• Hello,


    I built a Powerplant which produces 14400 Eu/t with the Tower of Power Design form Sneekythelost, with 80 Reactors and 2 Breeder, some months ago. The problem is, that the Reactors does use way more Uranium then the Breeders can produce. So after some time, i got just 2000 Eu/t instead of 14400 because not every Reactor had enough Uranium. Instead of building 20 new breeders, I want to build a whole new powerplant, but not with compact Reactors that you can spam, I want some big ones. I came up with this: http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.b…i8l7t1bufia0k34nmoihtaadc
    I would build 2 of them, then I would have enough Power for a Matter Fab, some Recyclers and the AE Network... But before building it I've some questions, so I don't blow up my world.
    -Is NAK or Helium better for cooling?
    -I don't have AE for 1.5, because my FTB Ultimate world doesn't work with the 1.5 Versions of FTB. Can I just place an almost dead cooling cell into the Export Bus from the reactor and a fully charged one into export bus of the cooling Tower for the cooling cells? And the same for the Import busses, or wil it pull out, every cell?
    -Which is the best version for cooling Towers?(That can cool the coolant cell as fast as possible)
    -Do I need a breeder for Plutonium?
    -Is a BC Gate fast enough to turn off the Reactor, when the cooling cells get out of the reactor, or are Thermal Monitors better? Or a other solution? Nothing with Timers, please?


    Should be all, hope you can help me.:)


    And yes, I'll build a Fusion Reactor for better EU Output soon, but I need now enough UU-Matter, to make some recourses I need.

  • Breeding system changed, this may be your issue. Also, you can get Pu from breeding, but it also needs centrifuging.


    He Cells = NaK Cells but for price and EU cost if you use the I Freeze to cool them down (which wastes lots of EUs ^^)


    Soon with Molten Salt Reactors, right ? :D
    NERF THA FUSION REACTOR!

  • Breeding system changed, this may be your issue. Also, you can get Pu from breeding, but it also needs centrifuging.


    He Cells = NaK Cells but for price and EU cost if you use the I Freeze to cool them down (which wastes lots of EUs ^^)


    But isn't Plutonium created from Uranium instead from Uranium Cells? And whats the | freeze?
    I also have a better Version of the design that produces more EU, but runs only for 4 Minutes: http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.b…min9yqn0u542y7csvjlf7uakg
    Should I use this twice, or the first design twice, that runs longer, but produces less EU?


  • But isn't Plutonium created from Uranium instead from Uranium Cells? And whats the | freeze?
    I also have a better Version of the design that produces more EU, but runs only for 4 Minutes: http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.b…min9yqn0u542y7csvjlf7uakg
    Should I use this twice, or the first design twice, that runs longer, but produces less EU?


    That is not a 'better' design. That is a trap. Here is why:


    In my designs, each quad cell has one cooling cell, and each cooling cell has only one quad cell it is adjacent to. This... mess... has several different amounts of heat going to each cooling cell, making it nearly impossible to calculate the rate of degradation of the cells for efficient cycling.


    For example, the row on the far left, except for the top and the bottom, runs pretty much close to the ones in my reactors. The next row, however, only has a single coolant cell adjacent to two quad cells. This means it's going to burn out twice as fast. The final row on the right is adjacent to cells that already have an adjacent cooling cell, so their cycle time is far less. This creates a nightmare for you.


    If you want a better design, you can look at something like this. It has a higher Efficiency rating, which means overall higher EU output per plutonium, all of the cells have a balanced heat distribution, and you have enough cooling cells inside the actual reactor that they can do some good.


    Remember, the whole point of the CRCS design is to decentralize the distribution of heat. Which means the MORE cells you have in the reactor, the easier it will be to distribute that heat.


    If you want something more economical, I suggest you look at this. Notice how it is only a single-chamber reactor? That means cost and space savings. Your six-chamber reactor eats up a 3 x 3 x 3 area. In that same area, I can have 13 of this type of reactor, although the internal one won't be able to be hooked up, so best say 12 of these smaller reactors, if you play Tetris good enough. You do the math on how much more EU/t is coming out of the same space.


  • OK, I see. OK, then I want to build some of the 1 chamber ones. What is a good cooling tower design for this?

  • Well, This one is a very compact one.


    Mind you, there will need to be a *LOT* of cooling towers. I am not familiar with the latest numbers on plutonium cell heat generation, so I can't tell you precisely how many, but I will tell you that once you calculate your Micro-Cycle time divided by your Cooling Cycle Time, you will need to multiply that number by (number of cooling cells / 2).


    Since that one-chamber reactor has 8 cooling cells, you'll need 4 cooling towers * (Micro-Cycle/Cooling Cycle).


    The cooling cycle on a 360k NaK or He cooling cell for that cooling tower is (360,000/120) or 3,000 seconds. Micro-cycle on that reactor with basic Uranium is going to be 1500 seconds, so if you were just using plain quad-uranium, you would need 8 cooling towers. However, Plutonium will probably significantly increase the amount of heat generated, and thus dramatically reduce your micro-cycle time, increasing the number of cooling towers you will need.

  • Just sayin: "Freezer" = Vacuum Freezer from GT. Consume EU to cool cell down ^^.


    Now that sounds like interesting times, although it runs into much the same problem that the Condensators do of destroying your efficiency rating by sucking up large quantities of EU. How much EU/t does the Vacuum Freezer consume?

  • I dunno, I would say a bit less than hundred thousands of EUs ... but I just know it's not really worth for a Reactor, unless you really want a compact/non-efficient-but with-a-high-output system ^^.


    Soon with Molten Salt Reactors, right ? :D
    NERF THA FUSION REACTOR!


  • I don't Understand that:
    number of cooling cells / 2 *(Micro-Cycle/Cooling Cycle)
    = 8/2 *(660sec/3000sec)
    =0,88 cooling towers? ?(


    660 sec come from the generation time of 11 minutes, that the reactor planner says, when I use Plutonium.


  • I don't Understand that:
    number of cooling cells / 2 *(Micro-Cycle/Cooling Cycle)
    = 8/2 *(660sec/3000sec)
    =0,88 cooling towers? ?(


    660 sec come from the generation time of 11 minutes, that the reactor planner says, when I use Plutonium.


    sorry, got those numbers reversed. For these, it should be 8/2*(3000/660) = 18.1 (round up to 19) cooling towers. However, you have a MAJOR problem, sir. That reactor planner IS NOT ACCURATE. Do not trust anything it says when you start using GregTech, particularly not when you start using plutonium. The numbers have changed significantly since the last time the planner was updated. Use a Gtech computer to simulate a reactor for a more accurate set of numbers.

  • sorry, got those numbers reversed. For these, it should be 8/2*(3000/660) = 18.1 (round up to 19) cooling towers. However, you have a MAJOR problem, sir. That reactor planner IS NOT ACCURATE. Do not trust anything it says when you start using GregTech, particularly not when you start using plutonium. The numbers have changed significantly since the last time the planner was updated. Use a Gtech computer to simulate a reactor for a more accurate set of numbers.


    OK, GregTech Computer said 526 sec on the plutonium setup. I need
    8/2*(3000sec/526sec)=22,8(23) Cooling Towers. For a Matter Fab I need 4 reactors so I would need 92 cooling Towers. Last question: The 4 reactors would have 32 cooling cells. So I could only fill 16 of the cooling Towers. Do I need now more sets of Helium cooling cells, or how should I fill the other ones?


  • OK, GregTech Computer said 526 sec on the plutonium setup. I need
    8/2*(3000sec/526sec)=22,8(23) Cooling Towers. For a Matter Fab I need 4 reactors so I would need 92 cooling Towers. Last question: The 4 reactors would have 32 cooling cells. So I could only fill 16 of the cooling Towers. Do I need now more sets of Helium cooling cells, or how should I fill the other ones?


    As far as your numbers go, they look right to me. You need 96 cooling towers for your 4 reactors.


    Yes, you need more sets of Helium cooling cells. You'll want enough cooling cells to fill each and every one of your cooling towers. Because at some point, if you run this long enough, each and every one of your cooling towers will have a cooling cell cooling down in it.

  • Because at some point, if you run this long enough, each and every one of your cooling towers will have a cooling cell cooling down in it.


    + the reactor itself would need to have a full set of cells at all times. I'd say safest would be to fill the reactor + all cooling towers with cells + have a few extra for the lag in moving them around.


  • As far as your numbers go, they look right to me. You need 96 cooling towers for your 4 reactors.


    Yes, you need more sets of Helium cooling cells. You'll want enough cooling cells to fill each and every one of your cooling towers. Because at some point, if you run this long enough, each and every one of your cooling towers will have a cooling cell cooling down in it.



    + the reactor itself would need to have a full set of cells at all times. I'd say safest would be to fill the reactor + all cooling towers with cells + have a few extra for the lag in moving them around.


    OK, Thanks for helping me.:)

  • Since you're using the 1.4 version of AE, you're going to have a really hard time getting AE to extract or insert the coolant cells- as the import and export busses (if I'm not mistaken) cannot be configured to accept any range of damage values- and even if they can, it'll consider everything with some damage the same as anything without damage, which is not useful. Since you're on 1.4, though, you have access to Redpower. You will need to use timers, but there's simply no other way to do it without something that can match a range of damage values, and I don't know of anything that can do that other than ME Fuzzy Busses. There is discussion on how to set this up (this is also why a production reactor design that heats cells uniformly is important, as Shneeky explained) in the DDoS thread.


    Also note: DO NOT just use a Redpower timer to trigger your coolant swap, as those like to reset occasionally (which can lead to craters). Have a 1-second timer pulse a counter to keep track of the number of seconds elapsed since the last coolant swap.


    Sodium-Potassium coolant cells are identical to helium coolant cells in everything except texture and crafting recipe.


    As to cooling towers, the fastest one I know of is this one of my design, although the 1-chamber cooler also of my design that Shneeky linked above is almost as fast and a lot more compact. The downside of these is that they will never quite completely cool anything, due to the nature of component heat exchangers. So you'll have to pull out the coolant cells after enough time has passed that they should be mostly cooled- not a huge problem, since you already needed to set up a timing mechanism to swap the coolant cells in the reactor itself.


    If I remember correctly, centrifuging 16 uranium dust results in 16 uranium cells, 4 thorium cells, one tungsten dust (or was it a wolframium cell? Same thing, anyway), and one plutonium cell. So that's one way. You'll need to process 1024 uranium dust (16 stacks!) in order to refuel this reactor. Maybe not quite entirely feasible.


    Doing so will also leave you with 16 stacks of regular uranium cells. These can be burned in other reactors for many times as much energy as the plutonium.
    The depleted cells can then be bred, and eight re-enriched cells can be centrifuged for one plutonium cell, four thorium cells, and three depleted cells than can then be bred again. You probably are better off building more breeders and processing the depleted cells from your Tower of Power. Also note that thorium (prior to the nerfs in the last GT updates for MC 1.4- which version of GT do you have?) can make some excellent breeders.


    Finally, a Buildcraft gate set to "Inventory Full" >> "Redstone Signal" is a very effective method of preventing heat buildup in CRCS reactors. Using Nuclear Control to turn off the reactor after heat has begun to build up can be very dangerous for OC vents- the vents suck the heat out of the reactor hull, so Nuclear Control turns the reactor back on before the coolant cells get replaced, so more heat builds up before the vents can finish cooling themselves off, and eventually the vents melt.


    I suppose there is a small chance that the reactor will tick before a BC gate can turn it off, but that's what heat vents are for.

    If you stare at my avatar hard enough, you'll notice that it consists of three triangular rings, interlocked in such a way that if you were to remove any one of them, the other two would be free to float apart.