Deep Earth Heating Pump

The Deep Earth Heating Pump (DEHP) is an IV tier multiblock that uses geothermal energy to evaporate distilled water into superheated steam, or to heat coolant into hot coolant. The only other input is a fixed 480 EU/t which is a fraction of the power generated by the superheated steam. The DEHP deploys a mining pipe down to bedrock/void similar to a Fluid Drilling Rig or Ore Drilling Plant to capture the geothermal energy released by the planet's core. Direct steam mode consumes a fixed rate of 161 L/t of distilled water to produce 25,600 L/t of superheated steam. Coolant heating mode consumes a fixed rate of 192 L/t of coolant to produce 192 L/t of hot coolant. The DEHP can safely be disabled at any moment, but explodes if it ever runs out of cool fluid.

The hot coolant is used by the Thermal Boiler, Large Heat Exchanger, or Whakawhiti Wera XL to produce superheated steam, or the Extreme Heat Exchanger to produce supercritical steam. The steam is then used to generate power in a series of Large Steam Turbines. Expect around 12A IV per DEHP prior to the EHE and around 5A LuV per DEHP with the EHE.

Spreadsheet: GTNH Power Planner 2.9

The DEHP has no tiered components. Buses/hatches may replace any casing on the bottom layer of the structure. The input and output buses are optional and specifically for mining pipes if the one slot inside the controller is not enough. Stocking input hatches are NOT supported so use a regular input hatch instead. Multi-amp and laser energy hatches are also not supported, but a single HV energy hatch is all that is needed anyway. Use the Multiblock Structure Hologram Projector to visualize/build the structure.

Structure

• Controller: Front bottom center
• 15 Tungsten Frame Box
• 3-7 Heat Proof Machine Casing
• 1+ Energy Hatch: Any bottom casing (HV+)
• 1 Maintenance Hatch: Any bottom casing
• 0+ Input Bus: Any bottom casing
• 1+ Input Hatch: Any bottom casing
• 0+ Output Bus: Any bottom casing
• 1+ Output Hatch: Any bottom casing

Wallsharing

DEHPs may wallshare each of their sides to save on casings, frame boxes, and buses/hatches. Ensure that the output hatch is large enough to support the combined throughput of superheated steam or hot coolant.

The DEHP has two operating modes, listed below. Switch modes in the GUI of the controller or by right-clicking the controller with a screwdriver. Coolant heating mode is slightly more involved than direct steam mode because it requires a heat exchanger, but it produces 50% more steam in the end.

• Direct Steam - Consumes 161 L/t of distilled water to produce 25,600 L/t of superheated steam.
• Coolant Heating - Consumes 192 L/t of coolant to produce 192 L/t of hot coolant.

All fluid rates are fixed so it is perfectly safe to buffer distilled water or coolant in an input hatch on the machine, but be very careful to not run out of cool fluid or else the DEHP explodes immediately from overheating. That includes starting in the wrong mode because it only checks for one cool fluid, not both. The power consumption is also fixed at 480 EU/t which is a fraction of the power generated by the superheated steam. Maintenance issues reduce the output by 10% each.

The very first thing that the DEHP does when enabled is deploy its mining pipe(s) straight down towards bedrock/void. This can take a few seconds depending on the current y-level of the machine. If necessary, press the "abort and retract mining pipes" button inside the GUI of the controller to immediately stop the process. Fluid is neither consumed nor produced during the deployment or retraction of mining pipes so the only danger is accidentally voiding anything directly underneath the center of the machine.

The DEHP produces a respectable 25,600 L/t of superheated steam or 192 L/t of hot coolant for costing hardly anything and running forever. The rate of hot coolant is also more than enough to produce superheated steam in a Thermal Boiler or Large Heat Exchanger. Multiple DEHPs are required to produce superheated (SH) steam in a Whakawhiti Wera XL or supercritical (SC) steam in an Extreme Heat Exchanger. The EHE is recommended over the WWXL because the supercritical steam yields more power overall, even if it is more machines to build.

Conversion Ratios

• 1 L/t Hot Coolant = 200 L/t SC Steam (EHE) or 200 L/t SH Steam (Thermal Boiler, LHE, WWXL)
• 160 L/t SC Steam = 160 L/t SH Steam = 160 L/t Steam = 1 L/t Distilled Water

The natural order of large turbines is listed below. All three types of steam have the same conversion ratio so the output of one can feed directly into the input of the next. At maximum efficiency, 100% of the steam is recycled back into distilled water--forming a sustainable closed loop system. Later on, the XL Turbo variants of each can be used instead. Both SC steam and SH steam generate 2x more EU than regular steam at the same optimal flow rate.

• The Large SC Steam Turbine generates power from SC steam and converts it to SH steam at a 1:1 ratio.
• The Large HP Steam Turbine generates power from SH steam and converts it to regular steam at a 1:1 ratio.
• The Large Steam Turbine generates power from regular steam and converts it to distilled water at a 160:1 ratio.

If the steam throughput is too high for steam valves or fluid pipes, use fluid P2P tunnels instead. They have no transfer limit and evenly distribute all fluids between all output connections.

The following are some example setups for various turbine materials. These tables only assume a few DEHPs but this can be scaled up to meet higher optimal flow rates. Use the planner linked at the top for a complete list of turbine materials and full setup breakdowns.