ReactorCraft - clever reactor setups?

[Yarma92]

Well 16 cores, without any reflectors causes spontaneous combustion so that was ruled out.

A modified version of your 12 core is very stable and requires no rods. Temperatures at the boilers hover just shy of 300°C

 

[Reika]

Why are you only using a one-stage turbine...?

 

[Pyure]

Well 16 cores, without any reflectors causes spontaneous combustion so that was ruled out.

I lol'd at this Thanks for the fun screenshots.

A modified version of your 12 core is very stable and requires no rods. Temperatures at the boilers hover just shy of 300°C

This seems like a fantastic temperature for a reactor to me


Few things:
* I have to ask, can you please confirm that your boilers are staying FULL of liquid when the reactor is running? If they're falling down to zero periodically that is going to be a problem.
* I also see that one boiler is missing in the 16-core version.
* Don't forget to condense your steam during a test so that block-updates don't screw around with your results.
* In later versions, you can right-click a steam line to see how much steam is there (so you don't have to bother using a grate at all until you're testing output/turbines)
* The current 16-core design features 1 boiler BETWEEN the cores. You could try 2 boilers between the cores for colder results (and more steam)[DOUBLEPOST=1402426712][/DOUBLEPOST]

Why are you only using a one-stage turbine...?

He's not testing output yet

 

[Yarma92]

1) I can confirm the boilers are staying FULL (using an infinite source of ammonia for testing with several pressurized conduits hooked up from Ender IO)
2)That boiler that is missing is one that blew up, hence also steams lines being missing and all the scrap in my inventory.
3) Not bothering to condense, just destroying with the block beneath the dynamometer for testing purposes.
4) I will test the 16 core with two shortly.
5) Power output. Its a bit of a beast fore its size!

Edit: I know there is a control rod core in there, but no control rods are in the build

 

[Pyure]

Edit: I know there is a control rod core in there, but no control rods are in the build

At a glance, there's nowhere useful for control rods in that design anyway

 

[Yarma92]

At a glance, there's nowhere useful for control rods in that design anyway

I know! Just trying the 16 core again.

 

[Kirameki]

Power input has no effect. You may need multiple pressurizers.

This explains a lot, thanks!

Might be able to help you a bit here.

* If you're "dumping" your water, don't bother pressurizing it at all. Just void it.
* If you're not pressurizing your water fast enough, your boilers will still only blow if they stop receiving water.
* Monitor your boilers to see their water levels; they should ALWAYS be full. If they aren't, use a faster water transportation method.
* microturbine at 50% should be overkill for pressuring your water I believe.
* how many cores do you have on those 3 boilers? boilers are a cooling mechanism in addition to producing your steam: if you have a lot of cores and insufficient cooling, the boilers will overheat and explode.

Edit: Said "condense" when I wanted to say "pressurize".
Edit2: I assume you're managing to capture and condense all steam blocks, and your condensers aren't getting backed up/clogged with too much low pressure water?

I mainly want to try with water first to minimize risk of violent explosion. When I first tried a loop I couldn't keep the boilers full, thus why I thought MORE POWAH!!!...but as Reika pointed out, that apparently won't work. I'm running a 4-core HTGR (I swear I'll post pics tonight, I didn't miss your request, I've been gone all weekend and haven't had a chance yet.), basically: 4 cores, one gas loop, 3 boilers touching the heat exchanger. Cores are ~900 deg. each, boilers are ~100 Deg. each. Water supplied to boilers from ExtraUtils so they're always full, condenser contents are currently voided out. I want to get a loop going so I can at least stabilize it before I try ammonia. I'll try again tonight with more pressurizers and see how that behaves.

 

[Pyure]

This explains a lot, thanks!

I mainly want to try with water first to minimize risk of violent explosion. When I first tried a loop I couldn't keep the boilers full, thus why I thought MORE POWAH!!!...but as Reika pointed out, that apparently won't work. I'm running a 4-core HTGR (I swear I'll post pics tonight, I didn't miss your request, I've been gone all weekend and haven't had a chance yet.), basically: 4 cores, one gas loop, 3 boilers touching the heat exchanger. Cores are ~900 deg. each, boilers are ~100 Deg. each. Water supplied to boilers from ExtraUtils so they're always full, condenser contents are currently voided out. I want to get a loop going so I can at least stabilize it before I try ammonia. I'll try again tonight with more pressurizers and see how that behaves.

Fun!
I wish I knew more about HTGR setups; I might not be very helpful. Here's some stuff I remember however:
* Keep your reactor insulated: replace "air" blocks with concrete or anything else at your disposal. I believe this applies to the boiler/heat-exchange area (can't remember)
* If your boiler doesn't crest 100C, it won't create steam. 99 stable won't cut it
* I have maintained an ammonia loop in a small fission reactor on just one pressurizer before, fwiw.
* My comment about cores-to-boilers is mostly irrelevant for an HTGR. Sorry!

 

[Yarma92]

Well the 16 is bust! It cant even run a single turbine and max efficiency with the two boilers between it, that said I have been unable to test it with reflectors.

All conditions were the same. All boilers constantly filled. The steam out put fluctuates wildly however.

 

[Yarma92]

Well, here we go again folks. This time a 16-core reactor. This one's a bit more flexibile for controlling heat levels.

Be careful with it; unlike the 12-core, this one will explode if you don't adjust your # of reflectors carefully.


View attachment 11442

OUTPUT:

• 1 HP Turbine (1 x 8.59GW)
  
• 2 Small Turbines (2 x 0.94GW)
• Total: 10.47 GW (~1,857,000 RF/T)
  
• May support one more turbine, not sure.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• In V23d this reactor can start a HP Turbine without any shenanigans
  
• All testing done in a Plains biome
  
• Heat level in this reactor is adjusted by adding Reflectors, preferably behind Control Rods (See Optional Reflector+Control Rod in the legend)
  
• Add each reflector carefully. One at a time, and monitor the heat of your cores for several minutes afterwards.
  
• Inserted Control Rods may prevent meltdowns but the reactor will run warm and inefficiently. (In the recent12-core setup, inserted rods almost shut down the reactor)
  
• In my testing, 6+ reflectors incurred a meltdown; 5 reflectors (shown) causes occassional particle warnings around 500C
• Some optional Reflector/Control Rods may be useful in colder biomes
• 4 Gany's Infinite Water supplies were necessary; not sure if its because I wasn't extracting liquid as quickly as possible (Ender IO pressurized fluid pipes, no settings tweaked in their guis)

Just upgraded to the most recent monster pack and tested this setup in an cold biome, with ALL reflectors, no control rods. Puts out a steady 8.5GW on a full sized turbine.

 

[Reika]

Just upgraded to the most recent monster pack and tested this setup in an cold biome, with ALL reflectors, no control rods. Puts out a steady 8.5GW on a full sized turbine.

Reflectors tend to do that.

 

[Yarma92]

Reflectors tend to do that.

Just surprised at the out put difference based on the biome type!

 

[Pyure]

From what I can tell ~8.5 is the max this turbine produces. I like that it doesn't fluctuate too.

 

[Wagon153]

This explains a lot, thanks!

I mainly want to try with water first to minimize risk of violent explosion. When I first tried a loop I couldn't keep the boilers full, thus why I thought MORE POWAH!!!...but as Reika pointed out, that apparently won't work. I'm running a 4-core HTGR (I swear I'll post pics tonight, I didn't miss your request, I've been gone all weekend and haven't had a chance yet.), basically: 4 cores, one gas loop, 3 boilers touching the heat exchanger. Cores are ~900 deg. each, boilers are ~100 Deg. each. Water supplied to boilers from ExtraUtils so they're always full, condenser contents are currently voided out. I want to get a loop going so I can at least stabilize it before I try ammonia. I'll try again tonight with more pressurizers and see how that behaves.

Doing Ammonia in a HTGR is a terrible idea, unless you like explosions.

 

[YX33A]

Doing Ammonia in a HTGR is a terrible idea, unless you like explosions.

Or are a god with heat exchangers...

 

[Pyure]

Or are a god with heat exchangers...

Once upon a time you were on a mission to become a god with heat exchangers @YX33A. Whatever happened with that endeavor?

BTW: Does the ammonia/gods/explosions rule apply to breeders/sodium-fed-exchangers as well? I started a breeder reactor last night (didn't finish) and was wondering if I could safely supply it ammonia.

 

[Reika]

Once upon a time you were on a mission to become a god with heat exchangers @YX33A. Whatever happened with that endeavor?

BTW: Does the ammonia/gods/explosions rule apply to breeders/sodium-fed-exchangers as well? I started a breeder reactor last night (didn't finish) and was wondering if I could safely supply it ammonia.

Breeder reactors will not even use ammonia or normal boilers.

 

[Pyure]

Sorry let me clarify:

I'm pumping hot molten sodium from the breeder reactor to a heat exchanger surrounded by normal boilers. Last I checked it was producing steam. I did NOT check how hot the steam exchanger was getting when filled. As a matter of terminology, sorry if I confused the issue there.

Since I'm not at home to check, I'm wondering if its possible to use ammonia in those regular boilers. Do they get too hot? Is the system rigged at all so that heat doesn't affect an ammonia-filled boiler, or insta-explodes them?

 

[Reika]

Sorry let me clarify:

I'm pumping hot molten sodium from the breeder reactor to a heat exchanger surrounded by normal boilers. Last I checked it was producing steam. I did NOT check how hot the steam exchanger was getting when filled. As a matter of terminology, sorry if I confused the issue there.

Since I'm not at home to check, I'm wondering if its possible to use ammonia in those regular boilers. Do they get too hot? Is the system rigged at all so that heat doesn't affect an ammonia-filled boiler, or insta-explodes them?

That may well work.

 

[Snikerx]

Anyone else having problems with neutrons not despawning?
I got a 16 core reactor, and in a matter of 24 hours, I had over 80K neutrons on my server, brining the server almost to a halt (27% TPS at 135.7MS)