Machines

Machines

Every QuantaVolt block that works on its own, without forming a multiblock. Plants (boilers, turbines, reactors …) are described on their build pages; see Getting Started for the overview and Recipes for the crafting recipes.

Numbers are defaults. Where a value comes from the server configuration, the key is named.

General rules:

• Energy is in E (1 E = 1 FE), fluids and gases in mB, heat in HU. See Energy, Fluids and Gases.
• Generators push energy into neighbors by themselves. Fluid and gas outputs are pulled by pipes (the machine does not push them).
• Gases go in and out only through Pipster's gas pipes.
• QuantaVolt has no wrench or other tools. Machines are mined with a pickaxe.
• Machines with a front (Energy Cell, Electric Heater, Energy Transformer, Sensor Module …) face you when you place them.

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Generators

Basic Dynamo

Burns furnace fuel and makes energy.

Input	1 fuel slot: any item with a furnace burn time (a bucket's container is returned, e.g. an empty bucket from a lava bucket)
Output	40 E/t while burning (basicDynamoOutput, times generatorOutputMultiplier)
Burn time	Vanilla burn time, divided by fuelConsumptionMultiplier (coal: 1,600 ticks)
Buffer	50,000 E, pushes up to 400 E/t into all six neighbors

A new fuel item is only started when the buffer has room for at least one tick of output. While it burns, the front shows a flickering fire, the dynamo gives light like a lit furnace and crackles with flames and smoke.

Thermoelectric Generator

Makes power from a temperature difference between its six neighbors. It consumes nothing.

Neighbor	Side	Weight
Lava (source or flowing), blocks in tag quantavolt:thermoelectric/hot_strong (empty by default)	hot	3
Magma Block, Fire, Soul Fire, Campfire, Soul Campfire (tag quantavolt:thermoelectric/hot)	hot	1
Packed Ice, Blue Ice (tag quantavolt:thermoelectric/cold_strong)	cold	3
Water, Ice, Snow Block, Powder Snow, Frosted Ice (tag quantavolt:thermoelectric/cold)	cold	1

• Output = 6 E/t × the smaller of hot weight and cold weight (times generatorOutputMultiplier). One hot side alone produces nothing.
• A hot or cold block that touches several Thermoelectric Generators is split evenly between them.
• Neighbors are checked every 20 ticks. Buffer 20,000 E; energy is pushed into all neighbors.

Stirling Generator

Turns heat into electricity with a flywheel engine.

Heat in	Up to 240 HU/t in total: from HEAT ports or an Electric Heater on any side, and from hot blocks in the 3×3 area directly below
Ground heat (per block below)	Lava source 25, lit Soul Campfire 12, Soul Fire 12, lit Campfire 10, Fire 8, Magma Block 6 HU/t
Cooling	The four sides and the top: Packed Ice / Blue Ice count 3, water and the other cold blocks of the thermoelectric list count 1
Output	At most 100 E/t (stirlingMaxOutput), times generatorOutputMultiplier
Buffer	20,000 E, pushed into all neighbors

• The hot head has to warm up: the engine starts at 500 °C and draws more heat the hotter the head gets. Above 700 °C the generator refuses outside heat.
• Efficiency is 55 % of the Carnot efficiency between the hot head and the cold side. The cold side is 20 °C + 200 / (1 + cooling weight) °C, so good cooling raises the output.
• A hot block below several Stirling Generators is split between them. The area below and the cooling are checked every 40 ticks.

Geothermal Heat Exchanger

Boils water into steam with heat from the ground.

Heat sources	Lava source blocks (25 HU/t each) and Magma Blocks (6 HU/t each) in the area 5×5 blocks wide and 6 blocks deep below it
Nether	×1.5
Limit	1,000 HU/t
Conversion	1 HU → 1 mB Steam, 1 mB water → 10 mB Steam
Tanks	Water 8,000 mB (in, any side), Steam 16,000 mB (out, any side)

The area is counted every 200 ticks (unloaded chunks are skipped). A source inside the areas of several exchangers is split between them.

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Storage and logistics

Energy Cell

Capacity	1,000,000 E
Rate	2,000 E/t in and 2,000 E/t out
Sides	Accepts energy on every side except the front; pushes energy out of the front

Fluid Tank

32,000 mB of any single fluid, insert and extract on every side. The tank is see-through: the fluid inside rises with the fill level and shows the fluid's own texture and color.

Gas Tank

64,000 mB of any single gas (Pipster gas system), insert and extract on every side. For more, build a Large Gas Tank (64,000 mB per interior block, up to 32x32x32).

Creative Battery and Creative Gas Tank

Only in the creative menu, no recipe. Meant for testing plants and for creative builds.

• Creative Battery: an endless energy source. It pushes up to 1,000,000,000 E/t into every neighbor and accepts any amount from every side (the energy disappears).
• Creative Gas Tank: an endless supply of one gas. Choose the gas in its screen with < and >; every gas known to Pipster is offered, including other mods' gases. Pipster gas pipes in Extract mode take it from every side.

Pump

Pumps water from an infinite source.

Source	The block directly below must be a water source with at least two horizontally adjacent water sources (the vanilla infinite-water rule); checked every 40 ticks. Blocks are never removed.
Rate	100 mB/t of water for 10 E/t
Buffers	Energy 10,000 E (input up to 1,000 E/t), water 8,000 mB
Sides	Energy in and water out on every side

The screen shows whether an infinite source was found.

Energy Transformer

A buffer between two networks that limits its output, e.g. to protect thin cables.

Buffer	1,000,000 E
Input	Every side except the front
Output	Pushed out of the front, at most the set rate (default 1,000 E/t; buttons ×2 and ÷2; 1 to 1,000,000 E/t)

Emergency Vent

Accepts any gas and Steam / Exhaust Steam on every side and releases it into the air, up to 2,000 mB/t of gas and 2,000 mB/t of steam (tanks of 4,000 mB each). Use it where a plant's output could back up.

Sensor Module

Turns a reading of the machine on its back side into a redstone signal (place it while looking at the machine, so its back touches the machine). For a plant, put it against the controller.

Readings	The same readings as the ComputerCraft peripheral (energy stored, temperature, power output …); the button cycles through the numeric readings the machine has. Default: energy stored.
Modes	signal above threshold, signal below threshold, analog (threshold = full signal 15)
Threshold	Default 100; buttons ×2 and ÷2
Update	Every 10 ticks

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Processing

All processing machines take energy on every side (buffer 50,000 E, up to 1,000 E/t in), take inputs on any side and give outputs from any side. Inputs are taken when a job starts, the energy is drawn every tick of the job.

Machine	Recipe	Time	Energy
Crusher (1 input, 2 output slots)	Raw Uranium or uranium ore → 2 Uranium Dust	100 t	20 E/t
	Raw Lithium or lithium ore → 2 Lithium Dust	100 t	20 E/t
Chemical Processor (1 input, 1 output, 8,000 mB water tank)	Uranium Dust + 250 mB water → Yellowcake	160 t	30 E/t
	Lithium Dust + 250 mB water → Lithium Carbonate	160 t	30 E/t
Fuel Fabricator (2 inputs, 1 output)	Enriched Uranium → 4 Uranium Fuel Pellets	100 t	40 E/t
	4 Uranium Fuel Pellets + 1 Empty Fuel Rod → Uranium Fuel Rod	200 t	40 E/t
Matter Compressor (1 input, 1 output)	8 compressible blocks → 1 Compressed Matter	40 t	500 E/t

The inputs are item tags, so materials of other mods can join; see Materials and Ores.

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Gas machines

Electrolyzer

Two modes, switched with the button in the screen or from a computer.

	Electrolysis (default)	Fuel cell
In	Water + energy (any side)	Hydrogen + Oxygen (any side)
Out	Hydrogen + Oxygen (any side)	Water (any side) + energy pushed into all neighbors
Per mB water	100 E → 10 mB Hydrogen + 5 mB Oxygen	10 mB Hydrogen + 5 mB Oxygen → 1 mB water + 50 E
Rate	Up to 5 mB water per tick (500 E/t)	Up to 5 mB water per tick (250 E/t)

Tanks: water 8,000 mB, hydrogen 32,000 mB, oxygen 16,000 mB; energy buffer 100,000 E (input up to 2,000 E/t); fuel cell output buffer 20,000 E. It stops when an output tank is full. The fuel cell gives back half the energy the electrolysis used.

Gas Compressor

Turns Hydrogen or Syngas into its compressed form (same gas, marked as high pressure).

Rate	Up to 100 mB/t, 2 E per mB
Tanks	16,000 mB in, 16,000 mB out (any side)
Energy	50,000 E buffer, up to 1,000 E/t in

Compressed gas releases 25 % more heat in the Gas Turbine (hydrogen 7 instead of 6 HU/mB, syngas 5 instead of 4 HU/mB). The Gas Engine and the Industrial Boiler take only uncompressed gas.

Isotope Separator

Hydrogen → Deuterium for the Tokamak.

Recipe	10 mB Hydrogen + 400 E → 1 mB Deuterium, up to 2 per tick
Tanks	16,000 mB Hydrogen in, 16,000 mB Deuterium out (any side)
Energy	40,000 E buffer, up to 4,000 E/t in

Only uncompressed hydrogen is separated.

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Heat machines

Heat Exchanger

Turns hot coolant from a reactor or engine into steam. Two separate loops that never mix:

Primary	Hot Coolant in → water out (1 mB water back per mB hot coolant)
Secondary	Feedwater in → Steam out
Rate	Up to 100 mB/t of Hot Coolant → 1,000 mB/t of Steam from 100 mB/t of feedwater (10 HU per mB hot coolant)
Tanks	Hot coolant 8,000, returned water 8,000, feedwater 8,000, steam 32,000 mB

Water you put in always goes to the feedwater tank; water you pull out always comes from the primary return tank.

Condenser

Turns turbine Exhaust Steam back into water (10 mB exhaust → 1 mB water).

Rate	200 mB/t of exhaust by air, +200 mB/t for each adjacent water source block, at most 1,400 mB/t
Tanks	Exhaust 16,000 mB (in, any side), water 8,000 mB (out, any side)

Electric Heater

Turns energy into heat for the block in front of it (a Heat Port of a plant, or a Stirling Generator).

Conversion	1 E → 0.9 HU, at most 400 HU/t
Energy	Every side except the front; buffer 100,000 E, up to 2,000 E/t in

Heat nobody takes is not lost: it stays in the buffer as energy.

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Multiblock parts with their own function

These are placed in a plant's walls; they do nothing on their own.

Part	Plants	Function
Item / Fluid / Gas / Energy Input Port, Item / Fluid / Gas / Energy Output Port, Heat Port	all plants (each allows certain types)	Connect pipes, cables and other plants. Right-click opens the screen of the formed plant.
Inspection Hatch	box-shaped plants (also the Large Gas Tank)	Right-click opens the screen of the formed plant from any side.
Safety Valve	Industrial Boiler	Blows off steam above 380 °C, up to 1,000 HU/t each.
Reactor Instrumentation	Fission Reactor	Enables the automatic SCRAM.
Emergency Shutdown	Fission Reactor	A redstone signal at it scrams the reactor.
Plasma Diagnostics	Tokamak	Required part.
Stellar Diagnostics	Little Star	Enables automatic control.
Gravimetry	Micro Black Hole Plant (optional), Hawking Reactor (required)	Enables automatic control.
Matter Injector	Micro Black Hole Plant, Hawking Reactor	Feeds matter (0.05 mass units per tick each).

Details are on Safety and Incidents and the build pages.