Thermo-Electric Generator

Introduction

The Thermo-Electric Generator (TEG) is an atmospherics-based generator that operates on the simple principle of cold air loop plus hot air loop equals power. As long as the set-up is appropriate, the TEG's output will scale up and can make anywhere between almost no power to enough power to satisfy the energy draw of 1000 space stations.

How to Set Up the TEG

This is a basic setup that will yield estimately 600-800kW which is enough to charge most of the SMES.

The IceMeta Station is set up differently, follow the guide here instead.

Some of the main differences in this setup:

• The injector in the burn mix chamber needs to be manually turned on and set to max output.
• The filter for the burn mix chamber is flipped, so you need to filter O2 and Plasma instead.
• The last step can easily accidentally introduce the hot loop into the cold loop if not careful.

Adjusted steps:

1. Screwdriver and wrench the circulators and generator to release them from the ground.
2. At point 1, move the circulators and generator to the positions shown, alt-click the circulators to rotate them to the correct orientation.
3. Wrench the circulators and generator into place.
4. Using a multitool, change the mode of the circulators to the correct mode for each side (1 tap = cold, 2 taps = hot).
5. Screwdriver shut the circulators and the generator.
6. Wrench the center generator to complete the engine assembly.
7. At point 2, wrench down all of the CO2 cannisters.
8. At points 3, 4 and 5, turn on the pumps and max them.
9. At point 6, turn on the filter.
10. At points 7 and 8, turn on the pumps and max them.
11. At point 9, set the mixer to a burn mix, turn on the mixer to max pressure. (The nodes are coloured to determine which node is which gas - normally Node 1 = Green = Plasma, a default mix would be 60/40 oxygen/plasma, different ratios alter heat output and gas production). (NOTE: burn mix is tested to last nearly 50 minutes if you empty both tanks).
12. At point 10, put on a hardsuit and internals, go out the airlock to the south and click on the injector shown. Turn it on and max output.
13. At point 11, press the top button to close the blast doors to the burn mix chamber.
14. Once some gasses have entered the chamber, press the bottom button at point 11 to ignite the mix.
15. At point 12, turn on and set the filter to filter O2 and Plasma. Then turn on the valve just north of the filter.
16. At point 13, wrench down both of the CO2 canisters.
17. At points 14, 15 and 16, turn on the pumps and max them.
18. Once pressure/heat builds up in the hot loop (Indicated by the gas flow meter on the hot loop flashing) and the burn mix is over 30,000C (view the gas flow meter above the burn chamber):
    1. Un-wrench the canisters at point 2
    2. Turn off the pump at point 3
    3. Turn on the valves at points 17 & 18.
19. It will take some time for the power to build up.

1. Screwdriver and wrench the circulators and generator to release them from the ground.
2. At point 1, move the circulators and generator to the positions shown, alt-click the circulators to rotate them to the correct orientation.
3. Wrench the circulators and generator into place.
4. Using a multitool, change the mode of the circulators to the correct mode for each side (1 tap = cold, 2 taps = hot).
5. Screwdriver shut the circulators and the generator.
6. Wrench the center generator to complete the engine assembly.
7. At point 2, wrench down all of the CO2 cannisters.
8. At points 3, 4 and 5, turn on the pumps and max them.
9. At point 6, turn on the filter.
10. At points 7 and 8, turn on the pumps and max them.
11. At point 9, set the mixer to a burn mix, turn on the mixer to max pressure. (The nodes are coloured to determine which node is which gas - normally Node 1 = Green = Plasma, a default mix would be 60/40 oxygen/plasma, different ratios alter heat output and gas production). (NOTE: burn mix is tested to last nearly 50 minutes if you empty both tanks).
12. At point 10, turn on the pump and max it
13. At point 11, press the top button to close the blast doors to the burn mix chamber.
14. Once some gasses have entered the chamber, press the bottom button at point 11 to ignite the mix.
15. At point 12, turn on and set the filter to filter out CO2, H2O, Tritium, and Pluoxium.
16. At point 13, wrench down both of the CO2 canisters.
17. At points 14, 15 and 16, turn on the pumps and max them.
18. Once pressure/heat builds up in the hot loop (Indicated by the gas flow meter on the hot loop flashing) and the burn mix is over 30,000C (view the gas flow meter above the burn chamber), turn on the valves at points 17 and 18.
19. It will take some time for the power to build up.

TEG Fundamentals

The Thermo-Electric Generator is a simple engine. This engine uses hot and cold gas, (hot and cold sides of the circulators) to generate energy. To make more power, you will need to scale the hot and cold gasses and maintain the temperature difference between them. The limiting factor being how the engine is set up and having too great of a difference in gas temperature. A great difference in temperature can overpower the other circulator, preventing power generation. However, an unmodified engine will usually lead you into the biggest, most common problem: clogs.

Clogging happens when gasses in the hot loop gets too hot for the pumps to handle. Pumps, (and valves) are limiters to this engine, pressure pumps clog the easiest because they pass little, precise amounts of gas. Volume pumps fare better but will also eventually clog. Though there does exist a clog-less pump, the documentation for it can be found here.

NOTE: You can't have straight pipes all the way around because gas would not flow and would just stay still.

If you plan to leave the engine unmodified, you will want to have a small amount of gas flowing in the hot loop. As due to physics, gas pressure will increase as temperature increases and it will decrease as temperature decreases.

TEMP DIFFERENCE (TOO COLD)!!

Self-explanatory. the gas in the cold loop is too cold compared to the hot loop, this can be caused by a number of things. however easily remedied by two things

• release some gas or filter it back to the storage tanks.
• increase heat to the hot loop by adding more gas to it or alter fuel ratio.

TEMP DIFFERENCE (TOO HOT)!!

Like above but for too hot

• Release some gas.
• Increase coolness to the cold loop by adding more gas or expand cooling loop.

NOTE: if these don't work then it might be needed to replace the pressure pumps with volume pumps

Troubleshooting

Help! the TEG isn't assembling!

Answer: Keep calm, follow step one, make sure the TEG parts are rotated so the marked indent is facing the core, and that the left side circulator is set to cold with a multitool.

The TEG isn't making any power!

Answer: Look to see what's lighting up on the TEG, the TEG will tell you what's working and what's not, if the cold loop isn't working it will be dark, if it is working it will be a radiant blue. The same is true for the hot, but the colour will be red.

The cold side isn't lit up!

Answer: Check each pipe section with an analyser, see that each pipe section has gas inside of it, follow the pipes around with the pumps, one will be off or there is a break in the pipe. if the space loop has gas on one end but not on the other, go into space and check for damage to the heat pipes.

The cold side is not bright blue!

Answer: Check all the pumps are on maximum pressure, this indicates there's a flow but its not an effective flow, so there is likely a pump not pushing at all its capacity.

The hot side isn't lit up!

Answer: Check the pipes for gas, check that the pipes are not over 4500kpa. Check that all the pumps are on, check that the burn chamber is cycling hot gas.

The hot side is not bright red!

Answer: This indicates something is throttling the heat, check that the burn chamber gas cycle is functioning, check that the hot loop pumps are all at maximum pressure.

Neither side is lit up!

Answer: It is possible that you set the TEG's cold and hot loops on the wrong side, if true there should have been a short time of a loop indicating some flow before completey stopping, check inside the TEG's display that the cold loop is indeed cold and not hot. If the loops are the wrong way around, un-wrench the TEG apart, open both circulators with a screwdriver, and multitool both circulators, screwdriver both circulators closed then wrench it back together.

Sabotaging The TEG

Unfortunately for filthy traitors, the TEG is a safe engine, however that doesn't mean you cannot stop it from producing power.

• Your greatest tool for sabotaging this engine is how daunting the pipe works look, something as simple as turning off the injector from the computer console or turning off the filter will cause the TEG to clog inside the loop and will reduce the power output until the hot loop is non-functional.

• Making a break in the cold loop in space will also stop the engine from producing power or by engaging the valves to the waste pipe you can clear all the pipes of gas so that there is nothing to gain energy from.

• It's also possible to intentionally clog the hot loop and stop the engine from producing power.

• Another more complicated method is to reattach the pipes so that the only thing left inside is very hot gas but no way to send it to waste, so that when someone does come to fix the issue they instead release a large quantity of harmful hot gasses.

• Simply opening the plasma canister at max pressure will start a plasma fire in the room that will destroy the TEG and the observation computer, this option should be done with care as atmos fuckery will often raise the ire of the admins.

There are many other creative ways to mess around with the TEG, just take care to not violate the murder bone rules, whilst a TEG won't explode its high-end damage is station ending, more so than that of a loose tesla or singularity.