Distribution of liquids

[CondorDrake]

Hey there,

I've got a problem with the distribution of liquids. For example, I have a plastics and a sulfur acid production which both require petroleum. I'm trying to feed them both from a petroleum tank, but the result is, only the sulfur acid production gets petroleum while nothing arrives at the plastics production.

I've been messing around using pumps but so far nothing has worked. Is there any way to equally distribute the petroleum to both productions?

Thanks.

[denebarry]

Produce more & it will get to both.

[CondorDrake]

Maybe my wording wasn't precise enough. What I'd like to know is when I have a tank with X amount of liquid in it, how can I make sure 50% of X is flowing in one direction and the other 50% is flowing in another direction.


P
P
P
TT
TT
P
P
P

4 tanks in the middle, two pipelines leading away from it. Currently all the liquid from the tank flows into the lower pipeline and almost nothing flows to the upper pipeline.

I figured I'll need pumps for this, maybe even attached to a logical network, but I just can't get it to work...

[Stryke(r)]

Propably your issue is that you only have on intake on your storage tank setup (It wouldn't matter if you produce enough) - a quick workaround would be only using 1 tank afaik (since exchanging liquids between tanks tanks comparably long and should be avoided in most cases). Not 100% sure if it will balance it out perfectly.

The other solution would be adding a pump to each productionpipeline followed by an additional tank, which you use mainly for reading its contents. Then use circuit connection to balance out the tanks (this might require logic combinators) - example: Pump B active for content A > B - while at the same time pump A is inactive and vice versa - will keep it balanced both balanced - just make sure add a condition so your tanks actually refill. (Easier would be just to set an upper limit for the tanks but that does not give you a 50:50 split)

Edit: Forgot to mention that liquids behave weird when there is not enough presure in the pipe - a regular old fashioned T-Junction also works, but put pump before the pipe splits and set its condition to "active when petrolium > 100" and connect it to the last storage tank

[CondorDrake]

Sorry, you mean pumps between the tanks?

Like

TPT
P P
TPT

[Jupiter3927]

I just used circuits to split 1 input tank into 2 output tanks using pumps.
1 output tank goes to sulfer and the other goes to plastic.

[Stryke(r)]

Originally posted by Jupiter3927:

I just used circuits to split 1 input tank into 2 output tanks using pumps.
1 output tank goes to sulfer and the other goes to plastic.

I basically meant this tbh.

It'll look like this


Sulfur
T
P
T<-Input tank
P
T
Plastic

Pumps between a 4 tank square wouldn't change a thing, since the bottom production (with the top right being the intake tank) the petrolium has to move through 3 tanks, while top would only have 2 tanks to flow through. Since the liquid transfer rate between tanks is quite low (pumps would help but it would not solve the issue) the top production gets more fluid in less time, which allows for more fluid transfer to the top. Thats why it splitts unevenly. Esp with a low amount of fluids in the tank it might completely suck your bot production dry - this is why it is highly recommended for split outputs to have atleast a minimum amount of fluid left in your tanks (100 for each of them).

[Name Lips]

The best solution is to make more petroleum gas. The problem you're having is that the first building in the pipeline is consuming all the gas, and only its "leftovers" are proceeding to the next building. This is a problem because this first building is capable of using up most -- maybe even ALL -- of the petroleum gas. You need to make so much gas that it can't use it all up -- that way the building down the line will get some.

[Warlord]

Well, if you are having issues where all gas flows one way and not the other, it's likely to be a throughput issue. Unless you are using thousands of units of fluid per second, a sufficiently supplied pipeline will make sure both paths get enough.

If you literally want an even split, I think you'd likely need to use pumps and wires. Like with most games, the way it calculates fluid movement will almost always favor one direction over another if supply is low or flow is high. One way, which will make sure there is enough going to each would be...
Actually, I'm going to mock this up in-game, rather than try to use letters. Will update this post when I got it done.
Edit: Ok, this might work. At least, it will make sure that each direction is supplied:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1186899779
You set the two wired up pumps to work only if the supply in the other tank is above a threshhold. You can make it 5K, or the whole tank (25K). The point is that one direction will only send liquid if there is enough for the other side too. I suppose that the two unconnected tanks aren't needed, but I think you do need the two unconnected pumps, to act as one-way valves for the other two tanks.

[CondorDrake]

Thanks Warlord, I'll definately test your setup.
I've got a temporary solution now where I use a logical network to shut down sulfur acid production once a certain amount has stockpiled in the tank and only switch it back on once that stockpile drops below a certain amount. That way both productions alternate, but that won't be good enough once more of the plastic will be used.

[Warlord]

Originally posted by Equinox:

Thanks Warlord, I'll definately test your setup.
I've got a temporary solution now where I use a logical network to shut down sulfur acid production once a certain amount has stockpiled in the tank and only switch it back on once that stockpile drops below a certain amount. That way both productions alternate, but that won't be good enough once more of the plastic will be used.

Just how much petroleum gas are you producing? How many refineries on what mode, and are you cracking any of the other oils?

In general, I find the best way to shut down production of something - if I have too much of it - is to just run out of storage. Once a sulfur tank is full, no more will be made, so no need to do fancy shut-off valves. Of course, this requires adequate supply of petroleum, but it's simple enough to ramp that up, isn't it?

[CondorDrake]

Not that much yet:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1187138797

Just invented advanced oil production but haven't applied it yet..

[Stryke(r)]

4 Lubricant plants? - it might be worth storing excess heavy oil in solid fuel for later on

also, those railways ;)

[stlyau]

Took me a bit to go looking at the oils, as I got distracted by that bus and trying to decipher what was what. But after looking at the oils, it looks like your problem lies in the fact those Light Oil storage tanks are full, thus not allowing petroleum to come from your 2 refineries. Get a couple of Chem Plants up to crack the Light into Petroleum and you'll be in a better position.

[KayDawg13]

I'm not sure if this will help much but this is how I run the fluids now, I don't like how they act when you run them through the storage tanks so I just set the tanks off the side of the pipelines. with the pumps like this, it puts priority on keeping the pipe full and storing the execess....
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1188295571
an expanded view of more tanks and my sulfer plants....
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1188295665
and I make the plastic further down the line, closer to where it's needed. (not how I usually build these but it's working in this playthrough.)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1188295743

[stlyau]

The key is to not end up full storage tanks of any one oil product (HO, LO, Petro) that comes from the Refineries. Full tanks in any of the 3, causes Refineries to shut down until the backflow has cleared output pipes. Best ratio is 8 Refineries : 1 Heavy to Light : 7 Light to Petro. Of course this is all before any Modules are factored into Refinery or Chem Plant consumption/production.

Once Modules are added, depending on quantity and type used, both consumption and production numbers will drastically change, thus changing the ratio of buildings needed for each stage of oil processing or any other production. I've found this link is accurate enough to figure ratios out if you are willing to do the calculations/research.

https://kakyo.github.io/FactorioCalculator/src/