Baffle plates were introduced in "Charlie X" and mentioned in "The Menagerie, Part 1" and "Paradise". From the references, baffle plates are identified with the engineering assembly of a starship. My question is, what would be their exact function in a starship's engines?
From my researches on the web, I have determined that baffle plates are used in construction.
Using this real world knowledge and the Star Trek knowledge, can we work on a Star Trek explanation for the baffle plates?
Thanks
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Obviously, they are installed aboard starships primarily to baffle us.
Since baffle plates in process technology are used to disrupt the undesirably smooth flow of a fluid (hence "baffle") or to prevent sloshing, their most natural application aboard a starship would be inside a fuel tank or fuel line. But how does that make a baffle plate such a critical piece of machinery? Removing one (or having one crack up out of fatigue) would alter the fuel flow and possibly create bubbling or pressure spikes that could blow up the (fusion? M/AM?) reactor. But that seems a bit convoluted.
Perhaps the name has gotten a new meaning by the 23rd century, though? What else could be "baffled" besides fluid flow? Like TSN suggested, the plate could alter the flow of matter and antimatter inside the warp core, although it seems a bit risky to put a physical plate in front of a jet of anti-something.
Alternately, the plate could be part of protective plating that "baffles" a coherent flow of deadly radiation and thus renders it less harmful. A sudden cracking or disappearing of such a plate would no doubt be catastrophic.
Of course, we could also be speaking Acronym here. BAFL plates, or Baryon-Antibaryon Flow Limiter plates, could be a vital piece of M/AM reaction technology. Or Biased Attenuation Field Lock plates. Or Beta Antares Feyn-McHines Ltd plates.
Or it could be unofficial engine room jargon for the plating that covers the moonshine boiler and baffles inspections - a sudden disappearance thereof would certainly make the supervising officer explode, and possibly take the entire ship with him.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Hogan!
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Baffle plates were also mentioned by O'Brien in a DS9 episode I believe. Was it "Paradise"?
Posted by Shipbuilder (Member # 69) on :
Real baffles are a key component to fuel systems in launch vehicles. If you ever get a chance to watch the Discovery Channel special called Rockets Red Glare you'll see the results of not having a baffle.....flaming balls of fire just above the pad.
Baffles are used to reduce what is known as the "pogo" effect inside fuel tanks during launch, they can range from simple aluminum balls that float inside the fluid to complex anti-vortex baffles that are used on the STS external tank.
As far as Trek tech goes, it looks like an IDF field would be used to counter this problem in the future, but maybe during TOS, baffles were still needed in some systems?
Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
Well, it's not an acronym of any kind, although those were funny Timo!
The Trek Encyclopedia does have an entry on it but it's just a vague mention of a necessary component of the Antares propulsion system.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
A baffle plate also caused the accident on that old J Class in which Pike was reduced to a chair that goes bip.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
And Pike was exposed to delta rays as a result of that damaged baffle plate. I think the radiation-blocker direction is the one to follow...
--Jonah
Posted by StyroFoam Man (Member # 706) on :
We use baffle plates inside our tenter-oven to direct the flow of hot air around the plastic-web. Also use them inside the EMF tank to direct the water flow.
They could be used inside the warp-core, prehaps they are a "wear" item that needs to be replaced as it erodes from the bombardment of anti-particles...
Failure of the plate would alow a stream of delta rad to flood the area.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
So how would delta radiation destroy an entire ship? Perhaps it has a particularly destructive or corrosive effect on dilithium, causing the crystals to rapidly degrade, allowing the M/AM streams to mix freely. So a cracked baffle plate would let a small amount of radiation escape, enough to severely damage living tissue but not enough to rapidly degrade the dilithium. While a disappearing plate would turn the ship into a micro nova.
On the other hand it could have something to do with the coolant tanks, that stuff is known to be quite nasty to organic material and a leak has in the past preceded a warp core breach.
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Didn't the first episode of ENTERPRISE have Malcom and somebody else sitting in 'the honey spot', an area of no gravity, that was half way between the baffle plate and the gravity generator? I'm at work, so I can't look it up.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
That was the Bow Plate. If memory serves the bow plate is something you find on a submarine that helps it submerge...or something that can prevent the sub from diving if left open, I'm not sure which. What the function of one of those would have on a Starship and why it interacts with the gravity generator in such a funny way is anyone's guess.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
And it was Tucker and Mayweather.
Posted by StyroFoam Man (Member # 706) on :
Another tack to consider:
Prehaps the baffle plate shapes the containment field. A small crack/bend/flaw would allow delta rad to leak, and a missing plate would cause the containment field to collapse...
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: That was the Bow Plate. If memory serves the bow plate is something you find on a submarine that helps it submerge...or something that can prevent the sub from diving if left open, I'm not sure which. What the function of one of those would have on a Starship and why it interacts with the gravity generator in such a funny way is anyone's guess.
I'd just assumed that it was the hull plate at the front (ie. bow) of the ship and the 'sweet spot' thing was just an anomaly that formed at that point.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Maybe the bow plate is something to do with the main deflector, which would explain why it can interact with the gravity field.