Generator using Cobblestone and Scrap

Ivalen · Jan 17th 2012

For kicks I wanted to see how viable a self-sustaining power generator could be using a cobblestone generator.

A block-breaker is used to pull a cobblestone block and spit it out in to an obsidian pipe. The redstone timer is tweaked to 1.5s from the default of 2s and this matches the cobblestone generation perfectly.

The obsidian pipe feeds to a gold pipe and then in to the top of a Recycler. The gold pipe is used to expel cobblestone when the recycler fills up and sends it to the lava block.

A pipe from the recycler (powered by redstone pump) sends scrap to the input of a generator. The generator powers the batbox and the recycler draws its power from the batbox.

The system has to be primed - so at 0EUs a single piece of coal in the generator is enough to get it going.

The third image shows a setup of 4 such generators. I had fun doing it.

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pablovansnogger · Jan 18th 2012

what scrap makes energy?

MagusUnion · Jan 18th 2012

Quote from pablovansnogger

what scrap makes energy?

870 EU per piece. I think this is either a new or underused function of scrap, but that's kind of impressive that you got the setup to work in such a way like this...

Nerf Cobblestone? lol

NuclearStudent · Jan 18th 2012

I never knew that scrap could be burned.... If you had Equivalent Exchange then you might be able to directly convert cobble to coal some how. On the other hand, that is completely random. Have you reached ignition? How much energy does this make?

immibis · Jan 18th 2012

Some math:

One recycler uses 1 eu/t and takes 35 ticks per recycling operation.
That means it takes 280 ticks per scrap produced, on average, and consumes 280 eu to do so.
870 - 280 = 590 eu
590 eu over 280 ticks = 2.107 eu/t, which is more than most renewable generators.

Because a generator burns a piece of scrap in 87 ticks, but a recycler takes 280 ticks to produce one, you will need at least one generator for every 3.218 recyclers.

From 3.218 recyclers (which take 10 iron to make) and one generator (which takes 8 iron to make) you will get 6.780 eu/t, and spend 40.18 iron ingots. That's 0.1687 eu/t/iron ingot.

From solar, you get about 0.5 eu/t from 10 iron. That's 0.05 eu/t/iron ingot.
From wind, you get up to 1.3 eu/t from 12 iron. That's 0.108 eu/t/iron ingot.
From unmanned water, you get up to 0.25 eu/t from 4 iron. That's 0.0625 eu/t/iron ingot.
From manned water, you get up to 2 eu/t from 4 iron. That's 0.5 eu/t/iron ingot.

Conclusion: This gives you cheaper power than any other simple renewable source, other than manned watermills.

Thought I should add: I tried this in SMP once, before this topic, but I ended up losing energy overall. I think I got the balance of the various parts wrong then - not enough recyclers to offset the fact that I was making cobble pipes as scrap fodder, which costs energy to macerate and smelt the cobblestone.

Ivalen · Jan 18th 2012

Quote from NuclearStudent

I never knew that scrap could be burned.... If you had Equivalent Exchange then you might be able to directly convert cobble to coal some how. On the other hand, that is completely random. Have you reached ignition? How much energy does this make?

Yes definitely - you have to prime the generator with a piece of coal, but after that the machine self-sustains and fills up that batbox pretty quick.

HeadHunter67 · Jan 18th 2012

Since you're obviously using RedPower for the block breaker, you can do away with the obsidian pipe and just run a brass tube from the back of the block breaker into the top of the recycler.

Alblaka · Jan 18th 2012

I disagree with your value for wind energy. my 16er Farm delivers 38 EUt averagely :3

I'm fine with the idea of scrapping providing 2 EUt... Of course it's more then most infinite gens, but it's vastly more complex and justifys the gain.
Ntm hardcore solarist will claim you can place 20+ Solar panels in the space that contraption uses :3

Ivalen · Jan 18th 2012

Quote from Alblaka

I disagree with your value for wind energy. my 16er Farm delivers 38 EUt averagely :3

I'm fine with the idea of scrapping providing 2 EUt... Of course it's more then most infinite gens, but it's vastly more complex and justifys the gain.
Ntm hardcore solarist will claim you can place 20+ Solar panels in the space that contraption uses :3

Lol of course - I can fit nuclear power in there too. Not advocating it's usage, just posted as a fun method for power generation.

Alblaka · Jan 18th 2012

Ow, before people start spamming this on servers:
This setup is VASTLY more CPU expensive then any other mean with equal energy generation. Don't kill your server by building hundreds of these contraptions please, killerbeez will either kill me or bug me to mod something against that.

Mensrea · Jan 19th 2012

Quote from Alblaka

Ow, before people start spamming this on servers:
This setup is VASTLY more CPU expensive then any other mean with equal energy generation. Don't kill your server by building hundreds of these contraptions please, killerbeez will either kill me or bug me to mod something against that.

This actually already happened on mine. At one point I actually had to prevent lava from flowing to stop these lag machines from making the server unplayable. Thankfully, I have the help of someone who can program and now have found a more elegant solution (making recycling cost much more EU and making block breakers have a 20 second minimum waiting period between operations). I'm not sure if this would be as much of an issue on peaceful servers though. Why go through all the trouble of making this contraption when you can just plop some wind or solar gens down? The only reason my people used them is so they could get the unlimited energy deep underground and in secrecy.

Gimgork · Jan 19th 2012

I think this problem should be easly solved through the nice redstonepowered water-generators which were posted today or yesterday in teh forum. Because you can use it deep underground and it brings a lot of EU/t.
So thx to the guy who posted this water-generator-system.

NuclearStudent · Jan 20th 2012

Can somebody post on which kind of generator is most CPU efficent? And I just make wind and water as to use ALL the energy sources. All you really need is solar.

kkabcd · Jan 23rd 2012

You can hook the Blockbreaker up to a buffer then pump it out using buildcraft redstone engine

immibis · Jan 24th 2012

Quote from kkabcd

You can hook the Blockbreaker up to a buffer then pump it out using buildcraft redstone engine

Or a chest. Why do people keep involving buffers in things when they're not needed?

NuclearStudent · Jan 24th 2012

Quote from immibis

Or a chest. Why do people keep involving buffers in things when they're not needed?

They reason they a buffer would buffer better than a chest, even though chests actually buffer better than buffers. Bufferering!

Corbald · Feb 3rd 2012

I was JUST saying that the 'Buffer' needs to be renamed, as it doesn't work as advertised. It should be called the 'Consolidator' or some such rubbish. What we need is a 'filter -> chest -> filter but-all-in-one-block' PROPER buffer! Just a filter with some internal storage for incoming items when it's backstuffed.

immibis · Feb 8th 2012

Quote from Corbald

I was JUST saying that the 'Buffer' needs to be renamed, as it doesn't work as advertised. It should be called the 'Consolidator' or some such rubbish. What we need is a 'filter -> chest -> filter but-all-in-one-block' PROPER buffer! Just a filter with some internal storage for incoming items when it's backstuffed.

Sort of like this one?

kkabcd · Mar 1st 2012

Quote from immibis

Or a chest. Why do people keep involving buffers in things when they're not needed?

I choose buffers for simplicitys sake, I mean you don't actually have to use a buffer your can use any kind of containter(e.g. chest etc..)

mijnboogje · Mar 13th 2012

verry verry nice

il build this one in my experimentation world and look at how fast an MFSU gets filled with 10 of these

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