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Post by matterbeam on Nov 24, 2017 11:32:45 GMT
srbrant : If you're going for a different technology level, why don't you just increase the efficiency of all your systems? Increasing efficiency can drastically reduce the amount of waste heat you deal with. This directly reduces the necessary radiator size. Another suggestion I have is gas-filled fins. I mentioned the possibility of 'gas-coolant radiators' in my All the Radiators post. The basic concept is that you fill a transparent bag with gas, then either deflate it once the gas has cooled down enough, or use a gas flow. The fins on your spaceships could be a similar design. Large transparent membranes with gaseous coolant flowing through them. They'd serve as radiators, but don't have to look like the typical flat metal panels of solid radiators.
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Post by srbrant on Nov 24, 2017 16:34:49 GMT
srbrant : If you're going for a different technology level, why don't you just increase the efficiency of all your systems? Increasing efficiency can drastically reduce the amount of waste heat you deal with. This directly reduces the necessary radiator size. Another suggestion I have is gas-filled fins. I mentioned the possibility of 'gas-coolant radiators' in my All the Radiators post. The basic concept is that you fill a transparent bag with gas, then either deflate it once the gas has cooled down enough, or use a gas flow. The fins on your spaceships could be a similar design. Large transparent membranes with gaseous coolant flowing through them. They'd serve as radiators, but don't have to look like the typical flat metal panels of solid radiators. - That's exactly what I'm doing. I just want it to be fairly grounded in reality. Though to emphasize the futuristic setting, there's a whole rainbow of applied phlebetonium thanks to "Neo-alchemy", a new science born from advances in fusion power and exotic metallurgy. Sadly, all but a quarter of these miracle materials have had the secrets to their creation lost during the Technocaust. - There's an interesting idea. I shall consider using it.
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Post by srbrant on Nov 27, 2017 5:16:01 GMT
What. A 10,000 sqm hull radiating at 500k disposes of less waste heat than a. 100 sqm radiator at 4000k. Orders of magnitude less. I don't see how a low temperature hull radiator is *at all* beneficial if you're using very high energy powerplants. Unless it's a non-Carnot powerplant like Fission Fragment. Good call. Then there's the issue of scale. I've always loved those enormous dreadnoughts and flying palaces you'd see in Star Trek or Warhammer 40,000. But are they practical? Useful? Efficient? How big can they get?
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Post by Kerr on Nov 27, 2017 6:12:01 GMT
What. A 10,000 sqm hull radiating at 500k disposes of less waste heat than a. 100 sqm radiator at 4000k. Orders of magnitude less. I don't see how a low temperature hull radiator is *at all* beneficial if you're using very high energy powerplants. Unless it's a non-Carnot powerplant like Fission Fragment. Good call. Then there's the issue of scale. I've always loved those enormous dreadnoughts and flying palaces you'd see in Star Trek or Warhammer 40,000. But are they practical? Useful? Efficient? How big can they get? Bigger ships are always more efficient than smaller ones. If armor thickness remains constant than doubling size of a ship decreases armor mass by 50%. A ship twice as big doesn't necessarily need twice as many crew members or twice as many coffee machines. How useful they are? It depends, a bigger ship can have larger KE Accelerators or bigger lenses and more powerful beam generators which results in greater ranger. Kinetics have the advantage that range is more or less unlimited. An bigger ship at 10Mm is as easy to hit as an small ship at 3Mm. An laser has to have a certain intensity to damage armor quickly. They can get as big as you want. Ships kilometers in length are possible, but extremely expensive. While you have the advantage of much more concentrated and efficient firepower, you have a singular vehicle which can only operate at one place at a time. If cost and materials are an issue you might want to have many fleets of small ships to cover large areas.
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Post by Enderminion on Nov 27, 2017 13:32:51 GMT
decreases reletive armour mass by 50% you mean
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Post by srbrant on Dec 2, 2017 3:06:20 GMT
I can imagine super-massive ships as mobile space colonies or cities, with just enough Delta-V to nudge its way in and out of a Lagrange point.
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