Difference between revisions of "Fluid reactor"

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{{Experimental}}
{{Experimental}}
The '''fluid reactor''', also known as the '''pressure vessel reactor''', is an alternative use of the existing EU reactor.  Instead of directly outputting EU, it outputs [[Heat|HU]] in the form of [[Hot Coolant]]. When set up correctly, it is more efficient than a standard reactor.
 
[[File:Fluid_Reactor_ig.png|thumbnail|right|A fully-constructed Fluid Reactor]]
 
The '''Fluid Reactor''', also known as the '''Pressure Vessel Reactor''', is an alternative use of the existing EU reactor.  Instead of directly outputting [[EU]], it outputs [[Heat]] in the form of [[Hot Coolant]]. When set up correctly, it is more efficient than a standard EU reactor. The outer reactor casing is fully modular, allowing you to place any number of inputs, outputs, redstone ports, etc, to fit your needs.


== Construction ==
== Construction ==
In order to build a basic fluid reactor, you will need to somehow acquire the following, at a minimum:
In order to build a basic Fluid Reactor, you will need the following, at a minimum:
* A 'complete' EU reactor set (1x {{Gin|Nuclear Reactor}} + 6x {{Gin|Reactor Chamber}})
* 1x   {{Gin|Nuclear Reactor}}
* 1x {{Gin|Reactor Access Hatch}}
* 6x   {{Gin|Reactor Chamber}}s
* 1x {{Gin|Reactor Redstone Port}}
* 1x   {{Gin|Reactor Access Hatch}}
* 1x {{Gin|Reactor Fluid Port}}
* 1x   {{Gin|Reactor Redstone Port}}
* 95x {{Gin|Reactor Pressure Vessel}}
* 1x   {{Gin|Reactor Fluid Port}}
You can swap out Pressure Vessel blocks for additional interface blocks, as your setup demands.
* 95x {{Gin|Reactor Pressure Vessel}} blocks


Building the fluid reactor multiblock is simple: it's a 5x5x5 cube, with a 3x3x3 hollow center in which the EU reactor set is placed.  You only need a total of 3 interface blocks (hatches and ports), as shown above, unless you're getting ''fancy''.
''Remember that you can always swap out Pressure Vessel blocks for additional interface blocks as your setup demands.''


=== Advanced construction ===
Building the Fluid Reactor multiblock is simple:
Yesssss... ''fancy''.


Technically, the only necessary blocks are a redstone port to turn your reactor on and a fluid port to input/output coolant/hot coolant.  If you don't mind not being able to change your components or monitor the interior without breaking the multiblock, it is completely feasible (if considerably more expensive) to construct a fluid reactor shell using a single redstone port and 97 fluid ports, no access hatch or normal pressure vessel blocks, for the absolute maximum fluid transfer rate. (Source: 6 and 6a from [http://forum.industrial-craft.net/index.php?page=Thread&postID=201411#post201411 this IC2 forum post])
It is a 5x5x5 cube with a 3x3x3 hollow center in which the EU reactor set is placed. A minimum of 3 interface blocks (Access Hatches and Fluid Ports) are ''required''.
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<span style="vertical-align:top">[[File:Fluid_Reactor_cross-section.png|thumbnail|right|Cross-section of a fully-constructed Fluid Reactor]]</span>
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== Usage ==
== Usage ==
The fluid reactor uses all the same components as the EU reactor (in the sense of fuel cells, heat vents, etc.) in its internal inventory. However, it also has two 10,000 mB liquid tanks, seen on either side of the GUI: [[Coolant (Fluid)|Coolant]] on the left (blue side), [[Hot Coolant]] on the right (red side). You can add or remove the appropriate liquid via fluid cells, using the inventory slots above and below the tanks (or using fluid transfer systems from other mods, connected to the fluid ports). Instead of an EU reading at the bottom, the fluid reactor indicates HU/t ([[Heat|heat units]] per tick).  As you place more heat vents and fuel rods inside of the reactor, that reading will rise - but not as simply as in the EU reactor's case.
The Fluid Reactor uses all the same [[:Category:Reactor Components|components]] (Fuel Rods, Heat Vents, etc.) as the EU reactor in its internal inventory. However, it also has two 10,000 mB liquid tanks, seen on either side of the GUI: a blue [[Coolant (Fluid)|Coolant]] tank on the left and a red [[Hot Coolant]] tank on the right. Either liquid can be added or removed with {{Gin|Universal Fluid Cell}}s through the inventory slots above and below each tank.
 
Fluid Ports can also be used to add or remove Coolant. Placing a {{Gin|Fluid Ejector Upgrade}} in the Fluid Port's interface will allow it to eject Hot Coolant from the reactor into an adjacent {{Gin|Fluid Distributor}}, {{Gin|Fluid Regulator}}, or fluid transfer systems from other mods.  
 
Instead of an EU reading at the bottom, the fluid reactor indicates HU/t ([[Heat|heat units]] per tick).  As you place more heat vents and fuel rods inside of the reactor, that reading will rise - but not as simply as in the EU reactor's case.


Say you ignore coolant entirely and toss in a {{Gin|Fuel Rod (Uranium)}} and a {{Gin|Heat Vent}} next to each other inside the reactor.  When you turn it on, the core temperature will rise, and your HU/t will remain at 0.  Uh oh!  The heat vent is working fine - but it's moving heat to the shell of the core reactor, instead of into the surrounding air like the EU reactor, and you didn't provide any coolant to deal with the problem.  However, core temperature cannot be cooled (once heated) by simply applying coolant; you need {{Gin|Reactor Heat Vent}}s (etc.) to transfer the core heat to the casing of the internal regular reactor, and coolant to absorb that transferred heat.
Say you ignore coolant entirely and toss in a {{Gin|Fuel Rod (Uranium)}} and a {{Gin|Heat Vent}} next to each other inside the reactor.  When you turn it on, the core temperature will rise, and your HU/t will remain at 0.  Uh oh!  The heat vent is working fine - but it's moving heat to the shell of the core reactor, instead of into the surrounding air like the EU reactor, and you didn't provide any coolant to deal with the problem.  However, core temperature cannot be cooled (once heated) by simply applying coolant; you need {{Gin|Reactor Heat Vent}}s (etc.) to transfer the core heat to the casing of the internal regular reactor, and coolant to absorb that transferred heat.


In short, to maintain a fluid reactor, you need:
In short, to maintain a fluid reactor, you need:
* fuel rods to generate heat,
* Fuel Rods to generate heat,
* heat vents to push that heat around and eventually into coolant, and
* Heat Vents to push that heat around and eventually into coolant, and
* a sustainable source of coolant to absorb and eject all the face-melting heat your neutron-reflected quad fuel rods produce.
* a sustainable source of Coolant to absorb and eject all the face-melting heat your neutron-reflected Quad Fuel Rods produce.
 
'''Note:''' Unlike the EU reactor, '''the fluid reactor's power generation (HU/t) is not dependent on the Fuel Rods, but rather the amount of Heat Vents'''. Unmanaged Fuel Rod heat in the EU reactor would simply make the reactor overheat faster but not reduce its power output; in the Fluid Reactor, unmanaged Fuel Rod heat is stored in the reactor core.
 
The Fluid Reactor's power output is essentially measured in hot coolant: if you're not producing that, you're not producing power.  (Although if you're heating your core, technically you're banking up power to output later.  Or you're about to be testing how good your protective shielding is.  HAYO!)
 
== Coolant Cycle ==
Operating the Fluid Reactor will heat [[Coolant]] into [[Hot Coolant]] which is then pumped out into a {{Gin|Liquid Heat Exchanger}} (likely several, depending on how fast your reactor produces heat), which will produces HU and outputs Coolant which goes right back into the Fluid Reactor to complete the cycle.
 
The heat that the Liquid Heat Exchanger Outputs can be used to power a {{Gin|Stirling Generator}} to directly generate EU, or to heat a {{Gin|Steam Generator}} to generate either [[Steam]] or [[Superheated Steam]].
 
Out of all the ways to generate power, superheated steam is the best; with the correct setup, it can produce significantly more power than a standard EU reactor!
 
== Example ==
Let's figure out how the following [[Nuclear_Reactor#Mark_level|Mark I]] fluid reactor works:


'''Note: A fluid reactor's power generation (HU/t) is not dependent on the fuel rods, but rather the amount of heat vents, unlike its older partner.'''  To be more specific, unmanaged cell heat in the EU reactor would simply make you overheat faster but not reduce your power output; in the fluid reactor, unmanaged cell heat gets stored in the core and not output.  The fluid reactor's power output is essentially measured in hot coolant: if you're not producing that, you're not producing power.  (Although if you're heating your core, technically you're banking up power to output later.  Or you're about to be testing how good your protective shielding is. HAYO!)
[[File:Working-fluid-reactor-overview.png|500px|An example of a working fluid reactor]]
[[File:Working-fluid-reactor-internal-layout.png|500px|Internal layout]]


== Coolant cycle ==
The blocks on the fluid reactor itself are decorative from the Chisels mod.
If a fluid reactor has [[Coolant]] (and it certainly should, if you're actually using it), operating the reactor will turn that into [[Hot Coolant]].  This should then be pumped into a {{Gin|Liquid Heat Exchanger}} (likely several, depending on how fast your reactor produces it), which will produce HU and output plain old coolant, which then goes right back into the reactor to complete the loop.


The heat the exchanger produces is generally used in one of two ways: powering a {{Gin|Stirling Generator}} to directly generate EU, or heating a {{Gin|Steam Generator}} to generate either steam or superheated steam. Out of all the ways to generate power, superheated steam is the best; with the correct setup, it can produce significantly more power than a standard EU reactor!
We can calculate that reactor gives 1408 Heat Units per tick as it gives 28160 Heat Units per second, and there are [https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tick#Game_tick 20] ticks in one second.
 
The most effective way to use heat is to convert it to Superheated Steam and use it on turbines.
 
In order to use up all heat, we need 15 [[Liquid Heat Exchanger|Liquid Heat Exchangers]] because each of them can take at most 100 HU/tick.
 
There are three Liquid Heat Exchangers per each [[Steam Generator]]. Steam Generators are set to 221 Bar and 10 mB(milliBucket)/tick. 221 Bar is the minimum for Superheated Steam, and 10 mB/t can handle 300 HU/t. Steam generators work on Distilled Water to prevent calcification.
 
1 mB of Coolant handles 1 HU, so the Coolant flow is 1408 mB/t. One [[Reactor Fluid Port]] can handle 1000 mB/t, so there are two input and output ports.
 
There are two rows of [[Fluid Distributor | Fluid Distributors]] - one for hot and one for cold Coolant. They are separated by one block vertically in order to not blow up the reactor by mixing and blocking the flow.
 
[[File:Working-fluid-reactor-fluid-distributors-layout.png|500px|Fluid distributors layout]]
 
The main bus for the hot coolant is mostly comprised of Fluid Distributors set for distribution to negate the lack of balancing. Essentially, the whole hot bus is constantly filled with hot coolant because balancing it between five Boilers would be a nightmare.
 
[[File:Working-fluid-reactor-heat-eu-conversion.png|500px|HU-to-EU conversion]]
 
The HU-to-EU conversion is done by the five units by the following cycle:
# Three [[Liquid Heat Exchanger|Liquid Heat Exchangers]] provide 300 HU/t to one [[Steam Generator]].
# Steam Generator is set up to create Superheated Steam at 221 Bar and 10 mB/t.
# Superheated Steam goes to the right, to the first [[Kinetic Steam Generator]], which turns the Superheated Steam into just Steam and passes it to the second Kinetic Steam Generator.
# The second Kinetic Steam Generator condenses a bit of [[Distilled Water]], passing it to the [[Fluid Distributor]] on the left, and passes the cold Steam to condenser.
# Condenser turns cold Steam back into Distilled Water, passing it to another Fluid Distributor to its left.
# Both Fluid Distributors carry Distilled Water back to the Steam Generator.
# The Kinetic Units that were created by [[Kinetic Steam Generator|Kinetic Steam Generators]] are turned into EU by [[Kinetic Generator|Kinetic Generators]].
 
The checklist before launching this reactor would be too long. One is suggested to launch it on the low HU yield and see if everything works as intended before ramping up the power.
 
The resulting output of this 1408 HU/t fluid reactor is is approximately 1020 EU/t. The current best Mark I nuclear reactor yields 420 EU/t.
 
Considering the time it takes to build the fluid reactor without it blowing up, it's better to build the usual reactors if you aim for the increase of EU per your building time.


== Safety ==
== Safety ==
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In order to function, the fluid reactor needs its 5x5x5 outer shell completely intact.  At 85% core heat, that shell will start melting into lava source blocks - and when it does, your reactor will turn off, since it is no longer a complete fluid reactor.  It is important to note that even though the reactor won't gain any extra heat, it won't ''lose'' any, either, unless you do something to remove it - and so '''your casing will continue to melt''' (judging by past observations, only the standard pressure vessel blocks will, not any of the interfaces).  And of course anyone within the 7x7x7 area will be damaged by radiation ticks, since the core heat is also > 70%.
In order to function, the fluid reactor needs its 5x5x5 outer shell completely intact.  At 85% core heat, that shell will start melting into lava source blocks - and when it does, your reactor will turn off, since it is no longer a complete fluid reactor.  It is important to note that even though the reactor won't gain any extra heat, it won't ''lose'' any, either, unless you do something to remove it - and so '''your casing will continue to melt''' (judging by past observations, only the standard pressure vessel blocks will, not any of the interfaces).  And of course anyone within the 7x7x7 area will be damaged by radiation ticks, since the core heat is also > 70%.


In order to make a fluid reactor actually ''explode'' (without standing next to it and playing with {{Gin|Heat-Capacity Reactor Plating}}, anyway), you'd need to take your heat from < 85% to 100% '''in a single reactor tick''', which would mean producing over 1500 HU/t at just the right (wrong) time.
In order to make a Fluid Reactor actually ''explode'' (without standing next to it and playing with {{Gin|Heat-Capacity Reactor Plating}}, anyway), you'd need to take your heat from < 85% to 100% '''in a single reactor tick''', which would mean producing over 1500 HU/t at just the right (wrong) time.


But you wouldn't ''really'' want to do that, would you?  <span style="font-size:75%">At least not in your own reactor.</span>
But you wouldn't ''really'' want to do that, would you?  <span style="font-size:75%">At least not in your own reactor.</span>
'''Field Note:''' If your reactor is composed of an array of heat exchangers and fans and they all melt in the same time you can actually get from 0% to 100%
(Learned this the BAD way, and it's pretty easy to reproduce, for the sake of Newton, keep an eye on it all times!)

Latest revision as of 10:21, 16 October 2021

Experimental-Only Content: This information has been updated to the V2.X version of IC².
The most recent version of IC² is V2.8.<html>.
A fully-constructed Fluid Reactor

The Fluid Reactor, also known as the Pressure Vessel Reactor, is an alternative use of the existing EU reactor. Instead of directly outputting EU, it outputs Heat in the form of Hot Coolant. When set up correctly, it is more efficient than a standard EU reactor. The outer reactor casing is fully modular, allowing you to place any number of inputs, outputs, redstone ports, etc, to fit your needs.

Construction[edit]

In order to build a basic Fluid Reactor, you will need the following, at a minimum:

Remember that you can always swap out Pressure Vessel blocks for additional interface blocks as your setup demands.

Building the Fluid Reactor multiblock is simple:

It is a 5x5x5 cube with a 3x3x3 hollow center in which the EU reactor set is placed. A minimum of 3 interface blocks (Access Hatches and Fluid Ports) are required.

Layer 5 (Top)
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Layer 4
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Layer 3
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Nuclear Reactor.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Redstone Port.png
Grid Reactor Access Hatch.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Layer 2
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Fluid Port.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Chamber.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Fluid Port.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Layer 1 (Bottom)
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Grid Reactor Pressure Vessel.png
Cross-section of a fully-constructed Fluid Reactor

Usage[edit]

The Fluid Reactor uses all the same components (Fuel Rods, Heat Vents, etc.) as the EU reactor in its internal inventory. However, it also has two 10,000 mB liquid tanks, seen on either side of the GUI: a blue Coolant tank on the left and a red Hot Coolant tank on the right. Either liquid can be added or removed with Grid Universal Fluid Cell.png Universal Fluid Cells through the inventory slots above and below each tank.

Fluid Ports can also be used to add or remove Coolant. Placing a Grid Fluid Ejector Upgrade.png Fluid Ejector Upgrade in the Fluid Port's interface will allow it to eject Hot Coolant from the reactor into an adjacent Grid Fluid Distributor.png Fluid Distributor, Grid Fluid Regulator.png Fluid Regulator, or fluid transfer systems from other mods.

Instead of an EU reading at the bottom, the fluid reactor indicates HU/t (heat units per tick). As you place more heat vents and fuel rods inside of the reactor, that reading will rise - but not as simply as in the EU reactor's case.

Say you ignore coolant entirely and toss in a Grid Fuel Rod (Uranium).png Fuel Rod (Uranium) and a Grid Heat Vent.png Heat Vent next to each other inside the reactor. When you turn it on, the core temperature will rise, and your HU/t will remain at 0. Uh oh! The heat vent is working fine - but it's moving heat to the shell of the core reactor, instead of into the surrounding air like the EU reactor, and you didn't provide any coolant to deal with the problem. However, core temperature cannot be cooled (once heated) by simply applying coolant; you need Grid Reactor Heat Vent.png Reactor Heat Vents (etc.) to transfer the core heat to the casing of the internal regular reactor, and coolant to absorb that transferred heat.

In short, to maintain a fluid reactor, you need:

  • Fuel Rods to generate heat,
  • Heat Vents to push that heat around and eventually into coolant, and
  • a sustainable source of Coolant to absorb and eject all the face-melting heat your neutron-reflected Quad Fuel Rods produce.

Note: Unlike the EU reactor, the fluid reactor's power generation (HU/t) is not dependent on the Fuel Rods, but rather the amount of Heat Vents. Unmanaged Fuel Rod heat in the EU reactor would simply make the reactor overheat faster but not reduce its power output; in the Fluid Reactor, unmanaged Fuel Rod heat is stored in the reactor core.

The Fluid Reactor's power output is essentially measured in hot coolant: if you're not producing that, you're not producing power. (Although if you're heating your core, technically you're banking up power to output later. Or you're about to be testing how good your protective shielding is. HAYO!)

Coolant Cycle[edit]

Operating the Fluid Reactor will heat Coolant into Hot Coolant which is then pumped out into a Grid Liquid Heat Exchanger.png Liquid Heat Exchanger (likely several, depending on how fast your reactor produces heat), which will produces HU and outputs Coolant which goes right back into the Fluid Reactor to complete the cycle.

The heat that the Liquid Heat Exchanger Outputs can be used to power a Grid Stirling Generator.png Stirling Generator to directly generate EU, or to heat a Grid Steam Generator.png Steam Generator to generate either Steam or Superheated Steam.

Out of all the ways to generate power, superheated steam is the best; with the correct setup, it can produce significantly more power than a standard EU reactor!

Example[edit]

Let's figure out how the following Mark I fluid reactor works:

An example of a working fluid reactor Internal layout

The blocks on the fluid reactor itself are decorative from the Chisels mod.

We can calculate that reactor gives 1408 Heat Units per tick as it gives 28160 Heat Units per second, and there are 20 ticks in one second.

The most effective way to use heat is to convert it to Superheated Steam and use it on turbines.

In order to use up all heat, we need 15 Liquid Heat Exchangers because each of them can take at most 100 HU/tick.

There are three Liquid Heat Exchangers per each Steam Generator. Steam Generators are set to 221 Bar and 10 mB(milliBucket)/tick. 221 Bar is the minimum for Superheated Steam, and 10 mB/t can handle 300 HU/t. Steam generators work on Distilled Water to prevent calcification.

1 mB of Coolant handles 1 HU, so the Coolant flow is 1408 mB/t. One Reactor Fluid Port can handle 1000 mB/t, so there are two input and output ports.

There are two rows of Fluid Distributors - one for hot and one for cold Coolant. They are separated by one block vertically in order to not blow up the reactor by mixing and blocking the flow.

Fluid distributors layout

The main bus for the hot coolant is mostly comprised of Fluid Distributors set for distribution to negate the lack of balancing. Essentially, the whole hot bus is constantly filled with hot coolant because balancing it between five Boilers would be a nightmare.

HU-to-EU conversion

The HU-to-EU conversion is done by the five units by the following cycle:

  1. Three Liquid Heat Exchangers provide 300 HU/t to one Steam Generator.
  2. Steam Generator is set up to create Superheated Steam at 221 Bar and 10 mB/t.
  3. Superheated Steam goes to the right, to the first Kinetic Steam Generator, which turns the Superheated Steam into just Steam and passes it to the second Kinetic Steam Generator.
  4. The second Kinetic Steam Generator condenses a bit of Distilled Water, passing it to the Fluid Distributor on the left, and passes the cold Steam to condenser.
  5. Condenser turns cold Steam back into Distilled Water, passing it to another Fluid Distributor to its left.
  6. Both Fluid Distributors carry Distilled Water back to the Steam Generator.
  7. The Kinetic Units that were created by Kinetic Steam Generators are turned into EU by Kinetic Generators.

The checklist before launching this reactor would be too long. One is suggested to launch it on the low HU yield and see if everything works as intended before ramping up the power.

The resulting output of this 1408 HU/t fluid reactor is is approximately 1020 EU/t. The current best Mark I nuclear reactor yields 420 EU/t.

Considering the time it takes to build the fluid reactor without it blowing up, it's better to build the usual reactors if you aim for the increase of EU per your building time.

Safety[edit]

The fluid reactor is inherently safe! This may or may not be a good thing, depending on just how HAYO you are.

In order to function, the fluid reactor needs its 5x5x5 outer shell completely intact. At 85% core heat, that shell will start melting into lava source blocks - and when it does, your reactor will turn off, since it is no longer a complete fluid reactor. It is important to note that even though the reactor won't gain any extra heat, it won't lose any, either, unless you do something to remove it - and so your casing will continue to melt (judging by past observations, only the standard pressure vessel blocks will, not any of the interfaces). And of course anyone within the 7x7x7 area will be damaged by radiation ticks, since the core heat is also > 70%.

In order to make a Fluid Reactor actually explode (without standing next to it and playing with Grid Heat-Capacity Reactor Plating.png Heat-Capacity Reactor Plating, anyway), you'd need to take your heat from < 85% to 100% in a single reactor tick, which would mean producing over 1500 HU/t at just the right (wrong) time.

But you wouldn't really want to do that, would you? At least not in your own reactor.

Field Note: If your reactor is composed of an array of heat exchangers and fans and they all melt in the same time you can actually get from 0% to 100% (Learned this the BAD way, and it's pretty easy to reproduce, for the sake of Newton, keep an eye on it all times!)