Is this an efficient design? Thermal Expansion/Minefactory Reloaded Energy

[TonyVS]

I have read that the Joules that atomic science uses is NOT the same a minecraft Joules which can lead to a lot of confusion

[jakalth]

well, some more testing, I can confirm that the conversion from turbine output to either MJ or RF is indeed broken.  Setting the turbine output multiplier to 0.03 gives you about the same output as you would expect to get from a turbine in 1.5.2 tekkit.  about the same, but not quite...  and no matter what I tried adjusting, currently, there is no way to make piping steam to a turbine work correctly.  You either 1: run out of steam, or 2: have turbines running at 10% output...

 

 

-------------- Back on Topic------------------

 

magma crucibles powering towers of magmatic dynamos works, yes, but it is by far not the most efficient way to generate power.  They need a lot of netherrack to generate the lava and most of the power generated by the dynamos goes into keeping the magma crucibles running.

 

Biofuel is still a viable system to use, but...

1: you want to supply your bioreactors with at least 4 types of material, 6 preferably

2: you need to let your bioreactors completely fill up with biofuel before you start using the biofuel for anything.

3: you need to have a way to control the input of items into the bioreactors or they will just fill up with only 1 type of thing...

4: you'll want a stockpile of each type of material, at least 6 stacks of each, per bioreactor you plan on running

5: your farms will need to be large(I suggest silver upgrades or better) to supply enough to keep up with the reactors

6: you need to keep the reactors filled with at least 2 stacks of each material type at all times, if one ever drops below this, it'll probably get filled with something else, reducing the bioreactors efficiency.

7: ink sacks are still viable, just have several squid, I suggest 4+, per rancher.

 

The bioreactors can produce fuel faster then they used to due to an increase in buffer speed.  but they no longer limit how many of a single item type can be added so will fill up with only 1 thing if you do not keep an eye on them and/or keep plenty of stockpiled items on hand to keep them filled up.  They do not become efficient enough to be viable untill you can supply them with at least 4 different item types.  but once you can do that, they are mostly maintenance free.  The bioreactor can still power 4+ generators each, as long as they are supplied with enough materials to keep fuel production up.

 

I also highly suggest using an ME sub-system to keep them supplied with biofuel generating materials.  This seems to work the best since you can insert stacks at a time, but you'll still need to do the initial setup of fuel types manually, since the precision export bus will just export one type of item until there is no more room for that type...

 

Oh!  Railcraft!  Lets not forget that fun little thing.

 

1: (2) max sized railcraft solid fuel low pressure boilers.

2: (1) large tree farm to supply a hearty amount of logs.

3: (2) redstone furnaces to convert logs into charcoal.

4: (16) steam dynamos to consume the steam from the boilers.

5: (2) aqueous accumulaters to supply each boiler with water.  1 per boiler.

5: a way to pipe the charcoal into the boilers, water into the boilers, and pipe the steam into the steam dynamos.

 

produces 1280RF/tick, is self sustained once the boilers are up too temp, is scalable, and you still have saplings to use for other things, like biofuel or biomass.  You can even replace the 2 low pressure boilers with a single high pressure boiler, but you'll need more charcoal too keep it hot and it takes longer to heat up.  High pressure boilers are less fuel efficient then 2 low pressure boilers, but require slightly less resources to make and are far more compact.

 

:edit: corrected a mistake in the total output. forgot a 0...

Edited March 9, 2014 by jakalth

[TonyVS]

I also highly suggest using an ME sub-system to keep them supplied with biofuel generating materials.  This seems to work the best since you can insert stacks at a time, but you'll still need to do the initial setup of fuel types manually, since the precision export bus will just export one type of item until there is no more room for that type...

 

 

how do you get the me export to feel all nine items? it was my understanding that in the interface it will not send the second item till the first one is all gone

[jakalth]

only way to get the me subsystem to work, or any other method to work for that matter, is to get your bioreactor completely filled with biofuel.  Once this is done, the reactor will get backed up with resources.  this is when you can manually replace some of the resources in the bioreactor with different ones.  Once you have manually replaced the resources and have the ones you want in there, the export bus(you'll want either the precision or fuzzy one) will keep those stacks topped off at all times.  And as long as those stacks are topped off, you won't have to worry about the reactor filling with just 1 type any longer.

 

also, the (precision or fuzzy) export bus will only insert 8 different items.  too add the ninth, you'll need a second export bus(fuzzy, precision, or basic).

Edited March 9, 2014 by jakalth

[rogueclon946]

Isn't that something logistics pipes could do? Not sure because I haven't actually used them, but there are plenty of ways to hook them up to ME networks.

[Kezr]

Biofuel is still a viable system to use, but...

I'm having trouble with my bio reactors draining their produced fuel at a glacial pace. The buffer fills up in seconds, but then the fuel just sits there and drips out a drop at a time. I'm not sure what I'm dong wrong, but I can't seem to get the fuel to leave the reactor faster.

[TonyVS]

only way to get the me subsystem to work, or any other method to work for that matter, is to get your bioreactor completely filled with biofuel.  Once this is done, the reactor will get backed up with resources.  this is when you can manually replace some of the resources in the bioreactor with different ones.  Once you have manually replaced the resources and have the ones you want in there, the export bus(you'll want either the precision or fuzzy one) will keep those stacks topped off at all times.  And as long as those stacks are topped off, you won't have to worry about the reactor filling with just 1 type any longer.

 

also, the (precision or fuzzy) export bus will only insert 8 different items.  too add the ninth, you'll need a second export bus(fuzzy, precision, or basic).

ahh ok I suspected, that is one thing logistics does really well, I have been rolling an me/logistic cross around in my brain to get around that. i will posts pictures if I get it to work

[jakalth]

I'm having trouble with my bio reactors draining their produced fuel at a glacial pace. The buffer fills up in seconds, but then the fuel just sits there and drips out a drop at a time. I'm not sure what I'm dong wrong, but I can't seem to get the fuel to leave the reactor faster.

 

Well, that is normal for the bioreactor.  the buffer fills quickly, but that drips out into the main fuel storage much slower.  Believe me, it is much faster then it used to be.  Nearly twice as fast.  But when hooked up too Biofuel generators that still works just fine since the generators only sip fuel slowly.  Even with several generators it will eventually fill them all and keep them full of fuel when they are running full speed.

[TonyVS]

I figured out the logistics/me cross for bio reactors, you use logistic supplier pipes to request your nine items, partial. plug into a me interface and away you go, that way the suppler will only request when it needs something and not get overloaded.

 

[jakalth]

So this setup only supplies a set amout of items into the bioreactor?  instead of just trying to fill it?  cool.  You seemed to have found the solution I didn't find.

[TonyVS]

the you program the supplier pipe with how many of each item you want (usually one stack) and that is the max it will go to, and by choosing partial, it will refill up to the set amount and not above and all nine items, if you run out of the one then you have one empty spot is all

[jakalth]

sweet!  that is the solution to make it work.   Nice find TonyVS

[TonyVS]

here is an updated fully functional picture. the only difference is I added a provider pipe (it is what allows the request from the supplier pipes to actually work continually) the supplier pipes on their own where able to request a stack of each item but the me system had no way of knowing what was being consumed so it never refilled. the provider pipe allows the me system to see into the reactors and view levels of items, started out with 2000 buckets of bio-fuel at that first picture at just over 10,000 now. I would say it is working better then expected

 

[rogueclon946]

Question for you, partially due to not knowing about logistics pipes. Do you have the interfaces set to export what you're burning or do the pipes take care of all of that?

[TonyVS]

burning of biofuel you mean? nah I have a valve on the bottom of my steel tank feeding directly in to a tesseract which transports the fuel to another part of my station. the tanks work off gravity feed with I find adds realism 

[rogueclon946]

No I mean the saplings and whatnot you're burning to make fuel.

Edited March 10, 2014 by rogueclon946

[TonyVS]

both kinds of mushrooms, oak sapling, netherwart, wheat seeds, carrots, potatoes, cactus greens, cocco beans, I have auto farms for all of them using mfr machines and deep storage

[rogueclon946]

both kinds of mushrooms, oak sapling, netherwart, wheat seeds, carrots, potatoes, cactus greens, cocco beans, I have auto farms for all of them using mfr machines and deep storage

Yeah, I mean in your picture are your interfaces set to export them to the logistics pipes or do those take care of it on their own?

[TonyVS]

not at all, the supplier pipes do that, as I mentioned with the first picture, and the provider pipe allows the me system to see levels, the only thing I set was the supplier pipes, everything else is default