Using space to make steam for my rocket

[DaveSatx]

I''ve been thinking of using the extreme heat from space debris to make the steam for my rockets since the first few weeks of access to the version.
I was in no hurry, still getting the hang of other things after all.  

So it dove tailed pretty nicely into the realization that entombment is the only reliable way to cool things up there, so i combined the two.

The liquid cutoff is connected to a thermosensor that keeps the oil at least 222F.

Initially I wasn't paying close enough attention and the water I pumped in fresh from a sieve managed to cool the oil below consensation and suddenly
I returned to find the chamber 2/3 full of water with a vacum above, LOL.

Fortunately after setting the thermosensor properly (it was up at default which is i think 500F) it heated up great.  627K steam per tile thank you very much with 521K left after filling my first rocket.  which hasn't launcher yet but still

 

[LeDorean]

I did it, I feed my steam rocket this way, I had to put the water level 5 tiles below because it was cooling the ceiling down below 100C, it works withouth temp sensors or anything. I build it, I waited the meteor shower, leave the space debris over the bunker tile and after a couple of cycles i had enough steam for all my launches. 

[Ted__]

You can use metal refinery as heat source

[JasonMK]

Help me out here. I see how the rego would heat up the bunker tiles on top, but what translates the heat down into the oil?

[GemeinerJack]

@JasonMK

regolith slams into bunker doors, falls down on glass tiles, glass tiles heat up, transfer heat into pipes, pipe transfer heat to aquatuner which collects it to boil the water

[Ixenzo]

8 hours ago, GemeinerJack said:

regolith slams into bunker doors, falls down on glass tiles, glass tiles heat up, transfer heat into pipes, pipe transfer heat to aquatuner which collects it to boil the water

 

That seems really convoluted. Why not simply use tempshift plates to transfer heat from the tiles directly to the water tank jsut below? The uninterrupted row of tiles or closed doors act as a heat battery. It's slower, but much simpler.

Also wouldn't really work if you have an extensive solar setup.

[SackMaggie]

12 minutes ago, Ixenzo said:

That seems really convoluted. Why not simply use tempshift plates to transfer heat from the tiles directly to the water tank jsut below? The uninterrupted row of tiles or closed doors act as a heat battery. It's slower, but much simpler.

Sure it's simpler place down but I think it not effective In this build he collect heat into pipe and move it to one spot.

It's much simpler to work with once you set it up the heat in pipe can be use for other thing after you don't use steam engine anymore.

[Ixenzo]

50 minutes ago, SackMaggie said:

Sure it's simpler place down but I think it not effective In this build he collect heat into pipe and move it to one spot.

It's much simpler to work with once you set it up the heat in pipe can be use for other thing after you don't use steam engine anymore.

I disagree with using the word effective here. Efficient, yes, pipe would be much more efficient. But effectiveness depends on the application.

If the goal is to produce enough steam for a few rockets until one can transition to kerolox engines, and you won't install a solar setup, setting up a dedicated heatsink and boiler is completely uncalled for and drastically reduces overall effectiveness of the system.

[GemeinerJack]

The aquatuner variant allows a more precise way of cooling it down and the option to cool it down much further. And you want it a lot cooler, unless you are using nobium or themium diggers. Steel auto miners only can take up to 275°C and the regolith can slowly heat it up to over 300°C.

And there is always an option to turn the steam chamber into a steam turbine room (even below your solar panel room if you want to) when you move on to later rocket engines.

[DaveSatx]

I guess none of you saw the discussion about cooling robominers.  We went back and forth and learned that they only cool down in vacuum if covered. ie a bit of liquid on the tile or entombment. Liquid on the glass will reduce solar power and I only want 100% power on my solar panels so.. entombment it is.

 This was built to both generate steam and cool the glass inevitably heated up a bit from all that entombment all partially visuallized by that initial desire to use the immense and renewable heat of space

13 hours ago, JasonMK said:

Help me out here. I see how the rego would heat up the bunker tiles on top, but what translates the heat down into the oil?

So after saying the above

 

10 hours ago, GemeinerJack said:

@JasonMK

regolith slams into bunker doors, falls down on glass tiles, glass tiles heat up, transfer heat into pipes, pipe transfer heat to aquatuner which collects it to boil the water

Almost exactly..

Storm happens regolith piles up, is dropped down. The robominers that aren't entombed this time heat up digging the others out. the ones entombed equalize with the regolith and the glass to a temp well below breaking.  the petroleum loop also gets a bit warmer. if the oil chamber gets below a target temp the petro is run through the 'tuner, pulling 14F off of each packet.  once temp is above the target the bypass opens and it freely cycles.

I get 100% solar power from each panel and I rarely if ever have to re-re-re-re-replace another miner LOL.

2 hours ago, Ixenzo said:

 

Also wouldn't really work if you have an extensive solar setup.

I respectfully disagree, I feel adaptation would be pretty easy  based on my several hundred cycles.   But 'reality' rules, I'll enjoy the challenge.

 

25 minutes ago, GemeinerJack said:

The aquatuner variant allows a more precise way of cooling it down and the option to cool it down much further. And you want it a lot cooler, unless you are using nobium or themium diggers. Steel auto miners only can take up to 275°C and the regolith can slowly heat it up to over 300°C.

And there is always an option to turn the steam chamber into a steam turbine room (even below your solar panel room if you want to) when you move on to later rocket engines.

I ran that setup (it was my first time reaching space and sending rockets btw) for over 100 cycles, maybe 200 - the falling rego did a lot of transfer to the upper doors, i almost always saw the robominers cooling after being entombed but yes eventually i figured without a loop i'd have more breaking lol.

Haven't played with a turbine yet but that IS my plan

 

[Ixenzo]

1 hour ago, DaveSatx said:

I feel adaptation would be pretty easy

How so? It's a water tank attached to the shield, solar panels would be blocked by it. And the existence of solar panels implies that the shield will be open, i.e. non-conductive, most of the time, leaving little time for the heat to transfer to the water tank.

It would work, but inefficiently. Hence I specifically noted that it would be very effective at quickly knocking out the first few steam rockets: very little actual infrastructure to build, so the steam production can be set up almost immediately.

If the plan is to eventually build a fully automated self-sufficient solar setup, the cooling loop is required anyway, so might as well use that, trading overhead for repurposing.