Do heatsinks work in the vacuum of space?

[VulcanTourist]

Can heatsinks be effective in the relative vacuum of space? The redesigned Titan POI sports a prominently labeled HEATSINK section. That presumes that such a feature would work in space, and I'm uncertain that it would. Dissipative heatsinks work on Earth because they are surrounded by sufficiently dense gaseous atmosphere that they can transfer useful amounts of heat to the gas of the atmosphere; sometimes, though, even the mere presence of that dense gas isn't enough, and an active flow dynamic must also be created (fans).

Would the speed and movement through space of such a ship create enough flow dynamics to make up for the sparseness of gas to which heat can be transferred? There would certainly be MUCH more heat to transfer as well.

[skyrider_sr]

Research the shuttle design. Not sure of the details but I think there is a structure on the inside of the cargo bay doors called a radiator. Maybe similar to car radiator moves heat away from vehicle? Again not sure of the details.

[BlazeD]

People tend to think of space as empty, void. It isn't. Space is filled, packed tightly with....space.

[ravien_ff]

Well the only way to get rid of heat in space is to radiate it away from the ship, so yes it would work. Pump heat to heat sinks and let it radiate out to space.

In "real life" heat would actually be a major issue in space combat. Sometimes it would even be the deciding factor.

[L37]

Also if you look at ISS photo, for example, large part of what general public considers to be solar panels are actually heatsinks.
Heat is very problematic in space, cooling systems on real space stations are about as critical as maintaining breathable atmosphere because heat accumulates fast (especially in sunlight) and has nowhere to go without large surface area/high temperature heatsinks.

Here is nice pdf from NASA on topic of ISS cooling: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/473486main_iss_atcs_overview.pdf

[Fynnmous]

You should take a look at the sun (not directly of course ..). A prime example of a body that radiates heat into space.

Also, there's a difference between a heat sink (a device designed to trap excess heat) and a radiator (a device designed to give off heat). A lot of computer terminology uses the term "heat sink" to describe the thing that's placed on top of CPU's, but it's technically a combination device, both trapping heat (from the CPU) and releasing it (to the air).

In space, if you connect a heat sink to a large set of fins or rods spread out into space, the heat would be dissipated as radiated heat.
For a fine example, read 'Through Struggle, The Stars' by John Lumpkin (yes, it's fiction). He uses the heat sink/radiation principle in his spaceships and describes it quite well.

[Midas]

As far as I know, the lack of atmosphere in space makes it a very poor heat conductor, but it does conduct heat. Just slowly. Presumably a heatsink system would need to either be cooled with coolant, or be exceptionally large.

[Fynnmous]

Originally posted by Midas:

As far as I know, the lack of atmosphere in space makes it a very poor heat conductor, but it does conduct heat. Just slowly. Presumably a heatsink system would need to either be cooled with coolant, or be exceptionally large.

Space doesn't need to conduct heat (and it can't ..stuff in it could, but there's not enough of that either). An object can cool via radiation (long wave infrared). No medium necessary.

[Troubleshooter]

radiators in space are not efficient, but for any future "industry" we do up there, we'll need them. The only other option is some sort of heat consuming event (transfer the heat into work you wanted done anyway) or a disposable heat-tank that can be physically removed from the area until it's either naturally radiated off its excess heat or is manually cooled off.

[Vork]

I wonder if a heatsink in this game is a coolant based radiator, that would be neat ... and accurate.

I do understand the OP's point that heat would not radiate off into space. Every movie you have ever seen with people freezing to death in deep space is incorrect, they would just suffocate. It would take a body a long time to actually change temperature, let alone freeze.

[kaboomsniper]

NO heat sinks are not effective in space ... because it is a vacuum ... a heat sink requires the movement of a cooling substance across it ... the ISS and shuttle used radiation as the way to control their heat the iss has the bronze looking pipes in their shadow from the sun to exchange the heat of the station with the cool of space ... the shuttle has it radiators in the bay doors ... that reflective side is THE radiators that is why they open them after orbit and then face to the earth ... they get maximum exchange for minimum effort

and explosions in space tend to be more implosive than explosive ... even though they are under pressure the vacuum of space is so large in comparison that the event is just a blip in time so the bang then it goes small from lack of everything it needs to continue ... in other words what you see in movies is wrong ... it is done for familiarity not realism

[kaboomsniper]

Originally posted by ravien_ff:

Well the only way to get rid of heat in space is to radiate it away from the ship, so yes it would work. Pump heat to heat sinks and let it radiate out to space.

In "real life" heat would actually be a major issue in space combat. Sometimes it would even be the deciding factor.

Yes that would work but then you just turn that large hunk of metal into a radiator ... and it would be lighter and cheaper just to build a pipe tower that radiates direct to space avoiding the extra work and weight of dedicated heat sinks with the cost of a little more pipes

[kaboomsniper]

Originally posted by Midas:

As far as I know, the lack of atmosphere in space makes it a very poor heat conductor, but it does conduct heat. Just slowly. Presumably a heatsink system would need to either be cooled with coolant, or be exceptionally large.

atmosphere is not the deciding factor ... what a heat sink needs is a some flow of some medium across it that will take away the heat ... while a radiator is essentially a heat exchanger ... it takes the temperature difference between whats in the pipes and whats outside them and tries to make them the same ... of course that takes time so a steady flow of some chosen rate will allow the radiator to exchange it's temperature for the outside mediums temperature either cooling or heating the pipes interior ...

[L37]

Originally posted by Fynnmous:

...
Also, there's a difference between a heat sink (a device designed to trap excess heat) and a radiator (a device designed to give off heat). A lot of computer terminology uses the term "heat sink" to describe the thing that's placed on top of CPU's, but it's technically a combination device, both trapping heat (from the CPU) and releasing it (to the air).
...

Yes, this 2 things are often confused, how it translates into different languages does not help either.
What i ment in my post, for example, obviously were radiators, but for me it is extremely easy to make such mistake because of how stuff translates from my native laguage into english.

Originally posted by neal_smith364:

NO heat sinks are not effective in space ... because it is a vacuum ... a heat sink requires the movement of a cooling substance across it ... the ISS and shuttle used radiation as the way to control their heat the iss has the bronze looking pipes in their shadow from the sun to exchange the heat of the station with the cool of space ... the shuttle has it radiators in the bay doors ... that reflective side is THE radiators that is why they open them after orbit and then face to the earth ... they get maximum exchange for minimum effort
...

Such thing as "cool of space" does not exists. Ideal vacuum (and for stuff discussed in this thread it is safe to assume space is "ideal vacuum") has no temperature at all. The only way to transfer heat in it is radiation. Radiators must be placed in such way that radiated heat does not hit the station and sun does not hit radiators. Also the hotter they are the more effective whole system is, that's why cooling systems are used on real stations.

[TwitchyJ]

On planets in real life heat has multiple ways to dissipate; conduction, infrared radiation, convection, etc, etc.

In space we can still dissipate heat but just in fewer ways. Since there is no atmosphere we lose some of the heat dissipation options but we still have options.
The most prominent way we accomplish this is with closed loop cooling systems to use a liquid to remove heat from unwanted areas and transfer that heat to giant radiators outside.

[VulcanTourist]

Originally posted by Vork:

Every movie you have ever seen with people freezing to death in deep space is incorrect, they would just suffocate. It would take a body a long time to actually change temperature, let alone freeze.

This is not precisely true: while it's not freezing to death, it's not suffocation, either. It's the pressure differential. Have you never heard of or gotten "the bends"? The human body depends upon the presence of continual external pressure to function correctly; when that external pressure is removed, all the water in your body starts to "boil" (phase change), not because of a rise in temperature but because of a drastic drop in pressure.