I used the following setup to start with the Kovarex enrichment.
A few mining machines to mine uranium ore
The uranium ore is transported per belt into a few centrifuges. They output a lot of U-238 and a little U-235 on the same belt.
At the end of that belt I put storage boxes to the left and right with filter inserters. They sort the output in separate storage boxes for U-238 and U-235.
Then I just let this run. I think it took hours before the U-235 box had about 35 units of U-235.
To start the Kovarex enrichment we need at least 40 units of U-235 (see Wiki) so I could not start the processing just yet. But I wanted to make sure the Kovarex enrichment starts ASAP so I put the following in place:
A single centrifuge with the Kovarex enrichment process setup.
One input each for U-235 and U-238.
One output each for U-235 and U-238.
After I set this up the centrifuge was inactive, there was not enough U-235.
Then maybe an hour later I looked again and the centrifuge was glowing and the process was running.
Then I replaced the inserters with faster inserters to speed up the process a little.
For one circle the centrifuge let the inserters input the correct amounts of U-235 and U-238 Uranium. Then the process runs for about a minutes and then the output inserters output all Uranium in the separate U-235 and U-238 boxes. And then they are input again and the process starts again.
At some stage there will be enough U-235 to have more than one centrifuge. But I am not yet that far.
This works perfectly fine to start.
About my screenshots:
Overview: The number or mining drills and centrifuges is just something to get started. I did not calculate how many would be the perfect ratio.
Detail: There are a lot more storage boxes than what is necessary. I added them to easily use inserters and to make sure there is enough space for U-238. The first U-238 box is now almost full.
The inserters on the right side are filter inserters which put U-235 in the top box and U-238 in the bottom box.
The output inserters from the centrifuge are also filter inserters to be sure the output U-235 and U-238 goes into the correct boxes.
That’s it, it works.
One important observation: Now I see in the centrifuge about 20 units of U-235 which becomes more and more after each process circle. I don’t see anymore the 40 units which were necessary to start the process.
In the moment the U-235 boxes are empty when the process is running. I expect that at some stage, maybe in an hour, the box will slowly fill up. And then I can continue with this and maybe a second centrifuge.
Feel free to comment or ask questions. This is my first ever design of this and I started it from scratch without blueprints or anything like that. I am sure it can be improved. My idea was and is to learn myself how to get going.
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- Medium Detail.jpg (472.05 KiB) Viewed 5475 times
