CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER 209 LARGE-SCALE EQUIPMENT

After upgrading the shelter overall, Chen Xin’s workbench also improved with a +1 technology level enhancement, adding many new processing equipment and making the already convenient workbench even more handy.

Especially after the upgrade, the newly added blueprint recording function on the workbench was a feature Chen Xin had long been looking forward to, allowing him to save a lot of effort.

For the workbench upgraded by the system, having blueprints means that the system can automatically produce items according to the blueprints, without the need for Chen Xin to process each part and assemble them manually.

Chen Xin can completely, like when he made a pistol before, use the system’s processing function to turn parts and raw materials into the components needed by the blueprints, and then assemble them through the system to create a finished product, saving a lot of time and effort.

All he needs to do is enter the blueprints into the workbench’s blueprint library, which he must do himself, either by drawing it himself or by manufacturing a piece of equipment once so that the system records the blueprint, or he can input already-made blueprints through a computer.

By inputting the blueprints stored in his computer into the workbench using his laptop, Chen Xin also nostalgically picked up a pencil and laid out white paper on the workbench to draw a geothermal heat pump blueprint.

Of course, Chen Xin knew mechanical drawing; he learned this skill in high school, although he couldn’t draw a complete blueprint with just one pencil like his father could, mechanical drawing itself wasn’t a problem for him.

However, after later learning CAD drawing at work, this skill had long been unused, and now picking up the pencil again was like returning to an old profession.

It’s not that Chen Xin couldn’t use a computer CAD to draw blueprints, it’s just that his computer is just a laptop. Even though he specifically made an effort to upgrade it during the shelter upgrade, it does not change the fact that it is just a laptop, unable to handle CAD drawing while transferring large data files simultaneously.

This is not something that can be done with a single upgrade, and for Chen Xin, there is no need for it. The time it takes him to draw by hand is only slightly more than doing it on a computer.

After all, it’s just a simple assembly drawing and doesn’t require Chen Xin to detail every part.

Humming a little tune, with several pencils in rotation, a not-so-complex geothermal heat pump assembly blueprint was drawn by Chen Xin.

Submitting the blueprint through the system, as the newly drawn blueprint was scanned by a green light on the workbench, a new blueprint appeared in the system interface.

Seeing the blueprint uploaded successfully, Chen Xin quickly opened this blueprint, intending to try if he could use this blueprint to make a geothermal heat pump.

This is also the main reason why Chen Xin was drawing the blueprint; if he could use the blueprint for manufacturing, then the fifty geothermal heat pumps that the city government wanted to order from him could be completed in just a few days, and he could set off earlier.

The system remained as reliable as ever, not disappointing Chen Xin’s expectations. As he opened the blueprint, the options for required materials and components manufacturing appeared before him.

However, just as Chen Xin was about to start manufacturing, he suddenly stopped as an idea popped into his mind: Since objects can be upgraded, can blueprints be upgraded using survival points as well?

If they can be upgraded, does this mean he could upgrade the existing blueprints to create better equipment?

With this thought of Chen Xin’s, a new option appeared on the system interface as well.

Chen Xin could use survival points to improve the blueprints under the current technology level.

"It’s not an upgrade?" Chen Xin looked at the options shown by the system and couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.

The system provided not an upgrade option for blueprints but an improvement option, which surprised Chen Xin, who had been used to the system being able to upgrade everything, also finding it a bit novel.

But after carefully reviewing the system’s prompts, he understood it.

Blueprint upgrading can only upgrade the "blueprint" itself, for example, upgrading from paper to another material such as the flexible touch electronic ink blueprints seen in movies, allowing them to be zoomed in and out, adjusted, and modified, etc.

However, the content carried by the blueprint cannot be upgraded; it can only be improved.

Also, due to the workbench’s limitations, the improvement of the blueprint content cannot exceed the technology level of the workbench itself.

This means Chen Xin must improve the blueprints within the technological level range of the current workbench.

This isn’t a particularly useful function for Chen Xin at the moment but cannot be said to be useless either.

At least now he can make some modifications to the geothermal heat pump blueprint, enhancing each pump’s power output or transforming the existing blueprint into a larger power output device.

On first hearing, it might sound like these two options are the same—both improving the power of the geothermal heat pump—but they are actually quite different.

Enhancing a single geothermal heat pump’s power output refers to optimizing the equipment structure without changing its size and material consumption, thereby improving the equipment’s efficiency to achieve higher output power.

This kind of optimization has a limited upper bound and falls mainly within the range of a general product update.

The latter option, however, involves consolidating the materials consumed by multiple devices into one device to create an equipment of higher power output and size.

The geothermal heat pumps Chen Xin can currently manufacture belong to the category of small equipment designed for home use, sufficient for personal shelter spaces that aren’t too large.

But for official shelters, even small ones, such small equipment can’t meet the requirements.

This is why when the city government talked to Chen Xin about trialing geothermal heat pumps in small shelters, Chen Xin said it took fifty pumps to meet the demand for a small shelter.

Because he couldn’t manufacture higher-powered large equipment, he could only meet the demand by utilizing a multi-unit parallel approach.

But with this blueprint improvement function, Chen Xin can leverage it to manufacture larger, higher-powered geothermal heat pumps that meet the heating demand with just a few devices instead of fifty.

After making up his mind, Chen Xin didn’t hesitate, spending one hundred survival points to improve the blueprint he just uploaded into a large equipment route.

After improvement, the system interface indeed displayed a new blueprint for a large geothermal heat pump.

However, to Chen Xin’s surprise, the original geothermal heat pump blueprint didn’t disappear from the system interface but continued to exist.

"It seems improving blueprints doesn’t consume the original ones!" Chen Xin raised his eyebrows slightly but didn’t dwell on it, instead turning his attention to reviewing the large geothermal heat pump blueprint, eager to see how much material it would consume for producing a large geothermal heat pump and what the output power of a device would be.

In the system interface, the materials needed for a large geothermal heat pump are detailed, and the performance of the device is also displayed in a data list format, allowing Chen Xin to clearly compare the differences between the large and small geothermal pump devices.

The small geothermal heat pump devices Chen Xin manufactured earlier had an output power of about 10KW, requiring the consumption of parts from a standard household air conditioning unit for manufacturing.

Of course, using a standard household air conditioning outdoor unit as a material unit was because the parts included in a household air conditioner were enough to meet the manufacturing needs of a small geothermal heat pump.

But after upgrading the workbench with the system, the required material lists on the blueprints detail a series of parts such as compressors, evaporators, and condensers.

Chen Xin can obtain parts by disassembling air conditioning units sent by the city government or directly input parts as materials for production, and even manufacture parts using raw materials according to the blueprints.

This is certainly good news for Chen Xin, as it means he doesn’t have to worry about being unable to produce geothermal heat pumps if air conditioning units are unavailable.

However, compared to small geothermal heat pump devices, large geothermal heat pump devices have an increased output power to 50KW, but also require the material consumption of three standard household air conditioner units’ parts, along with some additional raw materials to manufacture.

This is more material-saving compared to originally consuming five air conditioner units’ parts to manufacture five 10KW small geothermal pumps, and it also saves installation space.

Although a large geothermal heat pump device is much bulkier than a small geothermal heat pump device, it’s not as big as five of them, which is a crucial consideration for underground shelters with limited underground space.

After reviewing the large geothermal heat pump device blueprint, Chen Xin decided to use materials from the ten small geothermal pumps sent by the city government to make three large geothermal pumps first.

When discussing the geothermal pumps with city leaders, they had requested larger geothermal pump devices, and Chen Xin had initially explained the material inadequacy as the reason.

And for the city, larger equipment is undoubtedly better than smaller ones. Chen Xin being able to manufacture larger geothermal heat pump devices would surely be met with applause instead of any objections to previous arrangements.

So, without hesitation, Chen Xin started the workbench, commencing the manufacture of the first large geothermal heat pump device.