Difference between revisions of "Pipe Balancer"

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| Recipe        =  
| Recipe        =  
   {{Machine Recipe
   {{Machine Recipe
     | Input1Name  = Construction Parts
     | Input1Name  = Construction Parts II
     | Input1Qty  = 8
     | Input1Qty  = 8
   }}
   }}
| Electricity  = 20 KW
| Cargo        = [[:Category:Liquid products|Liquid products]]
| Cargo        = [[:Category:Liquid products|Liquid products]]
| Footprint    = 2x2
| Footprint    = 2x2
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| Variants      = [[Flat Balancer]]<br/>[[Molten Balancer]]<br/>[[U-shape Balancer]]
| Variants      = [[Flat Balancer]]<br/>[[Molten Balancer]]<br/>[[U-shape Balancer]]
}}
}}
{{outdated}}
The '''Pipe Balancer''' is a [[:Category:Transports|transport]] with 8 [[Pipe]] [<nowiki/>[[Pipe II|II]] • [[Pipe III|III]]] ports. Its serves two different but important roles: To allow you to pick priority Input(s) and Output(s) of the '''balancer''' and to allow for the (strict) evening out of the resources between multiple inputs, multiple outputs, or both.


The '''Pipe Balancer''' is a [[:Category:Transports|transport]] with four liquid ports. Its serves two different but important roles: to allow for the balancing of liquid flow between multiple inputs, multiple outputs, or both; and to give the capability to be able to input or output from a specific pipe connection.
Each of the 8 ports can be either input or output (or neither). The direction of the port is determined by the direction of the [[Pipe]] [<nowiki/>[[Pipe II|II]] • [[Pipe III|III]]] connected to it.


On one side, one port is marked <code>X</code> while the other port is marked <code>O</code>. The same is true likewise on the other side but with reversed coloring. While the in-game description would seem to indicate that two must be inputs and two must be outputs, any of the 4 connections can operate as either inputs or outputs, there cannot be four input or four outputs at the same time. Input or output determination is done automatically using the flow direction of the pipe attached to that port. Thus, rotating the balancer 180 degrees only has the effect of switching which side the <code>X</code> and <code>O</code> letters appear on the transport graphically and rotating the balancer 90 or 270 degrees only serves to change which colors the port labels are on any given end.
The '''Pipe Balancer''' works as a balancer, without any options toggeled - it will balance any inputs and outputs (with the same level of priority), effectivly acting as an (double) [[wikipedia:OR_gate|OR Gate]]. The [[Pipe Connector]] has the same effect, thus being the preferred option for this use case (since the patch v0.4.13).
 
The '''Pipe Balancer''' can only be connected to [[Pipe]]s [<nowiki/>[[Pipe II|II]] • [[Pipe III|III]]], it can not be connected directly to buildings.
 
Note that '''Pipes''' category does not have a Sorter, nor can all of the products, transferred by the pipes, be stored in a [[Fluid Storage]] [<nowiki/>[[Fluid Storage II|II]] • [[Fluid Storage III|III]] • [[Fluid Storage IV|IV]]] (namely variants of <nowiki/>[[Steam Hi|Steam]] [<nowiki/>[[Steam Lo|Lo]] • [[Steam Depleted|Depleted]]]).


==Balancer UI==
==Balancer UI==
The player can open the balancer's UI by clicking on the transport. Three toggles are available:
The player can open the balancer's UI by clicking on the transport.  
 
Two toggles are available under "Even I/O ratios":
* Enforce strictly even inputs
* Enforce strictly even outputs
 
Under "Prioritization" each port can be prioritized and it also dislpays whether it's an input or output port.
It is possible to prioritize none, one, two,  ... ,  or even all of the ports simultaneously, depending on the desired use case.
 
On the right side of the UI is "Priority", which sets the power/manpower/maintenance priority for this building. It is advised to keep this fairly high for any of the balancers, as they will severely damage any resource chains when out of order and they do not actually consume any of manpower nor maintenance, only 5 KW of power.
 
==Strictly Even inputs or outputs==
If both the first and the second toggles are activated, the transport will only pull equally from connected ''input ports'' and push equally to connected ''output ports'', effectivly acting as an (double) [[wikipedia:AND_gate|AND Gate]].


* Prioritize incoming products to port marked X
Which means that if one of the ''output ports'' is full (blocked) then any resources won't be sent through any other ''output ports'' either.
* Prioritize outgoing products from ports marked X
* Use alternative priority ports (O) instead of default (X)


In other words, the first toggle is provided to mark the incoming <code>X</code> port as the one receiving input priority. The second toggle does the same for the outgoing <code>X</code> port. The third toggle changes all instances of the letter <code>X</code> to <code>O</code> on the UI and applies the equivalent logic to balancer. It is possible to enable one, two, or even all three toggles simultaneously depending on the desired use case.
Similiarily when an ''input port'' is lacking resources, no resources are brought in from any other ''input ports''.


==Balancing inputs or outputs==
Enforcing strictly even inputs/outputs resets any priorities set for the ports.
If neither the first nor second toggle are activated, the transport will attempt to pull equally to from the number of connected inputs and push equally to the number of connected outputs. In this case, the third toggle has no impact whether set to on or off. This means that that a single balancer can act as a perfect "1-to-2", "2-to-1", "2-to-2", "1-to-3", or "3-to-1" balancer simply by connecting pipes with the desired direction of flow.


==Priority input or output==
==Priority input or output==
The only limitation is when both priority input and priority output are desired at the same time ''and'' there are two inputs and two outputs connected. In this case, the priority choices can be only be "from X to X" or "from O to O" as the the third toggle swaps the letters of both ports at the same time. This limitation can be bypassed by swapping the two input pipes or two output pipes physically and is typically not an issue except in very compact builds.
Any prioritized port is prioritized over a nonprioritized port. All nonprioritized ports are equal, all prioritized ports are equal.  


==Example use cases==
==Example use cases==
* Priority input: to ensure that a [[Fluid Storage]] is emptied before accepting stock from a main pipeline
* Priority input: to ensure that a [[Fluid Storage]] is emptied before accepting stock from a main pipeline
* Priority output: to ensure that a storage or machine receives as much input as it can handle and any excess is [[Flare|flared]] or [[Liquid Dump|dumped]]
* Priority output: to ensure that a storage or machine receives as much input as it can handle and any excess is [[Flare|flared]] or [[Liquid Dump|dumped]]
* Balancing inputs: to ensure that two or three dock [[Fluid Modules]] are pulled from equally
* Balancing inputs: to ensure that two or three dock [[Fluid Module]]s are pulled from equally
* Balancing outputs: to ensure that [[High-pressure Turbine]]s receive equal amounts of steam from a [[Nuclear Reactor]]
* Balancing outputs: to ensure that [[High-pressure Turbine]]s receive equal amounts of steam from a [[Nuclear Reactor]]


{{Navbox/Machines}}
==See also==
* [[Pipe]] [<nowiki/>[[Pipe II|II]] • [[Pipe III|III]]]
* [[Pipe Connector]]
* [[Flat Balancer]]
* [[Molten Balancer]]
* [[U-shape Balancer]]
{{Footer Infobox}}

Latest revision as of 15:14, 17 May 2023

Transports.png
Pipe Balancer
Pipe Balancer.png
Allows distributing and prioritizing products using any of its two input and output ports.
Construction
Construction Parts II.png
8
ElectricityElectricity.png 20 KW
Footprint2x2
CargoCategory:Fluid products
Required ResearchTransports Balancing
DesignationTransports Transports.png
VariantsFlat Balancer
Molten Balancer
U-shape Balancer

The Pipe Balancer is a transport with 8 Pipe [II • III] ports. Its serves two different but important roles: To allow you to pick priority Input(s) and Output(s) of the balancer and to allow for the (strict) evening out of the resources between multiple inputs, multiple outputs, or both.

Each of the 8 ports can be either input or output (or neither). The direction of the port is determined by the direction of the Pipe [II • III] connected to it.

The Pipe Balancer works as a balancer, without any options toggeled - it will balance any inputs and outputs (with the same level of priority), effectivly acting as an (double) OR Gate. The Pipe Connector has the same effect, thus being the preferred option for this use case (since the patch v0.4.13).

The Pipe Balancer can only be connected to Pipes [II • III], it can not be connected directly to buildings.

Note that Pipes category does not have a Sorter, nor can all of the products, transferred by the pipes, be stored in a Fluid Storage [II • III • IV] (namely variants of Steam [Lo • Depleted]).

Balancer UI

The player can open the balancer's UI by clicking on the transport.

Two toggles are available under "Even I/O ratios":

  • Enforce strictly even inputs
  • Enforce strictly even outputs

Under "Prioritization" each port can be prioritized and it also dislpays whether it's an input or output port. It is possible to prioritize none, one, two, ... , or even all of the ports simultaneously, depending on the desired use case.

On the right side of the UI is "Priority", which sets the power/manpower/maintenance priority for this building. It is advised to keep this fairly high for any of the balancers, as they will severely damage any resource chains when out of order and they do not actually consume any of manpower nor maintenance, only 5 KW of power.

Strictly Even inputs or outputs

If both the first and the second toggles are activated, the transport will only pull equally from connected input ports and push equally to connected output ports, effectivly acting as an (double) AND Gate.

Which means that if one of the output ports is full (blocked) then any resources won't be sent through any other output ports either.

Similiarily when an input port is lacking resources, no resources are brought in from any other input ports.

Enforcing strictly even inputs/outputs resets any priorities set for the ports.

Priority input or output

Any prioritized port is prioritized over a nonprioritized port. All nonprioritized ports are equal, all prioritized ports are equal.

Example use cases

  • Priority input: to ensure that a Fluid Storage is emptied before accepting stock from a main pipeline
  • Priority output: to ensure that a storage or machine receives as much input as it can handle and any excess is flared or dumped
  • Balancing inputs: to ensure that two or three dock Fluid Modules are pulled from equally
  • Balancing outputs: to ensure that High-pressure Turbines receive equal amounts of steam from a Nuclear Reactor

See also

Machines
General Machines.png General Machines
Water Extraction & Processing.png Water Extraction & Processing
Food Production.png Food Production
Metallurgy & Smelting.png Metallurgy & Smelting
Power Production.png Power Production
Crude Oil Refining.png Crude Oil Refining
Waste Management.png Waste Management
Transports.png Transports
Storage.png Storage
Buildings.png Buildings
Buildings (For Vehicles).png Buildings (For Vehicles)
Housing & Services.png Housing & Services
Cargo Docks.png Cargo Docks
Landmarks.png Landmarks
Planned or Proposed
* Only available in the Supporter Edition
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