Heat Radiators on a ship

Sounds like I avoided a minefield by using a mix of handwavium and a coating of liquid radiator for the ship :wink:

Now I just have to scientifically justify how the hull is self-sealing, nanites anyone? :lol:
 
zero said:
Sounds like I avoided a minefield by using a mix of handwavium and a coating of liquid radiator for the ship :wink:

Now I just have to scientifically justify how the hull is self-sealing, nanites anyone? :lol:

Nanites? Nah, at least not the Grey Goo variety so popular in sci-fantasy.

Something as simple as layered reactive agents will do. Remember self-sealing is just a temporary fix, good enough to stop the bleeding during combat but still requiring permanent repair soon after. In my opinion and reading at least.

So you have your hull, and below that a contained layer of Agent A, maybe some small insulation space, then a contained layer of Agent B, and another layer of hull. A hull hit penetrates or rends an area of the hull, through the layer of Agents A & B and the insulation, and possibly the inner layer of hull (internal hits only perhaps). Agents A & B mix in the exposed area, expand rapidly and a lot, filling the damaged area (and if an internal hit perhaps part of the compartment), then hardening (but not as hard as hull material).

Something like that is how I imagine it.
 
Cool, I call Agent A: "more titanium" and Agent B: "more steel" :wink:

Seriously, your explanation is probably what happens and the effect is placed in at TL 9, so its not going to be incredibly magical with its tech :)
 
really? That's interesting.
I assume a blackbody radiator because its easiest, and blackbody radiators are, by definition, Lambert surfaces. Besides, we already have grey-body substances with albedoes in the .01 range, so why not just assume a blackbody just to keep things easy?

Could you shed some light on the differences between a Lambert surface and a non-Lambert surface as it would apply to radiators in MgT game terms?
Or at the very least, how the difference would make my suggestion false?
 
There are no actual rules for radiators in Traveller as far as I am aware, this whole thread was a suggestion more for the fluff writing of ships rather than an actual set radiator to be placed on a ship.

As I have a 100 dton ship and P-plants generate alot of heat, pretty much its whole surface would have to act as a radiator, so I write that its surface is coated with a liquid radiator so it doesnt look like a non-euclidian eldritch abomination :lol:
 
@ zero

I am currently looking for a more "hard" science fiction roleplaying game
for my settings to replace Traveller, and therefore have bought the PDF
of the Stellar Wind RPG. The spacecraft design rules include rules for heat
radiation, if you are interested I could look them up and give a short des-
cription here.
 
I just realized that it may be a bit too long to post it here, because of co-
pyright and so, and therefore sent you a PM with the text. :)

The basic idea is that of a cold plasma heated up, travelling outside the
ship along electromagnetic field lines while radiating the heat, and retur-
ning to the ship once the heat has been radiated.
Frankly, I have no idea whether such a kind of heat radiator could work,
but at least it is a very "hard" looking idea, and provides a solution for
a problem ignored by Traveller - although perhaps not a truly viable so-
lution.
 
A nice idea, thanks for the pm! It was also quite good to see that the hull itself can be used as part of the heat radiation system, I would say that would be down to a liquid radiator coating as per my idea (before the actual heat radiation system is in place of course).

Of course I wouldnt mind hearing how something like that would function in others opinions too :)
 
but wouldnt the plasma itself show up on sensors? Given its usage, its pretty much going to make people think there are ships involved in some shape or form.
 
zero said:
but wouldnt the plasma itself show up on sensors? Given its usage, its pretty much going to make people think there are ships involved in some shape or form.

Sorry, this is for atmospheric ops. Like in the next century or so, for advanced stealth fighters and bombers. However, yes, if you were using heat sensors, it would show up like a searchlight :P
 
Cool, I call Agent A: "more titanium" and Agent B: "more steel"

Seriously, your explanation is probably what happens and the effect is placed in at TL 9, so its not going to be incredibly magical with its tech

More likely to be polymer gels. Can be airtight under the pressures required, and TL9 self sealing isn't expected to cope with much more than dust particles and micro-meteors. It's not repairing holes from weapons fire or decent sized chunks of rock, anyway.
 
locarno24 said:
...TL9 self sealing isn't expected to cope with much more than dust particles and micro-meteors. It's not repairing holes from weapons fire or decent sized chunks of rock, anyway.

Is that spelled out somewhere? I ask because the price and apparent lack of a damage event "micro-meteor" strike leads me to expect it is in fact for serious collision or combat hits that hole the ship significantly. It seems the basic hull material* is meant to be proof against dust particles and micro-meteors as it is a non-event.

* or some other function, as in a deflection field based on the grav drive

EDIT: Ok, the pdf finally opened...

"...automatically repairs minor breaches such as micrometeoroid impacts, and prevents hull hits from leading to explosive decompression."

So it is both. Still be interested if there is a micro-meteoroid event roll I've missed somewhere :)
 
Seems to me the Hull damage is still applied but the area hit is not explosively decompressed. Also I think just having Self-sealing means for harder scifi games there isnt a worry of having a particle of dust make a ten foot wide hole in the ship when accelerating at higher speeds 8)

The self-sealing isnt going to be quite Hull-standard with its stopping power, but it keeps everything sealed in nicely when the shiz hits the fan. A thick gel compound that is kept within the middle of the Hull is the most likely candidate either way.
 
zero said:
Also I think just having Self-sealing means for harder scifi games there isnt a worry of having a particle of dust make a ten foot wide hole in the ship when accelerating at higher speeds 8)

Self sealing would do nothing to prevent that.
 
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