S-Foils on X- and B- Wings -- Radiators?

[Sarevok]

The Xwing s-foils seem to be spread to improve weapon spread and because the seem to move the engines, which would make it more maneuverable at the expense of speed. The Awing and Ewing have only 1 weapon on each side, so they don't need S-foils, unlike the Xwing.

Would not using turrets be simpler than moving the entire wing and the engines ?

As for moving the engines what good could it do that thrust vectoring by varying each engine can not already do ?

[Mad]

Alot of the "radiator" idea is bad.. if you assume these things work like RL radiatiors. Which they don't. The funky technobabble neutrino radiators work differently (and circumvent some of the limitations of real life radiators - yes its goofy, but noone is saying it isn't.) Radiator size isn't quite as major a danger, for one.

Of course, if the S-foils contain neutrino radiators, then it wouldn't really matter if they were together or apart, so the reason for them to be moving parts isn't explained by that.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Alot of the "radiator" idea is bad.. if you assume these things work like RL radiatiors. Which they don't. The funky technobabble neutrino radiators work differently (and circumvent some of the limitations of real life radiators - yes its goofy, but noone is saying it isn't.) Radiator size isn't quite as major a danger, for one.

Of course, if the S-foils contain neutrino radiators, then it wouldn't really matter if they were together or apart, so the reason for them to be moving parts isn't explained by that.

Perhaps the neutrino generating dealies create interference with each other and some certain seperation is needed?

[Havok]

Call me an idiot, but I thought that radiators, at least in my experience, which is cars and bikes, require air to cool. Can someone post a link for an explanation of how these SW type radiators work?

[Xess]

Call me an idiot, but I thought that radiators, at least in my experience, which is cars and bikes, require air to cool. Can someone post a link for an explanation of how these SW type radiators work?

Radiators like the ones you mention work through conduction and convection of waste heat into a different medium. In space radiators work through the radiation method of heat transfer, such as the radiators on the Space shuttle and ISS. The radiator material is heated by the coolant and the waste heat is radiated away by electromagnetic waves of a wavelength proportional to the temperature of the radiator. I can't remember the maths of it off the top of me head.

[Havok]

Call me an idiot, but I thought that radiators, at least in my experience, which is cars and bikes, require air to cool. Can someone post a link for an explanation of how these SW type radiators work?

Radiators like the ones you mention work through conduction and convection of waste heat into a different medium. In space radiators work through the radiation method of heat transfer, such as the radiators on the Space shuttle and ISS. The radiator material is heated by the coolant and the waste heat is radiated away by electromagnetic waves of a wavelength proportional to the temperature of the radiator. I can't remember the maths of it off the top of me head.

That's ok. I wouldn't understand it anyway. Thanks

[Lancer]

The Xwing s-foils seem to be spread to improve weapon spread and because the seem to move the engines, which would make it more maneuverable at the expense of speed. The Awing and Ewing have only 1 weapon on each side, so they don't need S-foils, unlike the Xwing.

Would not using turrets be simpler than moving the entire wing and the engines ?

As for moving the engines what good could it do that thrust vectoring by varying each engine can not already do ?

Turrets mean even more mass at the wingtips, exposed components, or downsized laser cannons. It's semi-ok to have the entire wings move, because you can house the equipment to do that in the fuselage, but where are you going to store the actuators that move an entire turret at the tip of each wing?

[(name here)]

The Xwing s-foils seem to be spread to improve weapon spread and because the seem to move the engines, which would make it more maneuverable at the expense of speed. The Awing and Ewing have only 1 weapon on each side, so they don't need S-foils, unlike the Xwing.

Would not using turrets be simpler than moving the entire wing and the engines ?

As for moving the engines what good could it do that thrust vectoring by varying each engine can not already do ?

1. because that way you might get a blind spot in front of the cockpit. plus, they might ruin the aerodynamics for in-atmosphere flight, which the Xwings do.
2. it requires less change in thrust output. that might make it easier over the long run

[Connor MacLeod]

Alot of the "radiator" idea is bad.. if you assume these things work like RL radiatiors. Which they don't. The funky technobabble neutrino radiators work differently (and circumvent some of the limitations of real life radiators - yes its goofy, but noone is saying it isn't.) Radiator size isn't quite as major a danger, for one.

Of course, if the S-foils contain neutrino radiators, then it wouldn't really matter if they were together or apart, so the reason for them to be moving parts isn't explained by that.

True, although I notice browsing the ROTS: ICS that some craft have both the neutrino and photonic radiators on small craft. It might be a redundancy issue (or a suppelemtnary thing) so they may use the "split wings" for the non-neutrino type. Then again, I imagine there's issues with directiong or "spreading" the neutrino stream or something. (I imagine even neutrion radiators might be detectable or something.)

[DogsOfWar]

The whole concept of radiator wing panels almost seems to be a brain-bug. The original ICS and even the AOTC:ICS mostly show radiators as vents or exhaust ports, and occasionally as panels - but never as whole wing panels which suddenly appear in ROTS:ICS.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Yeah, I'm sure your grasp of the physics is better than Dr. Curtis Saxton, Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Anyway, it was necessary to explain the power density of the Actis compared to the diameter of its engine nozzle. Also, it was a necessary lead on to the TIE-series. Do you prefer radiators for the panels, or fucking solar arrays ?

Not to mention you're wrong; the neutrino radiators were present on the Acclamator.

[DogsOfWar]

I'm not saying that radiators weren't in the other ICS's, I'm saying they weren't characterized before by wing panels. Look at all of the fighters in both of the previous ICS's: no radiator wings.

And even if it was necessary to explain the Eta, why does the Arc 170 have four of them when the X-wing needed zero?

[Lyzerious]

Because it makes the ship look cooler of course.

[Havok]

I'm not saying that radiators weren't in the other ICS's, I'm saying they weren't characterized before by wing panels. Look at all of the fighters in both of the previous ICS's: no radiator wings.

And even if it was necessary to explain the Eta, why does the Arc 170 have four of them when the X-wing needed zero?

Aren't the X-Wings a newer model than the ARCs? Technological progress perhaps?

Why the big flap over the radiators, only the Jedi Star Fighters, TIEs and the ARCs even had them?

[Illuminatus Primus]

I'm not saying that radiators weren't in the other ICS's, I'm saying they weren't characterized before by wing panels. Look at all of the fighters in both of the previous ICS's: no radiator wings.

Again, TIEs were hypothesized by radiator-winged from very early-on in analysis because solar panels was ridiculous and the high power-to-volume ratio considering its very small engine nozzles (their ability to radiate waste heat is dependent on surface area).

And even if it was necessary to explain the Eta, why does the Arc 170 have four of them when the X-wing needed zero?

I guess you didn't listen to anything regarding its high power-to-volume ratio and its narrow engine nozzles.

Besides, the fact that the ARC 170's s-foils are radiators probably is supposed to imply that the X-Wing's shared some of the same functions. They are analogous structures, and it was for precisely that analogy they appeared in the film!

[Adrian Laguna]

And even if it was necessary to explain the Eta, why does the Arc 170 have four of them when the X-wing needed zero?

The ARC 170 appears to be a heavier fighter than an X-wing, bigger guns, stronger shields, tougher armour. At the very least it is indisputably bigger. Thus it would have greater heat dissipation needs. I wouldn't say the X-Wing has zero radiators, they're just integrated into the wing. It's simply a different design philosophy.

[Connor MacLeod]

You need to stick the radiators somewhere. While placement is of less concern with magical neutrino radiators, its still a concern for thermal ones (if the ship uses them as backups.)

I think you also have to consider that where you place the radiators is of concern from an internal volume perspective. An X-wing only has so many places where you can stick things in. Placing the radiators inside another part of the ship including the wings would cut down on its own itnernal space, which would in turn cut down on the kind or quality of systems you can install. Going by the ICS cutaway X-wings are pretty well crammed in as best as they can, so sticking the radiators in the wings would make sense - its not as if there's much else they could put in them, after all.

In the case of the X-wing, as I noted, also having the radiators in the wings places them next to the two systems (weapons and engines) guaranteed to generate the most waste heat. This both simplifies and perhaps improves waste heat removal (a shorter route overall to remove/dissipate the waste heat, as well as saving internal volume on components to carry it away from the aforementioend systems.)

The ARC-170 has six radiator panels btw, ,not four. Why it has the radiator panels is similar to the X-wing - the two big ones are positioned ot handle guns and engines, but we also must note the ARC-170 also has BIGGER engines than the X-wing. That alone ought to necessitate greater radiators. There's also the tail gun(s) I believe, which would also require additional radiators

[Johnathon_Chance]

Well, I saw the actual model used in the filming of the movies. There is a huge exhibit at the museum of science and industry in Chicago, and on display are the actual models used in the films. The X wing did not show any sort of radiators in the wings, in fact the wings had what appeared to be open areas towards the engines. The guns themselves have what appear to be cooling fins on them.

The reason they open into an X pattern is so that they spread the guns and move the engines into a maneuvering position. They fold so the ship can land, and for navigating in hyperspace.

The Millennium Falcon has radiators on it though, they are quite apparent. Those disks on the top near the engines are the radiators, on the model you can really see the details that you miss in the movies. The model on display was from the ESB movie, has some nice blast marks in it.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Meson exhaustive radiative systems and neutrino radiators are not apparent in the form of traditional radiators; this has been established before ROTS ICS.