Helpful Tip: Load Balancing Design!

[True.S!ght]

Hey guys,

Awhile ago I figured out a way to balance 2 lines of material which is sometimes useful to do. I figured some of you might have a good use for such info.

So, for example - you have a conveyor carrying X ore and another carrying Y ore. After going through this load balancing design, each conveyor will be carrying (X+Y)/2 ore - a 50/50 split.

On one of the conveyors, install in order: Merger (1m1), Splitter (1s), and another Merger (1m2)
Conveyor 1: <X ore in> ====[1m1]====[1s]====[1m2]====== <(X+Y)/2 ore out>

On the second line, install in order: Splitter (2s) and a Merger (2m)
Conveyor 2: <Y ore in> ====[2s]====[2m]===== <(X+Y)/2 ore out>

Now, make the following connections:

2s -> 1m1
2s -> 1m2
1s -> 2m

All done! This design is particularly easy to install on 2 conveyors vertically stacked with 1 conveyor of separation between them (because the 2s -> 1m1 and 1s -> 2m connections can be accomplished using the shortest possible vertical conveyor section).

[Aven]

One negative I see is the potential for overload on the first merging to conveyor 1 if conveyor 1 is already at max flow.

It seems easier and slightly less resource intensive to just split each line and then merge the splits, ie:
Ore1=====S1=====M1
Ore2=====S2=====M2

Connect S1 -> M2 and S2 -> M1

No delays, smaller area, one less block.

[Shahadem]

Never merge multiple items onto one belt.
At some point one of the items is going to run into problems and cause backup that will ruin any merged belt that doesn't have a smart splitter to spit out excess.

[Aven]

Originally posted by Shahadem:

Never merge multiple items onto one belt.
At some point one of the items is going to run into problems and cause backup that will ruin any merged belt that doesn't have a smart splitter to spit out excess.

I don't think I or the OP were referencing blending lines, just balancing two lines of the same material.

[True.S!ght]

@Aven Yeah - I use this method sometimes, but it doesn't give you a 50/50 split.

@Aven and @Shahadem - yes, belt speed can be an issue. Specifically, if (X+Y) is larger than the conveyor speed - you're likely to hit issues. Regardless - the worst case scenario here is that you don't get a 50/50 split. This design can't cause either line to suddenly become clogged and not operate. It will always push the lines towards a balance, and at most it will balance them to an even 50/50 split (e.g. if X is larger than Y, the end result will always be that the X line has less output and the Y line has more output).

As stated though, this design is SOMETIMES useful. It's the simplest method to get a 50/50 split of resources from 2 lines to 2 lines if the flow rates and belt speeds are right. It's not the only way to do things, but it's another way to do things.

[Aven]

Originally posted by True.S!ght:

@Aven Yeah - I use this method sometimes, but it doesn't give you a 50/50 split.

It can only give you a 50/50 split. Each line is .5x + .5y, or (x+y)/2.

[True.S!ght]

@Aven Holy moly I'm dumb or tired or both. Yeah - I'm not sure how I missed that solution. Seems pretty obvious now that I'm looking at it.

[Lil Puppy]

This only really works in the early game and wont work long term due to the way the splitter actually splits things.
In practice it splits whatever comes down the line left, center, right (or opposite, I'm not sure if it's left first or right first, but it doesn't matter).

However, due to hitches in the game engine, the items that come to the splitter/merger may not be in perfect order and so now you have a line that looks like this:
copper, iron, copper, iron, copper, copper, iron, copper, iron, copper, iron, copper, copper.
So eventually the copper machines will fill up faster than the iron lines and shut the entire thing down when the one line you're feeding those two items with fills up past one of the iron machines with copper it can't use.

To use this method of feeding multiple items down a single line, you absolutely have to include an overflow collector or sink.

For the Ficsmas event I made my factory output to a single line and then filter the items into storage with smart splitters. However, I found that sometimes with the 780 belts that items that should be filtered into a storage were skipping the filter and moving past, filling up the line, connecting the 780 line to smart splitters that were then connected to storage with slower belts fixed this, but if you ever saturated the 780 line you'd still need a resource sink or a storage loop buffer (to either feed back into the first filter or just to see the system fail). For the majority of the ficsmas event I had to use a storage buffer because you couldn't sink the items.

So, if you're running the game on a potato or at least less than a toaster, you need a resource sink.

[Tipoff Giggots]

Is there a simpler way of explaining this?

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by TipoffGiggots:

Is there a simpler way of explaining this?

not a big fan of algebra?

[Tipoff Giggots]

Originally posted by Kraft51:

Originally posted by TipoffGiggots:

Is there a simpler way of explaining this?

not a big fan of algebra?

Not at all haha

[Werric]

I just assumed that the two belts were carrying the same ore but that the belt speeds and hence the amount of ore on each belt were different. Otherwise, (the way my brain works) if it's the same ore and same belt speeds then it's already split evenly.

[Aven]

Originally posted by Werric:

I just assumed that the two belts were carrying the same ore but that the belt speeds and hence the amount of ore on each belt were different. Otherwise, (the way my brain works) if it's the same ore and same belt speeds then it's already split evenly.

For just-in-time production, or for those ficsit employees that simply hate to see a belt not moving, manipulating the amount of ore on the belt is essential. This method is simply another way to do that. Let's say you have a belt feeding 480 ore/m and another that's currently at 240 ore/m. You need a line of 360. It would take 3 splitters, 3 mergers, and 6 additional belts to pull 120 ore out of the 480 line and merge it to the 240 line. This method uses 2 splitters, 2 mergers, and 2 additional belts. It's a situational solution, but most factory setups are, and it's efficient. Efficiency is king.

[democles_pl]

Why would you want split the two lines like that?

[Aven]

Originally posted by democles_pl:

Why would you want split the two lines like that?

Again, it's situational. If your belt is at max capacity then a second overhead parallel belt doubles that capacity, and being able to efficiently manipulate the amount of ore travelling on each belt is sometimes needed.

[Tenzek]

If you google search, you'll find guides with lots of different load balancers for all kinds of situations.