Heat, coolant and Steam Turbine limits

Specific heat capacity tells you how much energy a mass needs for a temperature change. Thermal conductivity describes heat transfer; it does not tell you how much heat the material stores. A large pool of Water can absorb substantial heat because both its mass and specific heat are high. It is a reserve, not a way to delete heat.

For a single material that stays in one phase: heat in kDTU = mass in kg × specific heat in DTU/g/K × temperature change in K. Heating 1,000 kg of Water by 10 degrees takes 41,790 kDTU. A steady 10 kDTU/s input takes 4,179 seconds, or 6.965 cycles, if nothing else exchanges heat with it.

A Thermo Aquatuner lowers passing liquid by 14 degrees and draws 1,200 W while operating. At 10 kg/s with Water, it transfers 585.06 kDTU/s out of the liquid. The heat enters the machine’s surroundings; without a heat sink that area becomes hotter. Different coolant heat capacities change the transferred heat, even though the temperature step and electrical rating stay the same.

The Steam Turbine has a 125 °C steam-intake threshold and a 100 °C maximum operating body temperature. Those are different checks. At full flow it takes up to 2 kg/s of Steam, returns Water at 95 °C and produces up to 850 W. A 200 °C full-flow steam supply reaches its rated output; hotter steam does not remove the power cap.

The turbine also heats its own body: 4 kDTU/s while operating, plus 10% of the heat removed from the steam. Cool the body as well as supplying steam. Do not use the building’s much higher damage-overheat value as its operating limit, and do not count all turbine power as profit before subtracting Aquatuner and pump demand.

Check the destination material on each transition, not only its temperature. Some transitions produce more than one material. A coolant that freezes or boils in the pipe is no longer the liquid your loop was designed for; leave room for the Aquatuner’s entire temperature step, not just its inlet temperature.