Mining Drills/ISRU?

[DaElite101]

I'm setting up a refueling base on Minmus and I want to know a few things before I go and design the ISRU and drilling module. Right now I have a central base hub (Not much of a hub, it's just 2 docking ports attached to a lander can with a cupola module ontop), and a habitation module connected. I am testing their alignment in the VAB/SPH, because I'm a rebel.  Or that I'm just too lazy to actually test them on Kerbin first.

So, do mining drills need to be attached to an ore can to collect ore?

How less efficient is the 1.25m Convert-O-Tron than the 2.5m version?

What size radiator panels/TCS should I be using for say, 2 large drills and a 1.25m Convert-O-Tron? Yeah, probably not the best setup for a permanent mining base, but it works in the mean time.

That's all. Thank you!

EDIT: Have one last unrelated question. Where do I find the screenshots folder for KSP? I'm running Windows 10 if that's important.

Edited August 14, 2016 by DaElite101

[Aegolius13]

Drills do not need to be directly next to an ore tank, but you do need to have a tank on the craft.  The ISRU can't draw ore directly from the drills, but even the smallest ore tank can serve as a buffer if you have no need to store ore.

The 1.25m ISRU takes about ten times as much ore as the bigger one, to produce the same amount of duel. Especially with a surface base, I'd try to use the big one.

I generally like the medium retractable radiators.  4 are plenty for a basic mining operation.  Note the retractable radiators can draw heat from anywhere on the ship, while the static ones can only draw from up to two parts away.

[Reactordrone]

22 hours ago, DaElite101 said:

EDIT: Have one last unrelated question. Where do I find the screenshots folder for KSP? I'm running Windows 10 if that's important.

 

It's in a screenshots folder in the Kerbal space program folder so it'll usually look like, This PC> Local disc (C:)> Kerbal space program> screenshots

 

The 1.25m ISRU converter is very inefficient. It's only real use is for refueling small vessels on the surface where you can afford to throw away 90% of what you mine. Never haul ore into orbit and use that one to convert it except in emergency situations.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Reactordrone

[Streetwind]

On 14.8.2016 at 1:41 AM, DaElite101 said:

What size radiator panels/TCS should I be using for say, 2 large drills and a 1.25m Convert-O-Tron?

Each drill requires 100 kW "core transfer", and each process running on the ISRU requires 200 kW "core transfer". ISRUs can run multiple processes simultaneously, in which case their cooling requirements add up. Whether or not there is enough ore throughput to fully saturate a process does not matter; as long as the ISRU process is turned on, it produces that much heat.

Each radiator lists in the editor how much "core transfer" is provides. That way, you can choose the most suitable radiators for yourself, based on the number of drills and ISRU processes you plan to run simultaneously.

Note: fixed panel radiators only provide cooling to parts within two "hops" of themselves. In other words, they cool the part they are attached to, and every part attached to that, but nothing beyond that. Also, total radiator capacity is always significantly higher than the "core transfer" rating of each model. Don't let that confuse you. Core transfer is the only value that matters for drills and ISRUs.

 

On 14.8.2016 at 7:00 AM, Aegolius13 said:

to produce the same amount of duel

*YuGiOh intensifies*

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Streetwind

[bewing]

I agree with everything said above. Just wanted to add a bit of info about the radiators. The big drills generate 50kW each of core heat. So one small radiator is good enough, per drill. As said above, if you use the fixed radiators they need to be on the same parent part as the drill is attached to.

There are currently a couple of funny issues with drilling and conversion, that affect radiators. If you run a drill and a converter at the same time, the drill will magically increase its speed to produce ore at half the rate that the converter is using it. If you have retractable radiators this can cause your radiators to overheat, even if you have "enough" of them -- because the drill is being overactive. However, if you used the fixed radiators, they will not overheat in the same situation.

Edited August 15, 2016 by bewing

[Streetwind]

54 minutes ago, bewing said:

The big drills generate 50kW each of core heat.

You sure it's 50 for the large ones? I could swear I tested them at 100 only recently in 1.1.2...

[bewing]

Oh, you're right, it's 100kW. So two of the little 50kW ones per drill.

[magnemoe]

6 hours ago, bewing said:

I agree with everything said above. Just wanted to add a bit of info about the radiators. The big drills generate 50kW each of core heat. So one small radiator is good enough, per drill. As said above, if you use the fixed radiators they need to be on the same parent part as the drill is attached to.

There are currently a couple of funny issues with drilling and conversion, that affect radiators. If you run a drill and a converter at the same time, the drill will magically increase its speed to produce ore at half the rate that the converter is using it. If you have retractable radiators this can cause your radiators to overheat, even if you have "enough" of them -- because the drill is being overactive. However, if you used the fixed radiators, they will not overheat in the same situation.

One weird issue I run into is that if I leave an mining opperation alone to fill its tanks and land an craft for refueling some days later the panels glow red and have overheat bars, kerbals you eva from base might even have the overheat bars too. base typical have 3-4 drills and an large converter, nothing wrong happens and the temperature goes down. 

However my Tylo SSTO had two drills and a small ISRU, it had 9 small radiators, it had an nuclear reactor from mod but it would just require part pf one panel at the power level required. 
This worked well during time warp, however if I left it alone for a day and came back it would give an ISRU overheating and shutting down message and no fuel produced, adding  6 more small radiators fixed this. 

It look like the calculation who calculate the production wile not in loaded generate a lot extra heat on load, for me it was 50% more cooling needed. 
It might be that if you have multiple processes running it will run all in at once while calculating so it would be 200 for drill and 200+200 if you had both LFO and monprop active 

[Tyko]

8 hours ago, bewing said:

I agree with everything said above. Just wanted to add a bit of info about the radiators. The big drills generate 50kW each of core heat. So one small radiator is good enough, per drill. As said above, if you use the fixed radiators they need to be on the same parent part as the drill is attached to.

There are currently a couple of funny issues with drilling and conversion, that affect radiators. If you run a drill and a converter at the same time, the drill will magically increase its speed to produce ore at half the rate that the converter is using it. If you have retractable radiators this can cause your radiators to overheat, even if you have "enough" of them -- because the drill is being overactive. However, if you used the fixed radiators, they will not overheat in the same situation.

I ran into another issue with overheating that seemed to be tied to sunlight. I had a stable system with enough radiator capacity. Unfortunately it would keep shutting down when I time accelerated more than a day or so. I ended up watching it through a full day on low time acceleration and it looked like I had a heat spike with each sunrise.

Does that make sense? I'm guessing that sun would heat my radiators, but wasn't sure how the system did accounting when the load increased suddenly with sunlight. Would the system temporarily overload and then stabilize again like that?

Edited August 15, 2016 by tjt

[DaElite101]

On 8/15/2016 at 3:12 AM, bewing said:

I agree with everything said above. Just wanted to add a bit of info about the radiators. The big drills generate 50kW each of core heat. So one small radiator is good enough, per drill. As said above, if you use the fixed radiators they need to be on the same parent part as the drill is attached to.

There are currently a couple of funny issues with drilling and conversion, that affect radiators. If you run a drill and a converter at the same time, the drill will magically increase its speed to produce ore at half the rate that the converter is using it. If you have retractable radiators this can cause your radiators to overheat, even if you have "enough" of them -- because the drill is being overactive. However, if you used the fixed radiators, they will not overheat in the same situation.

So I'll probably need twice as many radiators, or static ones?

[magnemoe]

On 15.8.2016 at 6:55 PM, tjt said:

I ran into another issue with overheating that seemed to be tied to sunlight. I had a stable system with enough radiator capacity. Unfortunately it would keep shutting down when I time accelerated more than a day or so. I ended up watching it through a full day on low time acceleration and it looked like I had a heat spike with each sunrise.

Does that make sense? I'm guessing that sun would heat my radiators, but wasn't sure how the system did accounting when the load increased suddenly with sunlight. Would the system temporarily overload and then stabilize again like that?

On places with hot sun, Moho is prime example radiators will run hotter just to cool your base. with no irsu. isru come on top of this. For my Moho base I replaced some solar panels for radiators, however in my experience stuff runs wild then switching not then timewarp, timewarp tend to lower temperature even inside Moho orbit.

Use the extendable radiators on bases primary,they can be placed anywhere, below solar panels is an good position. 

Edited August 16, 2016 by magnemoe

[Tyko]

20 hours ago, magnemoe said:

On places with hot sun, Moho is prime example radiators will run hotter just to cool your base. with no irsu. isru come on top of this. For my Moho base I replaced some solar panels for radiators, however in my experience stuff runs wild then switching not then timewarp, timewarp tend to lower temperature even inside Moho orbit.

Use the extendable radiators on bases primary,they can be placed anywhere, below solar panels is an good position. 

I was seeing this on Minmus. I was running well within my radiator capacity until sunrise. When the sun hit them, my radiators would all overload but would then slowly drop back down.