The Oil-Fab-Generator (how to abuse Power Converters)

  • hello,
    since i find this to be a very neet design, i thought i'd post it here. it is a kind of generator that uses the Oil Fabricator from Power Converters as main component and pumps around 300EU/t.
    the basic idea was even posted at the discribtion for power converters: the oil fabricator needs 50.000EU to generate one bucket of oil. one bucket of oil burns in a combustion engine for 50.000EU, so we have an equivalent exchange. on the other hand we can refine oil to fuel, which burns for 750.000EU per bucket. it doesn't need a math genius to see where this leads us, but the question is how to use that idea effectivly and that's what i tried to do.


    here's the basic frame

    it shows the basic outer ring of the generator. mainly a bunch of combustion engines connected to wooden conductive pipes and cooling water supply system.



    here i added the wp stone pipes for the fuel distribtion. it's noteworthy to mention the symmetry of the construction. to compensate the lack of intelligence of pipes i had to built everything as evenly split as possible, since that's the only behavior wp pipes know. if build unevenly split one engine would take all the fuel while others stand idle. as you will see later this effect will actually be utilized for more critical engines



    and here are those critical engines. i added the last pump in the middle, as well as the conduction pipe system for the pumps, the refineries and the combustion engines for pumps and refineries. the new pump in the middle is for those 6 engines, which are important for the whole complex. as you can see those 6 engines are connected directly to the output of the refineries, so they get their fuel first and fill up before all outer engines. the downwards faced engines are for the pumps. the pumps have to pump a lot once every engine reaches green/yellow heat lvl, so it's adviced to support them with 2 engines instead of only one. the other engines are for the refineries, since a refinery needs 2 combustion engines to run at full power. should any of those engines fail, the system could explode or simply lose efficency.



    that's the other side of an engine block, to show how the refinery engines are connected.



    the last picture shows the final touch. i connected the MV engine generator to the outer engines output, installed the Oil Fab and a MFSU. you can also see that i already filled the water supply pipes. it's just a safety measure to prevent anything unexpected.


    the complex is now ready, so i could bring it online with some buckets of oil for the refineries and one refinery engine on every side.
    in the beginning some engine may stop cause they get no fuel, but that stabilizes once the middle engines are full. the system itself pumps around 400EU/t, the oil fab takes 100EU/t for itself, leaving us with a surplus of 300EU/t. since the refineries produce a little bit more fuel than the engines need the output will rise a little, since the pipes are full, the refineries stop working and so the oil fab won't need EU, but it takes some hours to reach that point.


    at a last notice: the most expensive part in terms of high value materials are the refineries and the oil fab. while you can't to anything about the refineries, the oil fab works just like a mass fab (which is in fact a component for the oil fab) so one oil fab should be capable of supplying multiple complexes with oil.


    so far from me, wait till i get another idea i just have to build (i'm thinking about a mining laser quarry :whistling: )

    • Official Post

    One bucket of oil burns in a combustion engine for 50.000EU, so we have an equivalent exchange. on the other hand we can refine oil to fuel, which burns for 750.000EU per bucket.

    Are you sure, that there is a diffrence of 700000EU between Oil and Fuelbucket? I just ask to make sure that this is no Typo.

  • Are you sure, that there is a diffrence of 700000EU between Oil and Fuelbucket? I just ask to make sure that this is no Typo.


    I think it depends on your exact mod/setup, but yes, you'll be in the 650k-750k EU/bucket range.

  • 2:5 ratio MJ to EU
    50000 ticks of operation in engines (this number may be wrong, but...)
    5 MJ from fuel


    2.5 * 5 * 50000 = 650,000 EU


    Either way, from oil -> fuel, there is a dramatic increase in Power output...

    Would anyone like to try a Slowpoke Tail?! Only 1 Million Yen!


    Quote

    this isn't about arrogance or ego, I have a block that I put a lot of freaking work into


    Every Mod Author, in existence. And yet, you STILL say otherwise.

  • Are you sure, that there is a diffrence of 700000EU between Oil and Fuelbucket? I just ask to make sure that this is no Typo.


    that's what the describtion for power converters said. the buildcraft wiki also states: "A bucket of fuel generates 7.5 times more energy than a bucket of oil when used in a combustion engine. (tested in 2.2.2 SMP)"
    these are old values, but the first time i built this setup was with BC 2.X and the EU/t output hasn't changed since then, so i believe it's correct.

    • Official Post


    that's what the describtion for power converters said. the buildcraft wiki also states: "A bucket of fuel generates 7.5 times more energy than a bucket of oil when used in a combustion engine. (tested in 2.2.2 SMP)"
    these are old values, but the first time i built this setup was with BC 2.X and the EU/t output hasn't changed since then, so i believe it's correct.

    50000 * 7.5 = 375000