Difference between revisions of "Thermal Control System (medium)"

Revision as of 07:44, 22 March 2017

Thermal Control System (medium)
Radiator by Probodobodyne Inc
Radial size		Radial mounted
Cost	(total)	2 250.00
Mass	(total)	0.250 t
Drag		0.2
Max. Temp.		2500 K
Impact Tolerance		12 m/s
Research		Advanced Electrics
Unlock cost		11 000
Since version		1.0.3
Part configuration		foldingRadMed.cfg
Electricity required		0.125 ⚡/s
Dissipated heat		250 kW [1]
Retractable		Yes
Packed volume		1000 l
↑ This radiator cools all the parts on the craft.

Deployed.

The medium Thermal Control System (TCS) is a deployable radiator used to dissipate waste heat into space (and atmosphere), pumping it out of hot parts anywhere on the craft, consuming an amount of electric charge (7.5 per minute).

Part heat may be accumulated from external sources (e.g. re-entry or sunlight from Kerbol) or be generated by reaction engines or the cores of resource harvester drills or converters, while they are active. Radiators make themselves hotter to perform efficiently, but self-limit to avoid heating to destruction.

This radiator only functions while deployed and will be broken off by 2.5 kPa of dynamic pressure (i.e. moving too fast through a fairly thick atmosphere). It can not be used as a structural element, to attach other parts to, unlike the fixed panel radiators.

Core Cooling

The limiting factor for cooling the cores of drills and converters is the "Core Heat xFer" (transfer) limit of the radiator: 250kW.

This is substantially lower than what the part can actually dissipate, under most circumstances, with a "Max Cooling" figure of: 19494kW.

To maintain an active drill or converter core at optimal thermal efficiency, radiators must provide enough unused Core Heat Transfer capacity to fulfil the "Required Cooling" stat, shown below:

Image	Part	Required Cooling (kW)	Max Cooling(kW)
	'Drill-O-Matic Junior' Mining Excavator	50	50
	'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator	100	100
	Convert-O-Tron 125	100	75*
	Convert-O-Tron 250	200	200

(*) The Convert-O-Tron 125 is a special case - it can not be maintained at optimal thermal efficiency because its "Max cooling" cap of 75kW is below it's required cooling (100kW). With the help of radiators, it will still reach equilibrium, albeit a little hotter than the optimal 1000K. This is possible because core heat production scales down at higher core temperatures, as the thermal efficiency drops off.

Also note, for both Converters, that the required cooling figure is per active conversion mode, with each unit able to have any, or all, of their four ore conversion modes active at the same time. Hence the Convert-O-Tron 250's required cooling can also exceed its maximum permitted (e.g. 3 modes will produce 600kW of core heating).

Practical Figures

One medium TCS radiator is sufficient to maintain optimal thermal efficiency of (approximately):

• 5x 'Drill-O-Matic Junior' Mining Excavator.
• 2x 'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavators (Senior).
• 5x Convert-O-Tron 125 (to the extent it is permitted to cool them).
• 1x Convert-O-Tron 250.

Product description

Changes

1.2

• Moved from Utility to Thermal

1.0.4

• Initial release