Codex Energy Steam Turbine

Steam Turbine

The Condenser window: 5 energy and tank bars, 6 value, status and redstone lines.

The Steam Turbine turns steam into energy. Steam drives a rotor with real inertia: it spins up slowly, keeps turning for a while without steam and delivers its full output at the rated speed of 1,800 rpm. The used steam leaves as Exhaust Steam, which the Condenser turns back into water. Together with an Industrial Boiler it is the first real power plant, tier I.

How it works

1. Steam flows through the Rotor Blades: each blade passes up to 25 mB/t. The flow setpoint on the screen decides how much the valve lets in.
2. Steam drives the rotor. Every mB carries 1 E into the rotor, times the blade efficiency: 100 % at the rated speed, at least 30 % while starting, less again when the rotor overspeeds.
3. The generator takes energy out. Each Generator Coil takes up to 120 E/t out of the rotor, scaled with the speed (full at 1,800 rpm, half at half the speed).
4. Energy goes into the buffer and out through the Energy Output Ports.
5. Exhaust Steam leaves 1:1 through the Fluid Output Port.

The rotor speed settles where the steam brings in as much as the coils take out. That is why the number of coils must fit the steam (see below).

Building

Shown size: 5 wide, 5 high, 5 deep (adjustable: Width 5–15, Height 5–15, Depth 5–16).

One example of many: within the rules on this page, size and arrangement are up to you; the Build Projector shows the plan in every allowed size.

	Key	Block	Count
	A	Turbine Casing	86
	B	Industrial Sight Glass	8
	C	Rotor Blade	8
	E	Rotor Shaft	3
	G	Generator Coil	2
	H	Energy Output Port	1
	D	Fluid Input Port	1
	F	Fluid Output Port	1
	0	Steam Turbine Controller	1

Step by step

Each picture adds one layer, from the bottom up; the newest layer is bright. The controller wall faces you on the left.

Step 1: Layer 1

Parts in this step: Turbine Casing (A) ×25

Step 2: Layer 2

Parts in this step: Turbine Casing (A) ×13, Industrial Sight Glass (B) ×2, Rotor Blade (C) ×2, Generator Coil (G) ×1, Steam Turbine Controller (0) ×1

Step 3: Layer 3

Parts in this step: Turbine Casing (A) ×11, Rotor Blade (C) ×4, Industrial Sight Glass (B) ×3, Rotor Shaft (E) ×3, Fluid Input Port (D) ×1, Fluid Output Port (F) ×1

Step 4: Layer 4

Parts in this step: Turbine Casing (A) ×13, Industrial Sight Glass (B) ×3, Rotor Blade (C) ×2, Generator Coil (G) ×1

Step 5: Layer 5

Parts in this step: Turbine Casing (A) ×24, Energy Output Port (H) ×1

Rules

• Size: at least 5 × 5 × 5, at most perf.maxStructureSize (default 16, allowed 5–32) in every direction. Width and height (the cross-section seen from the controller) must be odd.
• Edges and corners: only Turbine Casing.
• Walls: Turbine Casing, Industrial Sight Glass, Inspection Hatches, the ports and the controller.
• Controller: in a wall face, front facing out, with the inside behind it. The wall with the controller is the front of the turbine: the shaft runs from it to the back wall.
• Shaft: the centre line of the inside, from the front wall to the back wall, is all Rotor Shaft.
• Inside around the shaft: air, Rotor Blades and Generator Coils. Each slice of the inside (each layer across the shaft) holds either blades or coils, never both.
• Needed: at least one blade and one coil.
• Ports: Fluid Input Port (steam in), Fluid Output Port (exhaust steam out), Energy Output Port (energy out). Any number, in wall faces; each works only on its outer face.

Tip

Order of the slices Blade slices and coil slices may be in any order; it is the counts that matter. A 5×5 cross-section holds eight blades or eight coils per slice, a 7×7 one up to 24.

Coils for the steam

Each coil can take 120 E/t, while each blade brings at most 25 E/t. Plan one coil for every 120 mB/t of steam, rounded up, which is about one coil per five blades:

Blades	Steam (mB/t)	Best coils	Output (E/t, about)
8	200	2	185
16	400	4	373
24	600	5	585
32	800	7	780
48	1,200	10	1,175

• Too many coils hold the rotor far below its rated speed. The blades then work badly and the output collapses: eight blades with four coils settle at about 220 rpm and give less than a third of what two coils would. The screen says "Generator overloaded: fewer coils or more steam/fuel".
• Too few coils cannot take all the energy. The rotor runs above its rated speed, the blades lose efficiency, and with even less load it reaches the overspeed trip.

Tip

The Build Projector counts the coils The example and the Build Projector place as many coils as the blades' full steam flow carries at rated speed: two coils behind eight blades, the free places of the coil slice stay air. Deeper turbines get more coil slices at the back.

Operation in depth

• Flow setpoint: the - and + buttons change it by one blade's worth (25 mB/t), from 0 up to what all blades pass. A new turbine starts at 100 mB/t; raise it to use all blades.
• Steam flow is also limited by the steam in the tank and by room in the exhaust tank. If the exhaust steam is not taken away, the turbine stops as soon as the exhaust tank is full.
• Tanks: steam and exhaust tanks hold 32,000 mB each, or one second of the blades' full flow if that is more.
• Accepted steam: QNet steam and every fluid in the tag #qnet:steam, which includes #c:steam of other mods. Steam comes from an Industrial Boiler, a Heat Exchanger on a reactor loop, or any other steam source.
• Inertia: grows with blades, shaft length and coils. A big rotor needs a long time to spin up, but it also rides through short gaps in the steam.
• Friction: a small share of the rotor's energy is lost every tick, so a rotor without steam coasts down slowly.
• Generator I/O: the I/O button engages or disengages the generator. Disengaged, the coils take nothing: the rotor spins up faster, but no energy comes out.
• The server's volt.generatorOutputMultiplier (default 1.0, allowed 0.01–100.0) scales the output.

Overspeed

• Above 2,200 rpm a warning sign appears and the status says "Overspeed: reduce steam or engage the generator".
• At 2,600 rpm the overspeed trip closes the steam valve ("Tripped (overspeed): steam valve closed") until the rotor is back below 1,800 rpm. This happens normally when nobody takes the energy: the buffer is full, the coils cannot unload the rotor, and it speeds up.
• The S button switches the trip off. Without it, the blades wear above the trip speed and lose efficiency; a little further up, or when they are worn through, the rotor bursts in an explosion that grows with its inertia. With safety.safeMode (default false) the trip cannot be switched off. See Incidents.
• The wear is repaired whenever the turbine forms again, for example after you replace a blade.

The screen

• Status: "Running", "Stopped", "Overspeed: …", "Tripped (overspeed): …", "Generator overloaded: …" or the structure error.
• Bars for Steam, Exhaust steam and Energy.
• Speed (rpm), Steam flow, Flow setpoint, Power (energy made in the last tick), Blade efficiency.
• Generator: engaged or disengaged; Protection: "Overspeed trip on" or "Overspeed trip OFF: the rotor can burst".
• The diagram: steam → rotor (with the speed) → generator → energy, and exhaust steam out of the rotor.
• Buttons: - and + for the flow setpoint, I/O for the generator, S for the trip.

Automation

• Pipes bring steam to the Fluid Input Port and must pull the exhaust steam from the Fluid Output Port.
• The Energy Output Ports push the energy into cables on their outer face. With several ports the turbine's output is shared fairly between them; more ports do not give more energy.
• A Grid Monitor does not pause the turbine.

Error messages

Message	What to do
The controller must sit in a wall, front facing out	Put the controller into a wall face, front outwards, with the inside behind it.
Structure too small (…)	Build at least 5 × 5 × 5.
Structure too large or not closed near …	Close the wall at the position shown, or build smaller.
The turbine cross-section must be odd (…)	Make width and height odd (5, 7, 9 …).
Wrong block at … (expected: Rotor Shaft)	The centre line of the inside must be Rotor Shaft from front to back.
Wrong block at … (expected: Air, Rotor Blade, Generator Coil)	Only these blocks around the shaft.
Wrong block at … (expected: Turbine Casing)	Only Turbine Casing on edges and corners.
Blades and coils in the same slice near …	Keep every slice to blades only or coils only.
Missing parts: Rotor Blade ×1 / Generator Coil ×1	Add at least one of each.
Port not allowed here: …	Only the three port kinds above work.
Second controller at …	Remove the other controller.

Building the parts

	Redstone Dust
	Redstone Comparator		→ Steam Turbine Controller

			→ Turbine Casing

Block of Iron
Block of Iron			→ Rotor Shaft
Block of Iron

			→ Rotor Blade

	Block of Iron		→ Generator Coil

When you break the controller, the steam, the exhaust steam, the stored energy and the rotor's speed are lost.

In the world

While the turbine is formed, the shaft and blade blocks are hidden and a rotor is drawn in their place that turns at the real speed and coasts down without steam; the coils stay visible. Steam streams behind the sight glass with the flow. Breaking a part shows the blocks again.

The Condenser

The Condenser closes the water loop: it turns Exhaust Steam back into water at the boiler's ratio, 10 mB of exhaust steam to 1 mB of water.

• Cooling: air cooling condenses 200 mB/t of exhaust steam. Every water source block touching the condenser adds 200 mB/t, up to 1,400 mB/t with water on all six sides. Neighbours are counted every 20 ticks; flowing water does not count.
• Pipes: exhaust steam goes in on every side, water comes out on every side; pipes must pull the water.
• Screen: bars for exhaust steam and water, Condensing (the rate of the last tick) and Cooling capacity (the most it can condense with its water neighbours).
• When you break it, it keeps its exhaust steam and water.
• While it condenses, its fan turns and water drips from the spout.

	Bucket		→ Condenser

Tip

Condensers for the example The example turbine passes up to eight times 25 mB/t of exhaust steam, which one condenser with air cooling takes completely. A turbine with 24 blades makes three times as much: one condenser with two water sources beside it.