Primitive man's heater temperature control

EIO scheme is only applicable to version 0.5.2 and earlier, it is recommended to use the scheme without EIO pipeline provided at the end of the article.

Author: @fangshuishu

1. Background

As a primitive person who has just ended the Steam Age, whether it's alchemy or producing ethylene, you can't do without a heater. However, this important device is not only explosive but also burns your feet. When you follow the mission guide and solve the threat of explosion using a redstone comparator, you find that each time it stops and starts, the heater consumes fuel again. The high-frequency start-stop leads to unnecessary waste of fuel. The structure introduced in this article can roughly control the working temperature range of the heater through redstone signals.

2. Machine Introduction

Figure 1: Temperature control structure diagram

Structure as shown, where ③ and ④ are signal inputs that can control redstone signal strength.

Figure 2: Signal input that can control redstone signal strength

According to the original mechanism, when a redstone comparator is placed directly against a lectern, it outputs a redstone signal of a specific strength based on the page of the book open on the lectern. For example, if a book has 15 pages and the 6th page is open, the redstone comparator outputs a signal strength of 6.

Figure 3: At this time, output a redstone signal with strength 6

3. Introduction to Principles

1. The heater emits a redstone signal based on its own temperature, from 293K to 800K, with an average increase of 34K per redstone signal strength. Let the redstone signal strength emitted by the heater when working be X. ③ Input strength A determines the machine's working temperatureupper limit, ④ input strength B determines the machine's working temperaturelower limit.

2. X is input from the rear into comparator ②, and A is input from the side into ②. If X is greater than or equal to A, then ② outputs X from the front to latch ⑤; if X is less than A, then ② does not output a signal.

3. Comparator ⑥ is in subtraction mode. X is transmitted without loss through redstone conduit ⑦ to the side of ⑥, and B is input from the rear into ⑥. ⑥ outputs a signal strength of B-X from the front to ⑤; if the result is less than or equal to 0, no signal is output.

4. Latch ⑤ initially outputs a signal upward. If there is a signal on the left, it changes to downward, and the direction remains when the signal disappears; if there is a signal on the right, it changes to upward, and the direction remains when the signal disappears; if there are signals on both sides simultaneously, then no signal is output either upward or downward.

4. Process Description

Taking the operating temperature of 500K~768K as an example, set A=14, B=6.

1. Heating phase: The heater starts working, the temperature rises, and X increases. When the temperature is less than 768K, X is less than 14, ② does not output; when the temperature is greater than 768K, X is greater than or equal to 14, ② outputs X to ⑤. Because there is a signal on the left of ⑤ and B-X on the right is less than 0 (no signal), it changes to output a downward signal. The sticky piston receives the signal, pushes the cobblestone, and the heater is blocked and stops.

2. Cooling phase: Because the latch signal disappears without changing the output, X decreases, and the disappearance of the left input of ⑤ has no effect on the piston's state. The temperature continues to decrease until B-X is greater than 0, the latch inputs a signal on the right, the output changes to upward, the piston loses the signal, pulls the cobblestone back, and the heater resumes operation.

5. Summary

Thank the expert who told me about the latch, without him I wouldn't have thought of this.

Heater, it's a piece of cake!

A cheaper solution

If you think the above solution is still too expensive—fiddling with the lectern, building comparators, nesting stone pressure plates like Russian dolls due to modding, having to go to the original world for quartz or trade with villagers—the whole thing ends up costing more than expected. You might ask: "I just want to burn coal slurry and polyethylene, and I don't want to worry about structural compactness or temperature control flexibility. Is there a more cost-effective solution?"

Some have it, some don't. Please see @void's plan.

Figure 4: A cheaper temperature control scheme (range: 596K~700K)

The scheme is as shown in the diagram. All redstone components use More Red's components. The cost is only a few blocks of smooth stone, sticks, and redstone. The most expensive material in this structure is probably the slime balls for sticky pistons (the lectern was forgotten to be removed and is not used). A total of 1 OR gate, 2 NOT gates, and 1 latch are used. Among them, the OR gate can be regarded as a redstone repeater. This device activates the ① OR gate and ② NOT gate respectively according to the different transmission distances of redstone signals of different strengths, to control the output of the ③ latch signal.

a few key points

1. The temperature control range is actually adjustable. You can try changing the positions of the ① OR gate (acting as a redstone repeater) and the ② NOT gate tightly attached to the ③ latch. The position of the ① OR gate determines the upper limit of the temperature range; the farther it is from the heater, the higher the upper limit. The ② NOT gate determines the lower limit; the closer it is to the heater, the lower the lower limit.

2. Due to the nature of the latch, this device has handedness, as shown in the following diagram:

Figure 5: The difference is whether the NOT gate ④ before the piston exists.

3. If you want to save more, you can change sticky pistons to normal pistons, pushing up blocks affected by gravity. For example: sand.