Best materials for cooling?

[Lali-Lop]

So, heat capacity affects how quickly or slowly something heats up, but how does its thermal conductivity also affect this?

Likewise, how do these properties affect cooling?

For example, let's say I am piping cold water or have some wheezworts next to a building or adjacent room that's generating heat.  What would be the best materials for these buildings/tiles to be made of to transfer the heat out of them more efficiently?

[Djoums]

9 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

So, heat capacity affects how quickly or slowly something heats up, but how does its thermal conductivity also affect this?

Actually that's the other way around, thermal conductivity affects how quickly temperature is transfered.

Heat capacity affects how much thermal energy the material is holding. For example 1Kg of 100°C polluted water holds a lot more heat than 1Kg of 100°C oil because the polluted water heat capacity is a lot higher (6.00 vs 1.69).

[Craigjw]

31 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

So, heat capacity affects how quickly or slowly something heats up, but how does its thermal conductivity also affect this?

Likewise, how do these properties affect cooling?

For example, let's say I am piping cold water or have some wheezworts next to a building or adjacent room that's generating heat.  What would be the best materials for these buildings/tiles to be made of to transfer the heat out of them more efficiently?

Incorrect.

Thermal Capacity is HOW MUCH heat an object can hold, while Conductivity is Rate it will transfer heat.

Capacity is the size of the bottle, while conductivity is the size of the opening.

You will need both for decent thermal transfer.

Here's an example of my volcano cooling

The tiles and pipes were all chosen for maximum conductivity.  Tiles are Gold, the pipes are either Copper or Gold, the Temp plates are a mix of Diamond, Copper and Gold, as they have the highest Conductivity.  The Wheeze Wort Room is flooded with 20kg of Hydrogen as this has the best Thermal Conductivity.

The first layer of Temp shift plates above the Metal tiles are all Diamond, the layers above this ( layer 2 and 3) are just obsidian/sedimentary rock, as I don't really need them past this point, they're their just to even it all out a bit.

The chamber inside the volcano is a vacum, otherwise my pump and sweeper would explode from the heat.

[Lali-Lop]

Whoops, had those backwards.  My bad.  I understand conductivity now, but I'm still confused about the capacity.

51 minutes ago, Djoums said:

Heat capacity affects how much thermal energy the material is holding. For example 1Kg of 100°C polluted water holds a lot more heat than 1Kg of 100°C oil because the polluted water heat capacity is a lot higher (6.00 vs 1.69).

How can the PW "hold" more heat than the oil if they are at the same temperature?

 

Thanks for that example, @Craigjw.  My previous attempts at cooling metal volcanoes have been pretty juvenile, so I will have to try yours next.  Looks like a good setup.

[Craigjw]

15 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

Whoops, had those backwards.  My bad.  I understand conductivity now, but I'm still confused about the capacity.

How can the PW "hold" more heat than the oil if they are at the same temperature?

 

Thanks for that example, @Craigjw.  My previous attempts at cooling metal volcanoes have been pretty juvenile, so I will have to try yours next.  Looks like a good setup.

Think of it in terms of energy.

If both materials start at 0°C and are heated up to 100°C, then the amount of energy required to heat up the PW is more than the energy required to heat up the Oil, about ~4 times more energy.

BTW, The reason for using water and not polluted water in the volcano chamber is that it will naturally give off Polluted Oxygen, which in turn will absorb heat and transfer it to the Sweeper/Pump and blow them up.  Water does not emit any vapour if below boiling, allowing me to maintain a vacuum.

The Polluted water pool does not have this issue, it is there to absorb an excess heat in the copper ore and also transfer it to the incoming Polluted water supply.  The clocks are set at opposition, so that the copper stays in the pool as long as possible for the heat to be transferred to the water before transit.

The whole system doesn't go much above 60°C and the Ore comes out at 40°C.  The Piped Polluted water is refined very soon afterwards, destroying the excess heat.

 

[Djoums]

9 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

How can the PW "hold" more heat than the oil if they are at the same temperature?

Because heat and temperature are related but not equivalent.

Heat is the thermal energy contained in the system, whereas temperature is related to the atoms/molecules motion inside it.

[Craigjw]

22 minutes ago, Djoums said:

Because heat and temperature are related but not equivalent.

Heat is the thermal energy contained in the system, whereas temperature is related to the atoms/molecules motion inside it.

I couldn't find the right words to express this, thanks.

[Lali-Lop]

26 minutes ago, Djoums said:

Because heat and temperature are related but not equivalent.

Heat is the thermal energy contained in the system, whereas temperature is related to the atoms/molecules motion inside it.

Okay, so I just tested it and saw that 35C water would burn my dupes, but 35C oil would not.  I understand now.  I had just assumed temperature and energy were the same.  Thank you for the correction. 

[OmegaFunction]

39 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

How can the PW "hold" more heat than the oil if they are at the same temperature?

This is actually how it works in real life. Some materials need more heat energy to warm up by 1K than others. The most common material you might encounter are water with need loads of energy and metals which needs little.

If you want to really know how: Heat caused by the kinetic energy (i.e. velocity wrt. mass) of the molecules/atoms of a material. Temperature is the amount of kinetic energy observable on the materials surface. So heat transfer is they bumping of the atoms of one material into the other material. Hotter materials have faster atoms which are slowed down by the atoms of cooler materials which have slower atoms, that are in turn sped up. 

Depending on how to atoms are linked to each other inside the material the kinetic energy is more or less effectively interacting with on the surface. Atoms in solid metals are aligned in quite rigid grids which is why they transport that energy quickly from one surface to another, i.e. they have high thermal conductivity. Inside water the molecules are floating around comparatively loosely causing it to store much of the kinetic energy inside instead of out transporting it to another surface, i.e. water has a high specific heat capacity.

In the case of water versus oil it is a bit more complicated, as water molecules are dipoles which forms strong bonds between molecules opposed to the octane/oil.

[Craigjw]

31 minutes ago, Lali-Lop said:

Okay, so I just tested it and saw that 35C water would burn my dupes, but 35C oil would not.  I understand now.  I had just assumed temperature and energy were the same.  Thank you for the correction. 

I'm guessing here, but if you leave the dupe in the oil for longer, they will get heat stroke.

On a different note, and not to confuse.  I get messages saying that my machinery is getting "Cold Damage" while sitting in 2000C heat, next to a metal volcano.  Perhaps your dupes will get hypothermia from being too hot!

[Gurgel]

35C water burns dupes? That is a bit surprising, as dupes are at 37C natively (basically like humans). If anything, it should cool them.

[Lali-Lop]

1 hour ago, Gurgel said:

35C water burns dupes? That is a bit surprising, as dupes are at 37C natively (basically like humans). If anything, it should cool them.

I retested it (at 37C), and it was in fact comfortable.  Must've messed up my previous attempt.

The overlay stated that both the oil and water had the same rate of body heat transfer, which I think is odd, because they have very different properties, .  What exactly determines that number then?

@Craigjw What are the clock sensors used for in your setup?

[Craigjw]

One clock is attached to the sweeper arm, it's set for 90% Time & 10% Duration (night time).  The 2nd Clock is attached to the Loader and is set at 79% Time and 10% Duration (just before night time).  The Loader activation time is lagging behind the sweeper arm.

The sweeper clock activates for a minimum time once a day, to allow the fresh metal to cool in the water before it picks it up and loads it into the Loader.  The loader has a long delay after it's loaded before it will send it on it's way, giving the metal further time to cool down.

When the loader activates, the copper has spent nearly 2 days in the water tank, cooling down.

When the metal reaches the 2nd tank with the Polluted water in it, it has a further 2 days wait till it's sent to it's final destination; in my storage area.

In total, the metal will have spent about 4 days in the water, cooling down from ~2200 C.

I added some rails for the metal to travel around the tank, but I really don't think this is really necessary.