleplay however you like, of course.

[Zosma Procyon]

1 minute ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

While it is rather hot on Eve, KSP has rather ludicrous heat tolerances for parts and most (all?) crew parts can survive an internal temperature of up to 1000K, which is hotter than the melting point of Aluminium...

Drills and ISRUs generate heat while operating and need radiators to cool them, otherwise you don't need radiators. RTGs generate a bit of heat, but they should be able to dissipate their own heat as well. Why exactly do you need so many of them though? Eve is a good place for solar power and some big static panels mounted flush with your wings will generate plenty of power without adding too much drag.

I decided to add 12 large radial radiators to keep the crew cool. The plane is meant to explore as much of the planet as possible, so solar power is not viable. The Nuks give it unlimited range. They also make it really expensive, but I have more than enough kredits to spare.

[jimmymcgoochie]

3 minutes ago, Zosma Procyon said:

I decided to add 12 large radial radiators to keep the crew cool. The plane is meant to explore as much of the planet as possible, so solar power is not viable. The Nuks give it unlimited range. They also make it really expensive, but I have more than enough kredits to spare.

Pointless radiators will only add mass and drag, slowing you down. Unless you're building some kind of monster plane that needs all those RTGs, you'll be better off using solar panels and just landing before it gets dark or bringing just enough RTGs to stay in the air until you find a good landing site. What kind of propulsion system are you using that needs so much electricity?

[Zosma Procyon]

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Pointless radiators will only add mass and drag, slowing you down. Unless you're building some kind of monster plane that needs all those RTGs, you'll be better off using solar panels and just landing before it gets dark or bringing just enough RTGs to stay in the air until you find a good landing site. What kind of propulsion system are you using that needs so much electricity?

Two electric ducted fans.

The Nuks are tucked away inside the batteries. Each rotor takes about 30 Nuks to power it.

[Fierce Wolf]

So far I found mandatory to add radiators to mining operations, for everything else is quite optional

 

EDIT: 100 nukes?!?!?! daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

Edited October 13, 2020 by Fierce Wolf

[Lt_Duckweed]

Considering the number of blades you are using, you can almost certainly drop one size down on the rotors and use the medium rotors.  This will let you use 16 rtgs instead of.... 100

[moar ssto]

rtg heating can only become a problem if you are careless about timewarping and encounter a bug that locks the rtg core temp to some very high value.