Breathable Atmosphere

[Enorats]

So, I've finally got my first filtration system set up. It's stupid simplistic at the moment, with no automation of any kind.. but it's placing each type of gas into its own tank and then mixing oxygen/nitrogen to make something breathable.

It took quite a bit of silicon refining to get enough nitrogen (as well as draining my jetpack tank), but I finally had enough to pressurize a small room. Not sure why I get nitrogen from silicon, but hey.. there's coal on the moon. Realism isn't really this game's strong suit I guess.

Now, I've got a problem. My room has pressurized with an atmosphere that is 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, and 1% carbon dioxide. There's also a tiny .3 mol (0%) toxin that the filtration system just doesn't seem to entirely remove.

That sounds fairly reasonable to me, but the game goes wild every time I take my helmet off. The pressure has ranged from 50 to 60 kpa in different attempts, which is around what the suit is at. The temperature is 20 celcius. Still, it warns of toxins and low oxygen the moment my helmet comes off. Possible pressure too, I don't recall.

Am I doing something wrong here? From what the tablet is reading, this should be fairly breathable air. Actually, I think I may have just thought of my problem as I write this. 100 kpa is roughly sea level, and while the suit is at 50 kpa it's also got 100% oxygen. If I up the pressure to 100 kpa will this work?

[PipAlmighty]

Real world gas levels vs in game gas levels are a little off. I've noticed if I have less than 60% O2 my suit gives off alarms. Try switching your percentages. You will run into the same thing if you try filling up your O2 tank with an O2/N2 mix. You'll start getting "Oxygen low" alarms even though you have a lot of pressure still in the tank. That can be avoided by adding a nitrogen filter to your suit.
But yea, try the higher O2 percentage and see if that helps.

[andreykl]

Originally posted by ßȺ Verrtig0:

You will run into the same thing if you try filling up your O2 tank with an O2/N2 mix. You'll start getting "Oxygen low" alarms even though you have a lot of pressure still in the tank. That can be avoided by adding a nitrogen filter to your suit.

Actually it is different. Example:
When you attach an 1:1 O2:N2 mix tank to your space suit at first you will have your 'normal' breathable air, then part of O2 will be switched with CO2, just as example and for easier calculations: 1:1:2 O2:CO2:N2, now filter removes CO2 and suit adds new mix from the tank to compensate, so it now contains 2:5 O2:N2 mix in your suit, next time you will have 1:1:5 O2:CO2:N2 -> 3:11 O2:N2... and the longer you go the less oxygen there will be and the more N2. Hence why you need the filter (or to flush the thing occasionally).

Rooms in this regard are a little different, I suspect game cares not about percentage, but about moles for "low oxygen" warning and issues. No idea if it will affect 'toxin warning' or not. So before dismissing idea of O2/N2 mix in a room I suggest raising pressure to 101KPa.

[atom heart]

Why have you connected the logic to the power side? The best setup is to have the logic fed to the data side of the panel and the power side connected to transformers or batteries or APU's whatever your setup is. Then run a network from there to power the logic.

[rottielover]

Andreykl is right. Think of your helmet as it’s own tiny room. At the start you are configured like a real spacesuit. A lower pressure of 100% O2 is pumped in. You exhale some O2 and some CO2. There is a CO2 filter in your suit which selects that gas out and places it in your waste tank.


In your room you have low preasure like in the suit, but unlike the suit your gas mix is lower in O2. I hope you see where this is going. If you raise the pressure in the room to 1 atmosphere (about 101 ish in game I think) the % of the gases stays the same but the amount (moles) increases.

Your suit AI is trying to warn you that the environment isn’t providing enough amount of O2 (moles).

What’s probably not modeled in the game is Oxygen toxcicity, so ignore that for now, having a pure O2 environment is dangerous for fire hazards (just ask Apollo 1, Rip). That’s why you mix in the inert Nitrogen (theoretically could be another nobel gas, ask saturation divers using a mix with helium).

I hope that helps

[Bunyan]

Originally posted by rottielover:

Andreykl is right. Think of your helmet as it’s own tiny room. At the start you are configured like a real spacesuit. A lower pressure of 100% O2 is pumped in. You exhale some O2 and some CO2. There is a CO2 filter in your suit which selects that gas out and places it in your waste tank.


In your room you have low preasure like in the suit, but unlike the suit your gas mix is lower in O2. I hope you see where this is going. If you raise the pressure in the room to 1 atmosphere (about 101 ish in game I think) the % of the gases stays the same but the amount (moles) increases.

Your suit AI is trying to warn you that the environment isn’t providing enough amount of O2 (moles).

What’s probably not modeled in the game is Oxygen toxcicity, so ignore that for now, having a pure O2 environment is dangerous for fire hazards (just ask Apollo 1, Rip). That’s why you mix in the inert Nitrogen (theoretically could be another nobel gas, ask saturation divers using a mix with helium).

I hope that helps

This and Andreykl's explanation are very good.

One thing I would emphasize is that for the game, there is no toxicity for CO2,N, or O2... So, for base/room air mix, you'll do fine with 10-15% O2 at 100kpa...keeping it that low also really helps to prevent fires in your base. Second, you can substitute CO2 for the N as much as you want without negative effects to your breathing...neither are flammable, but CO2 is much easier to come by than N.

If it helps, just to get an idea of a system, I have my base automated to push gasses individually: O2 for minimum of 10% and CO2 / N for combined minimum of 80%... Which only brings it to 90%, allowing for flex in the overall percentages a bit. Right now, my N is only at about 10%, but no problems. It's also set to add CO2 to help bring it up to pressure to 100kpa but vent back into system if over 105kpa. Chickens, plants, breathing, etc. have had no problems at all with that setup...and no random fires.

[Captiva]

This video shows a basic setup that can be used and shows how to filter the polutants out. Maybe can help a bit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiECSpnPIVk&t=236s