steam turbine not generating full power

[kelmenwong]

according to the wiki
https://oxygennotincluded.gamepedia.com/Steam_Turbine
5 inlets required steam at 200C

i test this with single Thermo Aquatuner and 1 steam turbine
i monitor the steam temperature at the inlets, they are all over 200C whole time, yet the turbine only generating like 200-400 W, it's full power should 850W

what am i missing? or the wiki outdated?

[Nellvan]

You probably don't have enough steam in the system (if it isn't already too hot), unless they changed something recently 200°C should work. *edit* If it's too hot it should work just as well, but it'll waste energy.

Brothgar did a video on this 4 months ago, and the summary of the results is :

Optimal production of 850 W:

5 inlets: 2 kg 200°C steam
4 inlets: 1,6 kg 226,25°C steam
3 inlets: 1.2 kg 270 °C steam
2 inlets: 0.8 kg 357,5 °C steam
1 inlet: 0.4 kg 620 °C steam (Bugged, work's only on 50 % effectivity)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIKnJWmrP0

[kelmenwong]

indeed my is due to not enough amount of steam.
best way to check is look at the water amount flowing out from the turbine, each pipe block should be 2kg (max)

the more i test, i'm finding this setup is just not ideal:

- attempt to make the turbine pipe to flow constantly 2kg of water, means i have to put in more water into the heating room. the more water i put in, the colder the Aquatuner will be, and steam become less hot, less power from turbine.

- the turbine will heat up over 100C eventually. i already fill the turbine room with 2kg of hydrogen per tile, running radiant pipe of its output through out its body.

in past, this can be help by wheezewort, but now this need fertilizer feeding, not sure putting the auto-sweeper to maintain is worth the effort and additional power need.

[Hedning]

The turbine will output water at 95°. It's not a lot of cooling of your steam.

The easiest way to cool the turbine is to use the cooled liquid from the aquatuner.

If you really want to be efficient you could cool the turbine as much as possible with the output water first, then use the tuner for the rest.

[Nellvan]

All that happens if you have more steam is: It will take longer to heat up, but also keep running longer if no more heat is coming in.

One Aquatuner will never provide enough energy to run the thing to the limit, anyway. (Maybe if using supercoolant?) Irrc the ratio to match the energy in- and output is 3 aquatuners to 2 steam turbines, if using pwater.

[The Tempted Man]

Originally posted by Nellvan:

All that happens if you have more steam is: It will take longer to heat up, but also keep running longer if no more heat is coming in.

One Aquatuner will never provide enough energy to run the thing to the limit, anyway. (Maybe if using supercoolant?) Irrc the ratio to match the energy in- and output is 3 aquatuners to 2 steam turbines, if using pwater.

So.... 1200*3 so 3600 Wats to even start to get.... 2550. With tune up 3825. Those whooping 225 Wats....Steam has been worthless since alpha.

[Nellvan]

Uhm what? How did you ever think it is supposed to magically GAIN you power when you use it like that ? For power generation you obviously need a natural heat source.

This aquatuner setup is about cooling while paying the least amount possible for it.

And again, this is all without looking at supercoolant, which might have enough heat capacity to shift the balance. I've yet to get that far, still getting back into the game. I think i've seen someone claim you can run a power positive iron+steel -> steam turbine setup.

[Romeo Deluxe]

Steam Turbine+Aqua-tuner is for deleting heat

Steam Turbine+Cool Vent+Aqua-tuner is for making water, you get a little bit of water cooling

Steam Turbine+Steam Geyser gives power

That's it as far as I understand it. You have a heat sink setup. It will require some outside power.

The Aqua-tuner is dependent on size of steam chamber, templates, how much water you have in the chamber, whether your outside power can keep it running continuously, coolant type. Maybe I'm missing something. Lots of things to balance.

Also I believe 1 AT for every 2 Turbines is more power efficient.

[Nellvan]

I finally got around to looking this up again, for water and pwater it really is 3 AT to 2 turbines, then you have exactly the same DTU in and out.

To make it power-efficent when it gets hotter, that's what the inlet-blocking automation is for.

[Romeo Deluxe]

This should cover it all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPAp8yJ1KqM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIKnJWmrP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAONFaRW4WA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajvZYwA2OGY

[kelmenwong]

thanks for the tips.

as my purpose is for cooling water, now i won't expect the turbine to output max power.

with more testing, as full power will required minimum of amount of steam and heat to achieve that, but quantity of steam work against the heat, as more steam will lead to more water from the turbine, which generally will cool down the aquatuner, and cause cooler steam.

for my testing in 1 aquatuner with 1 turbine, best power return is about 450W - 620W, with 3 inlets, and about 7.5KG of water.
using 2 wheezeworts, turbine room full with 2kg hydrogen every tile. and with auto-sweeper to do the maintenance.

the next challenge is to get the exact amount of water into the steam chamber.
hopefully my mod can do that.

[sigma enjoyer]

XD