Radiator
The radiators are special devices that can cool other parts of a craft, consuming a small amount of electric charge when operating. They dissipate heat into space (radiative) and atmosphere (convective). They make themselves as hot as possible for greater efficiency, by transferring heat in, but self limiting to avoid overheating to destruction. Their efficiency is also limited by ambient conditions.
Variants
- Rigid, fixed Panels, which only cool the part they are attached to and parts directly connected to that part.
- Deployable Thermal Control Systems, which take heat from every part of the vessel (as if plumbed in with a cooling fluid loop). Like the deployable Solar Panels, these automatically rotate depending on the relative direction of Kerbol, but turn edge-on to minimise their exposure to the sun's radiation.
Image | Part | Radial size | Cost () |
Mass (t) |
Max. Temp. (K) |
Tolerance (m/s) |
Tolerance (g) |
Deployable | Electricity (⚡/s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Radiator Panel (edge) | Radial mounted | 450 | 0.03 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | No | 0.025 (1.5 ⚡/min) | |
Radiator Panel (small) | Radial mounted | 150 | 0.01 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | No | 0.025 (1.5 ⚡/min) | |
Radiator Panel (large) | Radial mounted | 450 | 0.05 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | No | 0.025 (1.5 ⚡/min) | |
Thermal Control System (small) | Radial mounted | 450 | 0.05 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | Yes | 0.025 (1.5 ⚡/min) | |
Thermal Control System (medium) | Radial mounted | 2 250 | 0.25 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | Yes | 0.125 (0.1 ⚡/sec) | |
Thermal Control System (large) | Radial mounted | 9 000 | 1.0 | 2 500 | 12 | 50 | Yes | 0.5 (0.5 ⚡/sec) |
Operation
To begin functioning, "Activate Radiator" must be selected from a panel's right click interface, or "Extend/Retract Radiator" for the thermal control systems, which also deploys them. Alternatively these functions can be bound to action groups, with the "Toggle Panels" option allowing a single action group to start and stop many radiators simultaneously.
Changes
- "Fixed" radiators now also need to be activated before they start working.