Orbital Probe Convert-a-tron 250 Refinery questions

[cejmp]

I've done a proof of concept launch and am ready to build a refueling infrastructure in Minmus SOI. 

I'm going with ground drills (which I have working) launching to an orbital refinery. (It's a 600 ore probe ship with 4 drills) Fortunately I have high ore deposits not far from the equator.

Questions about refinery design:

1) Is 1 Convert-a-tron enough refining capacity for 600 ore trips with minimal downtime on the driller?

2) I presently have the ship configured with a S3-7200 below for rocket fuel and an FL R1 Monoprop above. Will 2 medium thermal control panels work for continuous refining runs if I put them on the S3 tank?

3) Will 2 Gigantors provide enough power?

4) How many 1k batteries do I need for uninterrupted shadow operation? 

Thanks!

[bewing]

49 minutes ago, cejmp said:

1) Is 1 Convert-a-tron enough refining capacity for 600 ore trips with minimal downtime on the driller?

Yes. It'll convert 600 ore in just a few minutes.

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2) I presently have the ship configured with a S3-7200 below for rocket fuel and an FL R1 Monoprop above. Will 2 medium thermal control panels work for continuous refining runs if I put them on the S3 tank?

Yes, 500kw of core cooling is plenty.

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3) Will 2 Gigantors provide enough power?

Barely. 4 would be ample.

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4) How many 1k batteries do I need for uninterrupted shadow operation? 

If I understand correctly, your converter is in orbit? If so, it depends on the altitude and inclination of your orbit. If you put the thing into the proper polar orbit, it won't get shadowed at all (but you have to adjust the orbit once a month to face it toward the Sun again).

If you want an equatorial orbit, then the shadow time is always less than half your orbital period.

Edited February 27, 2017 by bewing

[cejmp]

Thank you!

[Cubfan]

I'm not sure how you intend to use your orbital station but, if it's for refueling, 600 ore is very little. You'll need a lot of trips to build a significant amount.

Minmus is perfect for mining. Either with a fuel shuttle, or an ore transport to an orbital station like you're doing. It has low enough gravity that you could lug a lot more if you want. It might be a bit excessive, but for a while I used a 48,000 ore transport to a refinery in LKO.

I guess that is a bit excessive. But it worked pretty well.

[cejmp]

21 minutes ago, Cubfan said:

I'm not sure how you intend to use your orbital station but, if it's for refueling, 600 ore is very little. You'll need a lot of trips to build a significant amount.

 

It's possible(likely) that I misunderstood the conversion rates. I want to have the capacity to fill the R1  monoprop tank and the S3 7200. I don't mind doing more than one trip, but I'd like to do it in less than 3.

 

EDIT: 

 

I found a conversion calculator. I had the numbers ALL wrong!

Edited February 27, 2017 by cejmp

[Snark]

2 hours ago, cejmp said:

I'm going with ground drills (which I have working) launching to an orbital refinery.

FWIW, if you'd like to simplify your life, why not just make a single ship that's a miner, and a refiner, and a fuel depot?  i.e. convert-o-tron, four drills, some tiny ore tanks, a big fuel tank.

Fill it up by landing, then mining-and-refining until the fuel tank is full.  Then take off and put it into orbit.  Whenever its fuel supply runs low, land again to repeat.

Rationale:  Minmus gravity, and the dV to orbit, are both very low.  You don't actually save much by not sending down your big fuel tank and your refinery.  And doing it this way means you can fill the big fuel tank all in one trip, and you don't have to do a rendezvous every time you bring the miner up.

Not that there's anything at all wrong with setting it up with a surface miner and an orbital refinery, if that's how you like to play.     And of course, the whole doing-rendezvous thing can be fun all by itself.  Just pointing out an alternative that can simplify things, if simplification is something you might prefer.