Turbine Overdrive (or "how do we produce more power from turbines?")

1st Official Post

    OK, so i have done some fiddling with various configurations of nuclear steam production, and i have discovered that you can push more stream into a single kinetic Steam Generator than a single steam generator produces. However, I have yet to find a safe way to do this.


    The issue comes down to the fact that i cannot pull (superheated) steam from 2 steam generators and transport it to a single steam turbine successfully.


    The whole reason i want to do this is that the steam turbine (item) life is based on time, not output. Therefore, having a turbine produce more KU per lifetime means more efficient operations as the steam turbines do not last a very long time, are expensive to build and cannot be repaired.


    Fluid distributors did not appear to work for this purpose, but i may have had them set up wrong.


    Has anyone found a way to route more than 100mB/t of superheated steam into a single turbine pair without steam explosions?

    • Official Post

    Tried this on my test world and it worked fine, getting 400mb/t of superheated steam into a turbine->turbine->condenser setup, generating 2,400 kU/t or 600 EU/t, and no steam explosions.


    You should be able to change the conduits into fluid distributors, providing that the two superheated steam lines joined together properly.

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    145 Mods isn't too many. 9 types of copper and 8 types of tin aren't too many. 3 types of coffee though?

    I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you read was not what I meant.


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    I see this too much.

    Fluid distributors don't work well if you don't try and homogenize their modes. however, i did get this working.


    300 eu/t from one pair of turbines. condenser needs 2 vents.



    Operational change: the steam generators have to be synchronized to prevent distilled water clogging the distributors and causing steam explosions. As such, feed water is now the first (not the last) step in the startup process.

    I've finally dived into the "new" (to me!) 5x5 fluid reactor, and the fact that you can keep ramming super heated steam into the kinetic steam generator was fantastic. I can now double my power with half the hardware!


    Here's my journey to discovery playing in creative:


    The layout I'm using, the heat output fluctuates between 780-820, but seems to average out to 800Hu/s which is what I've built around. So far this stays solidly at 0% core temp, so it can run forever .. In theory!


    This is what I built upon discovering this thread (currently disconnecting from reactor). Here's 4 pairs of liquid heat exchangers and their matching steam generators, pumping into a pair of kinetic steam generators. This is a solid build with no issues, and outputs 600EU/t.


    Next is what I'm "finalising" on, before I build it in survival. Same design as above, just stacked on top. I tried to pretty it up with Buildcraft pipes, however they couldn't push the liquid at the throughputs required, so EnderIO it is!


    I've snuck a MFE underneath the kinetic generators, this powers the condenser as the output power cables run right by it. You can see the IC² and AE2 cabling coming out of the bottom also. My only gripe is that the respective cables don't match the rest of the build for a variety of reasons beyond my control. Feel free to suggest ideas!


    Long story short; 800HU/s = 600EU/t using just 2 kinetic steam generators. Neat :thumbup: