Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

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Sigma1
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Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by Sigma1 »

As the title says, is there a way to get steam turbines to cool steam down instead of using it? I've tried to decrease fluid_usage_per_tick using data.raw to get them to not use it but that made them not produce almost any power.
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by bobingabout »

The way steam engines work right now is pretty much based on the old method.

Consume water. Test temperature. Take current temp - starting temp, multiply this number by energy per degree value. Produce this much power.

Instead of water, you have steam instead, and the energy per degree (per unit of water) is different to reflect changes in the system.

So as things stand now... there is no way (Short of scripting) to do what you're asking (and I'm not sure where to even do it via scripting, unless you add an extra fluid box and pipe connection for the cooled water output)
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by BrokenScience »

Back in FFF 164 (the initial explanation of Nuclear power), turbines reduced the steam temperature from 500 down to 120 which could then be sent into a cooling tower or consumed by a steam engine. Clearly, this is not how they work right now, but it is possible that it wasn't discarded. I looked around and never found anything that said they are planning otherwise, so it may still be happening in the future, or I may not be good at finding. Either way, I would like to know why that didn't happen for .15.
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by MrBuisson »

I would love that they reintroduce this. Nuclear power is cool, but it's lacking somhow - was looking for alternative mods, and that's how I came here :)

could be something cool :
turbines drop steam temperature when they work
nuclear reactor have thermal inertia (like today), and slowly take damage when temperature exceed 1000°. When they reach 0 life : boom !
coolant tower can bring down X degree of steam per second, enventually increasing when steam is warmer (it's easier to cool down warm stuff)
coolant tower would produce warm water, reducing the stress on boilers if re-injected (or increasing the stress on nuclear reactor). Could need an "injector"


No matter how it ends up, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one looking for "cooling" steam :)

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Sigma1
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by Sigma1 »

MrBuisson wrote: slowly take damage when temperature exceed 1000°. When they reach 0 life : boom !
You should try the Meltdown mod :)
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by Optera »

If you don't really care for smooth energy curves and just want to cool down steam to water you could use an assembler with 2 fluid boxes and a recipe that can only be used in that assembler with input steam > x°C, output Water at 25°C and a negative power value so it produces energy while working that recipe.

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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by MrBuisson »

Sigma1 wrote:
MrBuisson wrote: slowly take damage when temperature exceed 1000°. When they reach 0 life : boom !
You should try the Meltdown mod :)

oho :)

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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by robertpaulson »

Optera wrote: assembler with input steam > x°C, output Water at 25°C
how do you test liquid temp? I couldn't find anything in base directory regarding how game handles water to steam mechanics. Basically I wanted to heat up gas to certain temp and create a new liquid(gas) (like water-steam) in a boiler then send that to be used in production of specific item

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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by Optera »

robertpaulson wrote:
Optera wrote: assembler with input steam > x°C, output Water at 25°C
how do you test liquid temp? I couldn't find anything in base directory regarding how game handles water to steam mechanics. Basically I wanted to heat up gas to certain temp and create a new liquid(gas) (like water-steam) in a boiler then send that to be used in production of specific item
I know you can set output temperature to anything from converting GotLag's Reactors to basic crafting machines.

Code: Select all

    results =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=5000, temperature=100}
    },
I never got around to convert cooling towers to see if input actually checks for temperature like this.

Code: Select all

    ingredients =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=10, temperature=50}
    },
    results =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=5, temperature=25}
    },

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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by Sigma1 »

Thanks for all the help, but the solutions seem a bit hacky to be reliable enough, so I think I will keep my mod as just a fuel processing one, at least for now.
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Re: Getting steam turbines to cool down steam?

Post by robertpaulson »

Optera wrote: I know you can set output temperature to anything from converting GotLag's Reactors to basic crafting machines.

Code: Select all

    results =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=5000, temperature=100}
    },
I never got around to convert cooling towers to see if input actually checks for temperature like this.

Code: Select all

    ingredients =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=10, temperature=50}
    },
    results =
    {
      {type="fluid", name="water", amount=5, temperature=25}
    },
Yes, but is it possible to this via vanilla boiler/heat exchanger?

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