User:EvilJackCarver/research notes/"Afterburner" SM
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I've managed to successfully get power out of an "afterburner" SM chamber - as in, the chamber the Shard is in, is literally on fire.
Just to repeat that point - the chamber the Supermatter Shard is in, is literally burning.
The setup requires mild pipework modification - you need to add a filter in the hot loop somewhere to filter out CO₂ or your fire will go out. The rest of the modification is in the cold loop - the pumps and outlet injectors are at the same pressure as the SM normally is, but instead of a canister of LN₂ on the cold loop, I ran it off of two canisters of plasma. Plasma is a superior coolant, and is needed to prevent the hot loop from overheating. The only reason we're not using it on the hot loop is we're actually burning off the plasma it gives off, and we don't want to burn up all of our coolant.
The engine is tricky to start. For starters, you need to wait for the plasma to cool off to around -200 Celsius. After that, what I did was I turned off the output and input injectors at the Engine Cooling Console, and turned on the Emitter until it caught fire. Once it caught fire, I turned back on the injectors and let it run as normal. The engine doesn't delaminate because the cold loop is cooling the hot loop to -180 Celsius, and the emitter hitting it causes it to emit the fuel needed for a self-sustaining combustion.
Using this setup, I was able to get a steady 560 kW of power... however, this is admittedly one of the riskier setups I've tried.
The setup's pros:
- Lots of stable power.
- The frigid cold loop and extra coolant in the cold loop means the cold loop seriously chills the hot loop. Done right, you can get -210 Celsius at the SM chamber coolant intake.
The setup's cons:
- It is a pain in the ass to start. You need to Dutch-oven it to get the combustion going.
- It is very risky - If you don't open the valves quickly enough, the fire could cause some serious delamination.
- It requires constant attention - the Supermatter shard is literally on fire while you're producing power.
- It will not work planetside. It'll delaminate within minutes.
- You need to actually add a filter to filter out the carbon dioxide, or it will snuff out your fire.
- People coming into the enginebay may see the SM chamber on fire and panic.
- THE SUPERMATTER SHARD IS LITERALLY ON FIRE
Given the above, I honestly wouldn't recommend this engine. It's too risky, and not idiot-resistant enough.