Flat Fin Radiators
n/a
Update – I see 32 comments so far about this on the BTE companion Facebook page.
Image credit – Fin Radiators (Michel Lamontagne)
I wrote in July about the radiator problem with the Gen1 Enterprise. Without some big radiators the ship will overheat from all of the waste heat generated by the nuclear power system. I proposed a liquid droplet radiator as one way to help deal with all this waste heat. But the most direct solution to the problem it to simply greatly increase the net radiator area. In a straightforward way this prevents parts of the ship from overheating, and this also makes the generation of electrical power more efficient.
Michel Lamontagne on the BTEWiki Thermal page proposes a modification to the Enterprise as shown at the top of this post. The flat fins shown give a huge net boost in surface area for the radiator. And the flat fins are also nice because they are co-planar with the saucer hull. This means that very little of the radiated energy will get re-absorbed by the rest of the ship. I rather like this idea of these big flat fins attached to the aux engine hulls. One question of course is this: Does it still look enough like the Enterprise?
Since form follows function, to assume the Gen1 Enterprise will have to take on zero changes in its appearance when compared to the sci fi version of the ship may not be realistic. The ideal compromise point must be found between maintaining the iconic and inspirational look of the Enterprise and the raw functional needs of the ship. Well, the one area so far that most demands a change to the ship’s form is when trying to find a solution to the radiator problem.
…. now aerobraking around Mars with those big flat fins may get a little hairy.
http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/
2012-08-15 23:23:31
Source: http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/flat-fin-radiators
