Electrical Generators

Generators convert the thermal power output by a reactor into electrical power and waste heat. They generate both Megajoules and stock Electric Charge according to whatever is needed at the time (ElectricCharge is generated first). Their efficiency determines what percentage of that thermal power is converted into electricity. The rest becomes waste heat. All sizes of generators function exactly the same, but suffer from a large penalty if they are attached to a wrong-sized reactor.

The effectiveness of an electric generator is primarily determined by its percentage of Carnot efficiency parameter. An ideal heat engine generates power at the theoretical Carnot efficiency. However, in practice most heat engines operate at a somewhat lesser efficiency. Your true efficiency is dependent on the temperature of your reactor and the temperature of your radiators. The hotter your reactor and the colder your radiators are, the closer your efficiency will be to the maximum.

Typical heat engines in space use closed cycle Brayton gas turbines. These give a maximum theoretical efficiency of 24%. Upgrading the electric generators changes them from Brayton Cycle Turbines to a solid state heat engine with no moving parts - this ups the theoretical efficiency to 60%!

If you use a Fusion reactor, you can tweak the generator to a Direct Conversion generator instead. Direct conversion generators are vastly superior to regular generators and offer a theoretical efficiency of 85%. However, these generators only operate on charged particles, which are only produced by fusion reactors.

This part must be connected directly to a reactor in order to function

Below are stats for upgraded Reactor/Generator combos. Output ratings are at 55%. Results may very based on atmosphere thickness and number of radiators used.