Name:  Double Heat Sink (Prototype)
Type (Category):  Equipment (Other)
Reference:  Interstellar Operations: Alternate Eras (p. 65)

Description:
The waste heat generated by battlefield engines and the weapons they empower made heat management a first priority as soon as fusion power and energy weapons became commonplace. The insulated nature of combat armor—particularly on BattleMechs and aerospace fighters—meant that such heat typically became trapped within the machine, endangering crews and heat sensitive components. Heat sinks were the solution. Essentially a series of heat pumps and coolant lines run through a ’Mech, fighter or other unit, these systems collect heat from coolant jackets and coolant lines in heat-generating equipment, designed to shunt heat away from vital components and out through baffles in the unit’s protective armor skin.

Virtually all fusion and fission engines incorporate a basic cooling system in their design that functions as the heart of this heat-exchange network. Though suitable for light duties, most units—from BattleMechs to Support Vehicles—usually expand these systems as needed to handle the added workload of any attached weapons and other gear.

Today’s heat sink technologies are essentially a refined version of the same ones that debuted with vehicle-sized fusion plants, though their design and efficiency have been enhanced though the centuries.

Star League-era double heat sink technology vastly improved upon the standard heat sink with a larger, more powerful radiator system that enhanced the effectiveness of the existing heat pumps and coolant lines. The effect was a bulkier exchange system—roughly two hundred percent larger—for the same physical weight. The increased bulk and other factors proved too problematic for vehicle design, however, and limited its application to ’Mechs and aerospace craft. Even the more compact Clan versions have yet to overcome this limitation.

Fun fact: the Inner Sphere was well on its way to recovering double heat sink technology even before the renaissance heralded by the Gray Death Memory Core, with prototypes developed by the NAIS and sent to the field nearly a decade before the Star League-quality systems returned to widespread use. Much more compact, but ultimately too flawed because they focused less on advanced radiators and more on the use of corrosive liquid metal coolants for better efficiency, these experimental double heat sinks proved too brittle and hard to maintain for more than a few years’ worth of effective function. Their deployment in the late 3030s, however, gave Davion and Steiner forces a brief advantage in the early days of the FedCom alliance.

Game Rules:
These function as Inner Sphere double heat sinks per the standard heat sink rules with the following exceptions. Prototype Double Heat Sinks cannot be mounted “in” an engine, but they may be combined with single heat sinks on the same unit. Players therefore need to carefully record which heat sinks are standard and which are prototype double-strength sinks.

BattleMechs

Prototype Date:	2559
Production Date:	—
Extinction Date:	2577
Recovery Date:	—

WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT COMBAT AND CONSTRUCTION TABLE * See rules for this equipment

RULES LEVEL PROGRESSION TABLE
MegaMek Output → Critical Slot:  ISDoubleHeatSinkPrototype
Record Sheet Output → Critical Slot:  Double Heat Sink-P