[WIP] Thermal Piping

[Lakstoties]

I've seen the mod for duct work and such, but I'd hope in the future they'd figure out a better way that'd be simpler and more straight forward.  I'm extrapolating heatpipe and split-unit AC tech to what form it may take.  Also, duct work is a pain in ass to deal with in real life.  I'd figure if people figure a way to make heatpipe/split-unit AC tech easier and more logistically efficient, it be a preferred method to heating and cooling.  I mean you've crashed on and alien world and gotten basic production going and have finally researched some good tech.  Would you rather spend time making metal tubes to pump air through and figuring out where everything flows... or would you rather just roll out a Thermal Pipe like a cable and hook it up to indoor and outdoor unit?

So, I'm trying to design the mod and mostly figure out what would be compatible with the game.  I've gleaned some info about how heat is handled, but there's quite a bit of the details I'm not familiar with.  I also wanted to figure out any simulation issues to make sure I don't engineer something that's going to be a simulation resource hog of doom.  And I'm also trying to avoid clashing too much with the rustic future western vibe.

Here's what I got so far, I do see room for upgraded versions and other tech improvements...  But I just want to get the basic set of bits first.

Key Traits to all Thermal Piping bits:

Thermal Capacity - How many joules of heat it takes before it increases 1 degree C.
Thermal Transfer - How many watts of transfer the component can take.  (Joules/sec, hence watts)
Thermal Leakage - What percentage of currently store joules will leak out of/in component, depending on the Delta Temperature, into the surrounding environment.


Thermal Transport:
Thermal Pipe (Bus?) - The basic thermal transport pipe.  Low capacity, Very High transfer, and Low Leakage.  Has a max safe temperature.  If exceeded, the pipe will start to take damage (with a random factor to keep whole segments from blowing all at once).  Damage decreases capacity and transfer, and increases leakage.  When damaged completely, the segment will break and drastically "resolve" the differences of heat between it and the environment.

Transfer:
Thermal Sink - Simplest block of metal designed with fins to increase the surface area and move heat between it and the surrounding area.  Looks like an old steam radiator for style.  Medium capacity, Medium transfer, Very High leakage.  Has a max safe temperature.  If exceeded will take damage (with a random factor).  Damage decreases capacity, transfer, and leakage.  At full damage, the device will just melt into a useless pile of slag or just fall apart into useless rumble.  (Depends on how hot it gets.)

Movement:
Thermal Pump - Using a strange hybridization of phase change and Peltier effect, this device moves heat from one end to another.  It's highly configurable.  It's bi-directional and has low and high temperature cutoffs for both sides.  Uses a moderate amount of power (similar to current in-game coolers, maybe have tech to improve efficiency) and generates a little excess heat.  Low capacity, low/medium/high transfer, low leakage.  Has a max safe temperature.  When exceeded, the unit takes damage (with a random factor).  Damage decreases capacity, transfer, and power efficiency.  It also increases leakage.  At full damage the device can fall apart, explode, short the electrical system, violently resolve thermal differences between it and the surrounding area, OR....  D. All the above.

Storage:
Thermal Capacitor - Using some tricky physics, this device can quickly store a moderate amount of heat.  Medium capacity, High transfer, low leakage.  Useful for buffering surges and lulls in the system.  Has a max safe temperature.  If exceeded, the device will take damage (with a random factor).  This decreases capacity and transfer.  Increases leakage.  At full damage the unit will rupture, releasing all stored heat into the surrounding area... and possibly sending fragments of itself everywhere.

Thermal Battery - Using an electrically stabilized endothermic chemical reaction, this unit will store a tremendous amount of heat and keep it so long as it receives power.  It has a store temp (triggers above X) and release temp (triggers below X) setting.  Very High capacity, Slow transfer, and Very Little leakage.  Uses a varying amount of power depending on the amount stored and the delta temperature.  When it loses power, it'll start to release heat into the system.  If it can't release it into the system, the unit will start to take damage.  At full damage, the unit will rupture and quickly release the heat stored in it as the protective measures for the chemistry fail.  This will melt the unit.


I think that collection of devices would allow a good range of heating/cooling configurations.  More could be added later, but basics first.  Also, the failures and leakages would still require people to use coolers, heaters, and vents.  So instead of being a replacement, it'd be an enhancement to go along with everything else.  And with anything RimWorld, there's still plenty of interesting things that can go wrong.


I'm still trying to learn the RimWorld core.  Unfortunately, I haven't found much on the simulation side of things when it comes to how heat is being handled.  So, I'm curious if there's anything that's been documented about the nitty-gritty details of how heat is simulated and handled in the game. 

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated. 

[Bendigeidfran]

Hey I liked the idea behind the Duct Work mod and I gave it a go but I wanted something capable of Central heating which wasn't really feasible in that mod. If you're making something similar then I can imagine it being a pretty much guaranteed install on basically every playthrough of mine.

[Lakstoties]

Hey I liked the idea behind the Duct Work mod and I gave it a go but I wanted something capable of Central heating which wasn't really feasible in that mod. If you're making something similar then I can imagine it being a pretty much guaranteed install on basically every playthrough of mine.

Can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be capable of it.  The idea is to create a thermal bus of sorts where you can dump and pull heat from.  So, in theory, you can place a heatsink with a pump into a room with the Geothermal Generator to pull excess heat into the system, pipe it through to your base, and use it to heat everyone else's rooms.  Also, design would allow the system to be used as a passive equalization system.