8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

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Killcreek2
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8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

Post by Killcreek2 »

I know: "Another reactor setup, le sigh".

But just look at it for a few seconds:
Reactor 8core balanced heat pipes [v0.15.12].png
Reactor 8core balanced heat pipes [v0.15.12].png (1.63 MiB) Viewed 3954 times
Kinda pretty, ehh? ;)


Hot Features:

+ Balanced heat distribution to the exchangers. Every heat pipe is exactly 19 or 20 tiles long. The final exchangers of each lane kick in at almost the same time per fuel cycle, & heat variation during / after a fuel burn was only +/- 20 degrees between the ends of each heat pipe. ~Tested at minimal power load, and at half maximum predicted output, but ymmv.

+ Over 1 Gigawatt output. ~Ought to get very close to the max of 1120MW, but not tested yet<edit> Over 1.1GW sustained output.

+ Ye Standard Control Method. ~Load only 1 fuel pod at a time, load only if empty, load all reactors at the same time, start a synchronised fuel burn when the steam buffer gets low.

+ Easy roboport access for fuel pod pizza.

+ The steam can be piped to storage tanks & turbine racks located wherever you like, pipe throughput requirements are not excessive. Ditto for the water supply.

+ Sexy Symmetry. ~"Symmetry is perfection".


Unfortunate Negatives:

- Does not tile / expand / play well with others.

- Um, I'm sure there was another...


Oh well, have a pic of the entire setup in action, including steam storage & turbines in one of the many many possible arrangements.
The entire power plant
Some numbers and details
Obligatory Blueprints:
Reactors to heat exchangers only
The whole damn thing
Bonus pic: The nearby Uranium processing area. This roboport links with the one inside the reactor.
Processing area
Oh! I remembered the other negative: It is actually 0.4 of a turbine short of the ideal ratio for max output. That's near enough for me. :D
Last edited by Killcreek2 on Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

Post by steinio »

Sexy reactor setup.
It would look nicer if the turbines align east south west north around the reactor.
Image

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Re: 8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

Post by Killcreek2 »

steinio wrote:Sexy reactor setup.
It would look nicer if the turbines align east south west north around the reactor.
Thank you.
I 100% totally agree it would look better as you describe. Unfortunately that was about the best location I had: The area you see in the second pic is pretty much ALL the space I had to work with. There is an oil field immediately to the east just offscreen, and more water to the south [visible in bottom corner of pic].
Water-heavy worlds are certainly an interesting challenge for big projects like this.

I was going to arrange the turbines in 4 vertical blocks, two per side with the reactor in the middle, sort of like a "H" shape ~ so it would look like a TIE fighter from Star Wars. But it just would not fit like that. :x
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Re: 8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

Post by Distelzombie »

It looks great! But the all-over placement of the pipes would set me off. I guess if you'd have more space it'd look nicer.

Would it be possible to arrange the turbines in a galaxy like fashion? Like start north west, go in an arc over to east south and the same down there.
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Re: 8-core Nuclear reactor with *balanced heat pipes* [v0.15.12]

Post by Killcreek2 »

Distelzombie wrote:It looks great! But the all-over placement of the pipes would set me off. I guess if you'd have more space it'd look nicer.

Would it be possible to arrange the turbines in a galaxy like fashion? Like start north west, go in an arc over to east south and the same down there.
Thanks.
Could plan that galaxy idea out with some ghost BPs elsewhere, and then see if I can make it fit AND look nice.

I did manage perfect north - south mirror symmetry with the turbines & pipes, though an elegant 4-way rotation / mirror would have been much nicer. However, time was also a critical issue as I needed the power plant working again asap.

[It is built on the ruins of two previous nuclear kingdoms: The lost Realm of the Preheater, and the Realm of the Infinite Heat Pipe.]
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