Bombshell Genius
The main heat exchanger on a frigate-grade unit
Image Source: Westech
Intent: To provide a shipboard waste heat recovery device
Development Thread: N/A
Manufacturer: Ringovinda Systems
Model: Sabrina waste heat recovery device
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: Can decide whether to hook up a steam turbine, can decide which pipes will run water or air
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Standard plumbing components, isolating piping (away from the source of waste heat), zirconium (at the source of waste heat)
Strengths:
- Allows a ship to reduce the power consumption of the life support systems
- Allows a ship to run kitchens and the water heaters without directly draining power from the reactor
- Allows a ship to keep its air at comfortable temperatures for organic occupants
- Can be installed on virtually any ship
- Efficiency constrained by the temperature of the waste heat being collected
- If a steam turbine is hooked up, will not produce nearly as much power as the main reactor
- Cannot be used as a power source in the event of reactor failure
- Cannot be used to supplement power to combat systems
- Not all ovens can be used in culinary applications
- Large numbers of pipes may be required, especially on larger ships
Description: The Sabrina waste heat recovery device (WHRD) is a device that recovers the waste heat that tends to accumulate around a ship's reactor or an engine, whether sublight or hyperdrive. To accomplish such functions, the Sabrina WHRD hooks up multiple pipes around a reactor or a ship engine, some of which will heat water so that it will provide hot water for the ship, both for use in the occupants' hygienic functions and as under-floor heating, others will run air through it to ensure proper supplies of heat for operating the ship's kitchens. Room temperature is adjusted by controlling the flow of hot water through a certain area. As a result, less of the ship's power is used for life support functions. However, if you use it to operate kitchens, you need to hook up hot plate stoves or convection ovens through the circuits.
Naturally, since all ships with reactors or engines will have waste heat, several sizes of WHRDs are available, named after the size of the ships they will be mounted on. Ideally one WHRD should be mounted on each engine or reactor onboard. For the purposes of installing WHRDs, an hyperdrive-equipped ship will have one WHRD around the hyperdrive regardless of whether backups are present or not. Due to the second law of thermodynamics and its corollary, the Carnot limit, the efficiency of any steam turbine hooked up to it will depend on the temperature of the waste heat: it increases as the waste heat gets hotter. The auxiliary turbine, if fitted, can power life support systems as well as computer mainframe, sensors and communications systems, but cannot be used to supplement power to combat systems.
Primary Source: Waste heat recovery unit on Wikipedia
