Maintaining Reservoir Content Temperature

[Zarquan]

I am currently attempting a project to condense liquid hydrogen without the use of supercoolant or any other space material.  To do this, I need to carefully decrease the temperature of my hydrogen to -252.1 C and then send it to a thermoregulator to burst it down the rest of the way.  I hope to pick it up with a pump before it boils and send it straight to an aquatuner to stabilize it.

My method for creating the stable temperature is with a gas reservoir.  As many people know, gas in gas reservoirs don't thermally interact with the gas reservoir in a vacuum.  However, the gas does interact with the floor on the middle tile, which is directly below the output.

I found this can be counteracted by building the machine on mesh tiles.  When I built the reservoir on mesh tiles, they remained thermally isolated.

Similarly with liquid reservoirs, if the tile under the green output on the reservoir is not a mesh tile, the liquid inside will interact.

In short, if you need precise temperatures on your liquids or gases and you want to use reservoirs to achieve them, build them on mesh tiles.

Spoiler

As you can see, the temperature on the middle tile decreased.  The hydrogen in the machine is warmer and everything else is the same.

 

[Gurgel]

Excellent info, thanks! 

[crypticorb]

I'm not sure how to use this info.

Does the hydrogen stored in the tank average with all other contents? Is this what you mean by maintaining a stable temperature? How does that help you with getting the hydrogen to 15C above the target point? You still need supercoolant to get it lower, as it'll condense in the gas pipes and break.

I'd love to see a picture or save file for your build.

[Zarquan]

25 minutes ago, crypticorb said:

I'm not sure how to use this info.

Does the hydrogen stored in the tank average with all other contents? Is this what you mean by maintaining a stable temperature? How does that help you with getting the hydrogen to 15C above the target point? You still need supercoolant to get it lower, as it'll condense in the gas pipes and break.

I'd love to see a picture or save file for your build.

Yes, it instantly averages the temperatures.  I am attempting to use it to get it within 0.5 C of condensing so I can put it in a thermoregulator and immediately pick it up in to pre-cooled pumps.  Then in to an aquatuner and to a reservoir.  It would be harder if the gas was heating up due to contact with the ground.

I have a machine that works I think, but I want to make sure before I post it.  And it will get its own thread.  This is not a short process, at least 40 cycles to get any results and you will only get few kgs.  But once you have a few kgs, then you can use aquatuners to make as much as you want. 

I am currently reliably pumping -251.6 C hydrogen in to precool the final liquification chamber (which I want as cold as possible for obvious reasons).  I hope to get to -252.0 C.  That way, it overshoots the condensation point as much as possible, giving me the most time to pick it up with my pump and send it to the aquatuner.

Probably once I have a working model, I can make a faster system.

[crypticorb]

1 hour ago, Zarquan said:

Yes, it instantly averages the temperatures.  I am attempting to use it to get it within 0.5 C of condensing so I can put it in a thermoregulator and immediately pick it up in to pre-cooled pumps.  Then in to an aquatuner and to a reservoir.  It would be harder if the gas was heating up due to contact with the ground.

I have a machine that works I think, but I want to make sure before I post it.  And it will get its own thread.  This is not a short process, at least 40 cycles to get any results and you will only get few kgs.  But once you have a few kgs, then you can use aquatuners to make as much as you want. 

I am currently reliably pumping -251.6 C hydrogen in to precool the final liquification chamber (which I want as cold as possible for obvious reasons).  I hope to get to -252.0 C.  That way, it overshoots the condensation point as much as possible, giving me the most time to pick it up with my pump and send it to the aquatuner.

Probably once I have a working model, I can make a faster system.

The only question I have is how you get the hydrogen to condensation point without breaking pipes? Or is breaking pipes fine, so long as you can pump it immediately?

I know about the 1000g/s limiting liquid pipes to prevent state changes, is there a method similar for gasses?

[Zarquan]

3 minutes ago, crypticorb said:

The only question I have is how you get the hydrogen to condensation point without breaking pipes? Or is breaking pipes fine, so long as you can pump it immediately?

I know about the 1000g/s limiting liquid pipes to prevent state changes, is there a method similar for gasses?

Yes, the pipes are supposed to break. 

I am not using the small packet exploit to do this.  I am running only full 1000 g packets.

Also, 60 cycles in, and my thermoregulator is -246.0 C!  SO CLOSE!!!!

[crypticorb]

5 minutes ago, Zarquan said:

Yes, the pipes are supposed to break. 

I am not using the small packet exploit to do this.  I am running only full 1000 g packets.

Also, 60 cycles in, and my thermoregulator is -246.0 C!  SO CLOSE!!!!

I'll be watching for your new thread if you succeed, I've been working on a few space materials free methods to liquify hydrogen.

I wanted to try and make my first rocket a hydrogen engine, but that may not happen.

[PhailRaptor]

Would it be possible to make use of that single tile interaction in some way to add additional cooling to the Reservoir?  I don't know how you'd force that tile to get colder, but I'm sure somebody can figure it out.  If that were possible, that might give you the extra little push your system needs.

[Zarquan]

You could, but I think you would be better off using radiant piping in a cold area.  But it could be used for precision cooling, but then you have to worry about detecting the exact temperature in the reservoir.