Iris Valves...

[bozzutoman]

I'm having a problem seeing the functionality of iris valves as a common-use doorway.


I've been a fan of iris valves since Captain Dallas instructed Ripley to close the first junction... what a cool effect... and that incredible soft grating metal sound....

...however...

Recently, I've begun working on some fairly detailed deckplans and noticed that iris valves seem pretty unfunctional in most circumstances.

Firstly, they require a large area completely surrounding the aperture into which the panels can retract. On the Nostromo, the valves are used in the small and out-of-the-way ventilation system, but not used for regular-use hatches.

In many official deckplans there is simply no accomodation for these panels when the valve is open.

Secondly, there are something like eight or more sliding panels using nothing more than friction to maintain air-pressure vs. vaccuum. On the Nostromo, the valves were covered in a greasy substance that probably functioned as a sealant. In Traveller, the valves are expected to get regular use, even by passengers on merchant ships. Having doors covered in sealant-grease would be quite a messy problem.

Now maybe they function in some way I'm not understanding, but intuitively, they seem very impractical for everyday use as a doorway.

Is anybody familiar enough with them to counter both my arguments?

Do they have to be circular to function or would the oval shape depicted in illustrations work?

Plus, according to text, gunfire/explosives seals them tighter... how?

 

[Gnusam Netor]

No expert on iris valve doors, but I have a hunch that the they create effectively 3 or 4 door layers when closed, which could give them better sealing effect then a normal sliding door. How they work without grease is any ones guess though, perhaps they use some sort of superscience teflon?

I agree with your opinion of the irisdoors taking alot of space when open, and the problem isn't really that they take space in the walls but that they will also take space from the floors above and below. It seems that would only work when the wall goes through the entire ship. Making them usefull only for section closing doors.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

...and yet you have no problem with antigravity or jump drives

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I just want my doors to be as intelligent (and compassionate) as the ones on the Enterprise. Remember Spock goes through the door to his quarters, the doors close, and they stay closed even though he leans back against them (and tries not to cry)?

And, they should "swish", too.

 

[Gnusam Netor]

I prefer "swoosh" or possibly "foohm" if I want something high tech.

 

[deadlock]

Greetings and salutations,

Of course, the iris valve could operate in a fan effect. The last blade retracts into the next blade and so forth.

I had a Ref that was partial to the "hiss" the doors made on the ship. There was a door or two that beeped loudly when they were opening and closing. In fact, it was the HazMat doors that did that.

 

[bozzutoman]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
...and yet you have no problem with antigravity or jump drives

Yeah... I guess you're right. It's a bit like believing in a supreme being but disbeliving in Santa Claus...

Six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

 

[parmasson]

...and yet you have no problem with antigravity or jump drives

*sigh* . . .alas reason rears its head once again. Must we keep resorting to this base and tawdry concept?

Can’t we all just pretend!

 

[Scott Martin]

Among other reasons, why my deck plans tend to be "hatch-centric"... Blast doors (as in star wars) are so much nicer for booby-trapping (Swoosh *gish* -chunk-)

Iris valves keep getting jammed open by minor little bits of flesh, and it's dang hard to get a vaccum seal and lift off with a K'kree stuck in your main hatch.

As for jamming iris vavles closed, anything that deforms the metal and keeps the "blades" from sliding over one another will interfere with operation. Minor things like dents from high velocity slugs for example.

Iris valves straike me as one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" things...

Scott Martin

 

[archhealer]

I use iris valves almost exclusively for exterior doors; they are (Or theoretically would be) immensley strong vs. forced entry, and with enough pressure behind them and some kind of rubber edge or seal, they'd do ok against a vacuum.

As for compassionate doors... "Please enjoy your trip through this door... Thank youuuuuu"

 

[martinjpayne1964]

I would think an iris valve would be an ideal system.

They are opened/closed by means of a rotating ring around the valva, powered by hydraulics or worm drive: generating high torque that would crush or shear the edge of the petals through any obstacle...

The more petals the valve is made of, the less bulkhead space is necessary for the ring...

They can be opened when there are different extremes of pressure on either side...

At least IMTU.
Martin.

 

[parmasson]

I think a little mindless acceptance is called for here. In the 57th century they have discovered that for some reason the iris valve is the superior way of making a door. You might as well ask why jump drives don’t get smaller as the tech level goes up. Or the classic sillyhow come the computer is so big. There you folks go thinking again. *sigh*

So it is written in the Little Black Book, so let it be played.
Mantra of a CT hardliner.

 

[aramis]

I have always assumed multiple layers. Each layer is comprised not of 8 or so lames (panels), but 20 or so, each scythe like. A bead in bulb-shaped groove system provides a secure but flexible join; a separate center-disk (the hub) catches all three+ layers; grooves on the lames lock into the hub's tracks, and the hub can be tightened done to lock it tight.

The center layer is both reversed curve AND the primary pressure layer; it's the one with the strongly greasy lube. The outer layers are less tightly fitted, and rely upon less massive lubing, and more upon coatings; their job is to back up and protect the primary. Oil-filled bladders pressurize to seal the closed hatch's interlayer and frame-to-barrier gaps.

When in locked-open mode, the fairings drop toward the center, covering all but the hub. The hub's Open point is usually "Up".

Since all lames pivot, and are curved, more lames means less depth required to hold it. I once did the math and came up with a depth of about 2m overall for a 1.5m opening.

I'm not positive I did it right, but it works for me.

 

[Merxiless]

I'm a fan of the:

It works because it looks cool, and the slidey metal sound adds crunchy goodness school.

And it is much cooler than the handle-closed watertight doors, or handwheel-tightened scuttles or bolt-tightened hatches on a Navy Ship.

But Star Wars blast doors are almost as cool.

Definitely, Traveller needs that whole Bridge Extension over the chasm controls to be shot out panel, to allow for real buckswashling, a la A New Hope.

That's why my first Classic Traveller Rules Campaign was Star Wars, because WEG SW d6 was not to be invented for some 10 years.

Good times.

 

[epicenter00]

I was always under the impression iris valves were pretty much exclusively used for emergency bulkheading - they're doors that are usually kept open and are only closed in emergencies - the anti-highjacking program cuts in or against catatrosphic decompression. In addition, unlike conventional swinging doors, you don't get the "sealed by pressure" issues where air pressure on the side that a door swings into prevents it from opening. I've also always imagined that iris valves might have some small benefit over conventional sliding doors in regulating pressure when opening.

That said, yes, iris valves probably are mostly an architectural conceit with very little practical benefit over other sliding door designs except for causing accidental dismemberment and death when jury-rigged.