I can upgrade the shelter

In the refuge within the city police station, Chen Xin had already taken off his Power Armor in the room where the SWAT team installed the geothermal heat pump, and was checking the equipment beside the geothermal heat pump.

For the SWAT team, the geothermal heat pump is a crucial piece of equipment. It is precisely because of its existence that the SWAT team can maintain a certain level of heating and hot water supply in this extreme cold weather, allowing some people suffering from hypothermia and frostbite to take a hot bath to relieve the damage caused by long-term exposure to a low-temperature environment.

However, the heat supply from the geothermal heat pump equipment is limited, and if heating is maintained, the bathroom cannot be kept open for a long time. Therefore, the SWAT team's bathroom can only be opened at intervals, allowing only those with severe frostbite to come in and take a hot bath to alleviate the frostbite.

"Comrade Chen Xin, is there a way to enhance the heat supply of the geothermal heat pump?" Standing next to Chen Xin, the political commissar looked at him checking the equipment and asked him with a hopeful tone: "Thanks to the equipment you sold us back then, it really made a big difference! Can you find a way for the equipment to produce more thermal energy?

We really need more hot water right now! If you can do it, just say what you need! Even if it means throwing my 200ish pounds into the boiler to burn, I won't need you to do it; I'll jump in myself!"

When Chen Xin heard the political commissar say this, he shook his head with a smile and said, "It's not that exaggerated! If we have to burn something, it should be coal. Burning a body is a pure waste of fuel since the human body has too low a caloric value! Besides, modifying the equipment requires materials, not burning people."

"So what materials do you need, Comrade Chen Xin? I'll have someone prepare them right away!" The political commissar, seeing Chen Xin's confident attitude, hurriedly asked what materials were needed for the modification, seemingly eager to have Chen Xin modify the geothermal heat pump.

"I'll need to add two more compressors, enlarge the evaporator tank, and add new pipelines..." Chen Xin blurted out and then told the political commissar: "Get two compressors from air conditioners, and then some steel pipes and iron sheets, and that should be enough."

Just as Chen Xin finished speaking, the political commissar hurried to turn around to prepare the materials, but Chen Xin suddenly called him back.

He seemed to remember something, slapped his forehead, and said to the political commissar, "Also, send someone to notify the people at the Polytechnic College's research institute, let them know I'm here, and have them send someone over."

"Alright, I'll arrange that right away!" The political commissar, after confirming what Chen Xin said, jogged off to arrange Chen Xin's requests, while Chen Xin continued to ponder whether there was a better way to enhance the heating from the geothermal heat pump.

While Chen Xin was contemplating the modification of the geothermal heat pump, Uncle Ding also reported the boiler conversion to the director. After receiving approval, he returned to the SWAT team and found Chen Xin.

"The director has agreed on modifying the boiler, Chen Xin. How do you plan to modify it? How long will the modification take, and do we need to shut down the boiler?" Uncle Ding approached Chen Xin without any formalities and directly asked the questions he was most concerned about.

Chen Xin thought for a moment and said, "I need to see the boiler first."

"Alright, I'll have someone take you to inspect the boiler." Uncle Ding nodded and agreed.

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Led to the boiler room of the city police station's refuge, Chen Xin went to the working boiler. Listening to the roaring flames inside the boiler and feeling the heat waves emanating from it, he knowingly nodded.

"It can be modified without shutting down." Chen Xin turned to look at Uncle Ding, who had come along, and answered his previous question: "However, the modification will require quite a few things. I'll write up a list later, and once the materials are prepared, we can start the modification."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Ding felt a sudden relief in his heart.

Addressing the heating issue in this extreme cold weather is a challenge facing all refuges in the city. If Chen Xin can solve this issue, even temporarily, it would save many lives and be a great relief for everyone.

With peace of mind, Uncle Ding also hurriedly urged Chen Xin to list the materials needed for the modification.

Chen Xin agreed and didn't closely examine the boiler, as for the system, merely seeing the boiler was enough.

The coal-fired boilers used in the medium-sized refuges in the city are layer-fired boilers. The advantage of such boilers is that they have less auxiliary equipment, are easy to manufacture and install, and easy to operate, making them suitable for medium and small capacity boilers.

However, since their combustion form is to lay coal chunks flat on the chain grate for layered combustion, they have the drawbacks of incomplete combustion with a high content of combustibles in the slag and fly ash, and the efficiency of the boiler generally only reaches 75-85%, leaving much room for improvement.

Of course, this room for improvement is for Chen Xin, who has the system, because he can change its combustion method without shutting down or dismantling the boiler, transforming it from an inefficient layer-fired to a more efficient chamber combustion or vortex combustion type.

The difference between these boilers and the layer-fired type mainly lies in the combustion method, as both adopt the method of thoroughly pulverizing the coal into coal powder and then fully burning it, thereby achieving a higher degree of combustion and boiler efficiency than the layer-fired type.

However, chamber combustion boilers require the raw coal to be screened, crushed, and milled into coal powder with most particle sizes smaller than 0.1 mm and then blown into the furnace chamber for suspension combustion, needing much more auxiliary equipment and a higher level of automation compared to layer-fired boilers.

Such boilers are evidently less suited for medium-small refuges but are more suitable for large refuges due to their scalable size.

Thus, Chen Xin did not choose chamber combustion boilers as the modification direction but chose the Vortex Furnace.

This type of combustion method for boilers somewhat bridges layer-fired and chamber combustion. It first burns crushed coal particles or coarse coal powder with particle sizes smaller than 10 mm in a vortex pattern using a prefaced cyclone burner, producing high-temperature flue gas that then enters the main furnace for radiant heat transfer, allowing the coal to burn fully and release heat.

Compared with chamber combustion boilers, Vortex Furnaces can also be made smaller, thereby making them very suitable as a modification direction.

The only issue is that Vortex Furnaces are limited by the ash melting point and slag viscosity concerning suitable coal types; the range of boiler load changes is small, making rapid start-stop impossible.

And since the temperature inside the furnace can reach about 2000°C, the NOx emissions from harmful gases are significant, causing serious atmospheric pollution.

But now, in this extreme cold apocalypse, boilers run non-stop, and with the sky in its current state, concerns of atmospheric pollution have to be postponed, allowing humanity to survive this calamity first before addressing other issues.