/sci/ - Science & Math

>>9675749
rotating seals and connections are a pain. They certainly aren't impossible. In your example I'd have a structural cylider through the center which is continous and airlocks before and after each rotating ring.

It means a 360 degree cutout in the hull, but if you have a thicker spine and internal structure on the spine then it just means a two ring seals both forward and aft of each centrifuge crew connection. As well as another set of ring seals for each fluid duct between the spine and centrifuge. Maintence is guaranteed to be fucking annoying and probably involves stopping the centrifuge and then disassembly of the spine's skin on the inside of the rotating seal, then removal and replacement of the seal as you access the connections between the centrifuge and spine. Sounds like you'd want to minimize the piping and electrical connections in and out of the ring.

The other way is you have a rotating elbow connection on the center of the spine that rotates with the habitat. So that's another set of rotating seals inside the spine, but you avoid a much larger rotating seal if it was the outside of the spine. know what, I'll go for that and label it in blue. So now we have 2 big rotating seals connecting the exterior of the spine to the interior of the centrifuge and lots of smaller rotating seals around the center of the spine that are your power/water/air umbilicals. The smaller rotating seals can't be too small because that is the only solid structure that connects the ship before and after the centrifuges. For this reason I encourage some kind of external truss and cabling exerior to the rotating rings to give stiffness.