Starship Radiators

Re:Starship Radiators by glimcat on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @08:30AM (#7177211)

Some of it, yes.

But they tend to have low efficiency, thermally-dependent efficiency, and the need for a temperature differential. They operate in response to a temperature gradient, not just heat.

Using Wikipedia for a quick-and-dirty figure, you can expect efficiencies to peak around 5-8%. And you can't just stack infinite thermocouples until system efficiency reaches 99.99% because of the thermal gradient issue.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by bjelkeman-again on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @09:31AM (#7177565)

Xenesys is a Japanese company that specialises in building these type of systems. http://www.xenesys.com/english/products/dtec.html

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by jimktrains2 on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @11:26AM (#7178401)

I thought there were infrared photovoltaic cells, but they aren't as common as the visible light ones.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by ForHackernews on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @10:58AM (#7178206)

Temperature differential should be easy to come by in interstellar space.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by glimcat on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @12:13PM (#7178744)

You need mass that's at a lower temperature. Vacuum is an insulator.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by mcguire on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @01:10PM (#7179170)

Ever used a Thermos vacuum bottle?[1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Starship Radiators by samatman on Tuesday February 04, 2014 @12:05PM (#7178674)

Sadly, what you need is heat differential. Icy vacuum is next to useless here. Hence the large radiators...

[ Parent | on HN ]