Conduction Panel
Output: Liquid Output
Conduction panel is a building that exchanges heat with overlapping buildings even in a vacuum.
Heat Exchange
For the purpose of heat exchange, the conduction panel is classified as a building (neither as a cell nor entity).[1] There are three important heat exchange interactions:
- with overlapping cells (all 3 cells)
- with overlapping buildings (only on middle cell)
- with pipe contents
In addition to interacting with overlapping cells (solid, liquid, gas) as a normal building, the interactions with overlapping buildings and pipe contents are unique to the conduction panel.
Overlapping Cells
For heat exchange with overlapping cells, the conduction panel interacts on all cells similar to any bridge (Liquid Bridge, Gas Bridge, Conveyor Bridge). Due to the Thermal Conductivity between a buildings and the cells it occupies, it is often more efficient to heat or cool conduction panels through an intermediary solid tile at one of its end points instead of through piped liquids.
Overlapping Buildings
For heat exchange with overlapping buildings, the conduction panel only interacts through the radiator in the middle cell. The end points with liquid pipe input and output ports do not exchange heat with overlapping buildings. It is the only building that exchanges heat directly with other buildings; in contrast, other buildings only exchange heat indirectly through a shared atmosphere.
A Conduction Panel will exchange heat with a Thermo Sensor as it would with any other building, but this will not cause the Thermo Sensor to read the temperature of the Conduction Panel. Sensors measure ambient temperature, not their own, so if placed in a vacuum, the sensor will read absolute zero regardless of the Conduction Panel's temperature.
Pipe Contents
For heat exchange with pipe contents, the conduction panel controls liquid flow in pipes as follows:
- acquires pipe contents at its input port
- exchanges heat with pipe contents
- releases pipe liquids at its output port
The heat exchange between the conduction panel and pipe contents is similar to heat exchange between pipes and their stored contents. However, if the heat exchange causes the pipe contents to phase change (i.e. freeze or vaporize), then the output pipe will break and eject the product at the output pipe cell.
Entities
The conduction panel does not exchange heat with entities (e.g. critters, debris, dupes, plants). Currently, there is no building that directly exchanges heat with entities.
Tips
- To exchange heat with overlapping buildings, neither pipes nor liquid are necessary
- For applications with low uptime (e.g. Robo-Miner, Auto-Sweeper, Conveyor Loader, Telescope in space or vacuum), most materials are sufficient
- For many demanding applications with high uptime, Aluminum is necessary:
- self-cooled Steam Turbine with input steam at 135 C
- magma pump with a Mini Liquid Pump in vacuum[1]
See Also
History
- U48-567980: Improved Conduction Panel heat transfer algorithm for stronger and more consistent conductivity.
- U44-535720: Added Conduction Panel building.
