The TEG generates power by exchanging heat between hot and cold gasses.
On the station, hot gas is usually created by burning plasma, and an array of [textlink="heat-exchanging" link="Radiators"] pipes in space radiates away heat to cool down circulated gasses.
The circulators take in either a hot or cold gas, and pass it through the machine to exchange heat.
The gas then gets output on the other end of the circulator. The generator produces the actual power and outputs it over an [color=orange]HV wire[/color].
There are 2 major [textlink="pipenets" link="PipeNetworks"] to worry about here: [color=red]The Hot Loop[/color] (where gas will be burnt for heat), and [color=cyan]The Cold Loop[/color] (where circulated, heated waste gas will either be removed into space or cooled back down).
Make sure that [color=#a4885c][bold]both [textlink="pipenets" link="PipeNetworks"] do NOT mix[/bold][/color], as only heat should be transferred between the two through the TEG.
As stated above, there are many different layouts one can follow to heat up (or cool down) gasses; this part of the guide will cover some common methods one will often see for the hot loop, involving [color=red]the Burn Chamber[/color].
Most (if not all) stations have the burn chamber separated from the main atmospherics block by a 1-wide spaced grid, to prevent the flow of scalding hot gas to Atmos if there was a breach. The chambers consist of 3 important parts:
- The [textlink="Air Injector" link="AirInjector"]/[textlink="Passive Vent" link="PassiveVent"]
The [textlink="air injector" link="AirInjector"] (or [textlink="passive vent" link="PassiveVent"]) injects air (or allows air to flow) into the burn chamber.
Either should be supplemented with a pump before it, to keep pressures high.
There is a notable difference between the [textlink="passive vent" link="PassiveVent"] and the [textlink="air injector" link="AirInjector"]; the [textlink="air injector" link="AirInjector"] can only keep injecting air up to [color=#a4885c]9MPa[/color], which can be reached very easily with a good burn.
Ideally, switch out the [textlink="air injector" link="AirInjector"] for a [textlink="passive vent" link="PassiveVent"] connected to a volume pump.
Instead, use a network configurator to connect all the [textlink="scrubbers" link="AirScrubber"] to a nearby air alarm, and set the air alarm's [textlink="scrubber" link="AirScrubber"] settings to scrub everything except Oxygen and Plasma, and to siphon air as well.
This ensures that as much heat as available can be collected and sent to the TEG.
Note that this is just one of many ways you can setup the hot loop; [color=#a4885c]feel free to mix and match setups as needed![/color]
[textlink="Volume pumps" link="Pumps"] in replacement of [textlink="pressure pumps" link="Pumps"], [textlink="radiator" link="Radiators"] loops for heat collection, or even a Pyroclastic anomaly to provide said heat!
As with the Hot Loop, the Cold Loop must also be setup to operate the TEG.
However, the Cold Loop is usually a lot more low-tech than the Hot Loop; in reality, the Cold Loop only has to be "relatively" cooler—hey, room temperature is technically cooler than the surface of the sun, right?
There are 3 main methods you will see used for the Cold Loop: [color=#a4885c]The Water Cooler[/color] (see: Liltenhead's video on the TEG), [color=cyan]the Coolant Array[/color] and [color=#a4885c]the Freezer Loop[/color].
An equally naive method as the Pipe Burn, this simply involves taking some useless gas (in this case, Water Vapor) and flowing it through the TEG and into space. It's dirt-cheap and simple, at the cost of efficiency and permanent loss of gas.
Setting this up is so simple, even Hamlet could manage it. Take an output of a gas (here, Water Vapor), send it through the Cold side of the TEG, and then vent it into space.
- Connector Port: Use this to input a gas with high heat capacity; most of the time, Plasma or Frezon is used to do so, as they both have very high specific heat capacities (although almost any gas will do). (Yes, Plasma =/= Hot. You can cool it down, and it acts as a excellent heat exchange medium.)
- Input/Output Pumps: Used to make sure gas keeps flowing through both the Circulator and the radiator array. As the gas cools down and heats up (and as it flows through the Exchanger), pressure must be applied for it to keep flowing.
- Radiator: Basically, just a bunch of radiators in space. Not much to say, besides the fact that it cools down the gas inside it. Make sure the radiators are [color=#a4885c]placed on lattice, not plating[/color]! Otherwise, the heat-exchange efficiency will be greatly reduced, as the radiators aren't directly exposed to space below them.
Most of the time, you will see this method being used in efficient TEG setups.
It's basically just the Coolant array, but replacing the radiators with a freezer.
Even though the freezer does use power, it is only a small fraction of what the TEG can generate, and it's better than the default Coolant array at the moment, so go fish.
