IF ,, an eventual event say .. Battle were to occur how would the power get distributed across the various ships we are on?
Exactly what keeps the power grids from collapsing?
Being more specific: I watched the firing of the ships phaser and thought that in battle if we have a multi-front attack the power grid will collapse..
The ship I am on is a Cheyenne Class attached to the embassy we are calling her Thunder ..
this is the little Youtube that was made for a Cheyenne class ship weapon firing
I honestly hadn't given it much thought... but I assume that the EPS (electro-plasma system) relays and junctions allow for a certain amount of redundancy.
Sometimes you hear about systems being re-routed through other systems, and in our current mission, I'm re-routing power to the shields through the internal security grid... the effect of that is that they are underpowered, as I presume internal security EPS relays and conduits provide less energy per second than ones designed for the external shields.
I think the Federation is notorious for its redundancies. Wasn't that commented on in DS9 at some point? I think it was a cardassian making fun of Starfleet's tendencies to build in triple redundancies (or O'Brien's horror that there weren't any on the station, something like that).
At a guess, I'd say the power systems are fairly durable. It's one of the most essential systems (without power, nothing works), has back-ups and is also a vast network across the ship. Take out a portion, even a large part of it, and I imagine the effects would be very localised.
IF ,, an eventual event say .. Battle were to occur how would the power get distributed across the various ships we are on?
In battle the priority of power distribution is usually shields first, weapons second, maneuvering third, and then life support and everything else. If you cannot withstand an attack, maybe your ship can disable theirs first, if you cannot withstand an attack or take out their capabilities, maybe you should just get out of there, and if your ship cannot perform those three functions then you are stuck trying to keep life support working and hope that you can communicate some sort of terms of surrender with the enemy.
Exactly what keeps the power grids from collapsing?
Deck upon deck of Engineers!
Being more specific: I watched the firing of the ships phaser and thought that in battle if we have a multi-front attack the power grid will collapse..
The ship I am on is a Cheyenne Class attached to the embassy we are calling her Thunder ..
The power grid itself is unlikely to collapse unless damaged. However, firing multiple phaser bursts simultaneously would certainly put stress on the grid and draw power from lower-priority systems. A sustained phaser blast would mostly put stress on the phaser banks; I suppose it could affect other systems as well, but I think of that as being more of a old and (therefore solved) problem with Federation ships.
this is the little Youtube that was made for a Cheyenne class ship weapon firing
Question does anyone have suggestions or comments about how to handle power distributions problems?
During alerts with battle stations, there would probably be teams of Engineers at every critical junction of the power grid, standing by to perform damage control should something overload or fail to work automatically. Power distribution will probably not be a problem except under unusual circumstances. Things can and will go wrong, but they are anticipated and usually fixed (or re-routed) before they can become large problems. As Reynolds pointed out - a functioning power grid is the principal part of the ship which keeps it from just being a cold hunk of metal in the darkness of space.
This can't be a new topic for us yet if I am repeating things just point me in the right direction or directions. in a link or two?
First time I have read anyone asking about it, myself.
Memory Alpha will set us Engineers free. That article should start you in the right direction for an answers.
When I would SIM, sometimes I would have EPS relays overload in the heat of battle. I would SIM the power being re-routed through other relays or bring the secondary/emergency systems into play (depending on the situation).
I'd look at this as being fairly similar to an electrical grid or electrical distribution system. I think the key to thinking of it in this light is that when designing an electrical system where power is critical (think hospital or data center), it's designed so that if one power source collapses, there are alternates (battery backups, generators, etc.). Loops or rings can be used to interconnect the system, so if lines are damaged in one place, a different route can be used. This is what I'd see as "rerouting" power.
I think most of these problems can break down into three categories:
1. Limitations on power production (solution would be to tap into power reserves, if they exist, or shut off power to something else);
2. Limitations of power transfer through EPS, or transfer power at all (see below); or
3. Limitations of the end-use device (shield generator, engine, phaser) (solution would be to have a secondary to activate or get a more power one)
Regarding item 2, above, this is essentially an issue with being able to get enough power through the power conduits. I'd look at this as a power draw rather than pushing power to the sytems. The power conduits would be "rated" to continuously carry a certain amount of power. Let's take the shields as an example of what happens in the power conduits throughout a battle:
Romulan war bird just decloaked in front of the ship? Shields up! (power is flowing to the shields, probably at below the power rating).
Taking light fire? Increase power to shields, recharge them! (power is flowing at rating).
Another ship decloaked and fired? Increase power to shields! (conduits transfer more power than they can continuously, suppose at twice the EPS rating. We can do it, but it won't last -- maybe a few minutes.)
We let it it go too long -- that power conduit had to be disconnected or it would destroy the EPS? There's a parallel connection to the port sensor array -- reroute that power! (The conduit had to carry extra power so long that it was on the verge of being damaged; power can instead be transferred through the lines to the sensor array + additional lines connecting the sensor array and the shield system).
If you're interested in more detail, look at power distribution network schemes -- it's as close to a parallel as I think we have.
Black and White = 2. The grayness between them is endless.
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Posted 25 January 2013 - 03:01 PM
Truly an interesting question, as to end-use devices, I think some would wouldn't be coupled from the actually power grid by a two way connection. Phasers for example would take the power and store it in accumulators until they are fired and first draw energy when they need it again. While actually firing they still don't use power, the accumulators are discharging.
Shield generators need a lot of power, but they are also using it when active. Under heavy fire the question is simply will enough be shunted through the system to keep the shields up. If not then it doesn't matter, the shield will fail the ship will get damaged, including the power system.
Any redundant systems should catch if something breaks, but if a critical point is passed then the ship is too damaged to provide, or get the power to the systems that need it. Personally I think that the series generally let the shields collapse, or the phasers break whenever the plot needed it and the shows had little with realistic displays of a ship's reactions to enemy fire.
