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Heat exchanger

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Heat exchanger.png
Heat exchanger

Heat exchanger entity.png

Recipe

Time.png
3
+
Copper plate.png
100
+
Pipe.png
10
+
Steel plate.png
10
Heat exchanger.png
1

Total raw

Time.png
8
+
Copper plate.png
100
+
Iron plate.png
10
+
Steel plate.png
10

Map color

Fluid storage volume

Input: 200
Output: 200

Health

Quality normal.png 200
Quality uncommon.png 260 Quality rare.png 320
Quality epic.png 380 Quality legendary.png 500

Resistances

Explosion: 0/30%
Fire: 0/90%
Impact: 0/30%

Stack size

50

Dimensions

2×3

Energy consumption

Quality normal.png 10
Quality uncommon.png 13 Quality rare.png 16
Quality epic.png 19 Quality legendary.png 25
MW (heat)

Heat output

Quality normal.png 103/s
Quality uncommon.png 134/s Quality rare.png 165/s
Quality epic.png 196/s Quality legendary.png 258/s
steam

Maximum temperature

1000 °C

Fluid consumption

Quality normal.png 10.3/s
Quality uncommon.png 13.4/s Quality rare.png 16.5/s
Quality epic.png 19.6/s Quality legendary.png 25.8/s
water

Mining time

0.1

Prototype type

boiler

Internal name

heat-exchanger

Required technologies

Nuclear power (research).png

Produced by

Assembling machine 1.png
Assembling machine 2.png
Assembling machine 3.png
Player.png

The heat exchanger exchanges heat between a heat connection and water to produce steam.

Heat exchangers produce ~103 steam with a temperature of 500°C every second.

Heat exchangers will not produce steam until they reach 500°C. The steam produced is exactly 500°C hot, even if the exchanger is hotter. Heat exchangers have a heat capacity of 1 MJ/°C. Thus, they can buffer 500 MJ of heat energy across their working range of 500°C to 1000°C, and require 485 MJ of energy to warm up from 15°C to 500°C when initially placed.

Calculating steam production rate

Heat exchangers produce 103 steam/second.This can be calculated by relying on steam turbine data: A steam turbine consumes 60 steam/second and produces 5.82MW (assuming 500°C steam). This means a single unit of 500°C steam has 5.82MW / (60/s) = 0.097 MJ of energy. A heat exchanger produces 10 MJ a second, therefore it produces 10MJ / 0.097MJ = 103.0927835 steam per second.

The steam production rate can also be calculated using the energy consumption: 1 Heat exchanger consumes 10MW, so it's putting 10,000,000 joule of energy into heating water/steam per second. To heat up 1 unit of water 1 degree, 200 joules are needed, so the heat exchanger is heating up water by 50,000°C in total. But the water only gets heated up from 15°C to 500°C, so by 485°C. So the 50,000°C are enough to heat up 103 units of steam per second, since 50,000 / 485 = 103.09. Since steam is produced from water in a 10:1 ratio, this also means that 10.3 units of water are consumed per second.

History

  • 2.0.0:
    • Decreased water use by 10x, changing the water:steam ratio from 1:1 to 1:10.
  • 0.17.67:
    • Heat pipes (also in reactors and heat exchangers) glow with high temperatures.
  • 0.15.0:
    • Introduced
    • Doubled the heat capacity of water from 0.1kJ per degree per liter to 0.2kJ

See also