Meteor scanner that allows saving 90-99.5% of power

[Angpaur]

Since the moment I started a new colony I was wondering if I will be able to improve my previous pulsing scanner network to make it use power only when it is absolutely needed.

Based on ONI meteorology post, my own calculations and other people attempts to make pulsing scanner I made some assumptions and come to below conclusions

1. 6 scanners network, working at 100% efficiency, optimal and safe pulsing time is 2.3s active, 8s idle. 2s is sometimes not enough to catch incoming signal if you play on the fastest speed.
2. After incoming signal is detected there is 200s for meteors to come and then there is another 100s when meteors will be falling for sure(meteors showers lasts for 100s to 400s). During this 300s scanners doesn't have to pulse and can be inactive and not use any power.
3. After 300s scanners need to start pulsing again in order to detect if meteor shower is over. Probably this could be optimized even further to pulse only one scanner. Shower can end in 0s to 300s.
4. When meteor shower is over there is a break between next one that can last 300s to 1200s. So we can assume that there is no point to pulse scanners for at least 100s after shower is over.

This means that in worst case scenario (no showers, scanners pulsing during whole cycle) scanners will consume 41,942J (~42kJ) power

In best case scenario only 3 pulses will be needed during one cycle, which will consume 2,160J (2.16kJ) power

6 scanners network working without any pulsing consumes 432,000J (432kJ).

So we are looking at 90 to 99,5% of power consumption reduction.

 

I finally managed to build a scanner network that follows all mentioned points.

Save file: meteor scanner.sav

Below overall view of whole setup:

 

Closer look at the automation:

 

 

There are 2 main parts:

1. Left part is oscillator, signal detection and reset when meteor shower is over
2. Right part are water clocks control. One clock is used to measure 300s from initial incoming signal to moment of start scanning for shower end. Other clock(to the right) is measuring 142s for which bunker doors are keept open. After that time the doors are closed, just moment before meteors hit.

Now a more closer look at the automation:

The most left part is detecting is meteors shower has stopped. During the showers at some point scanners will start to pulse. With each pulse they will give green active signal unless meteors are gone. In that cas,e after a pulse, signal will be still red inactive and this part of automation will detect that.

Next part is oscillator pulsing each 8 seconds and keep active signal for power shutoff for 2.3s. It is enough for scanners to detect incoming signal even on the fastest game speed. Osciallator is disabled for 100s after meteor shower ends.

Last part is to store detected signal in memory gate and send it to water clock counting 300s. After that time memory gate is reset, but second memory gate is still active untill metoer shower is over. Then it will be reset and whole system restarts (oscillator is still delayed by 100s, because next shower can happen in 300s, so there is no point to scan for next 100s)

 

Unfortunatelly I'm not really good at explaining things, but I hope that at least some things are clear

Shall you have more questions regarding this build then don't hesitate to ask me.

Probably would be better to just show some video of whole system. Maybe today after work I will post one.

Thanks for reading!

[Oozinator]

1 hour ago, Angpaur said:

So we are looking at 90 to 99,5% of power consumption reduction.

So close to overunity!
Nice build.

[Gurgel]

How do you cool the auto-miners? That was the part I invested most effort in to figure out in my set-up.

[Angpaur]

Well, I just don't. I made them out of steel. It will take some time to reach overheat temperature. Untill that time probably I will already have some thermium, so I will just replace tham all.

With thermium robominers I wouldn't have to worry for some next couple of hundred cycles. But when they reach 1000C I can still just deconstruct and rebuild

Real issue with robominers, I realized after I build this, is that the ones outside the main bunker area are not enough protected from meteor impacts - there need to be 2 layers of steel or one layer and then some empty space. Meteors damage penetrates 2 layers deep.

[AMBLCO]

Did you know that when you relog the buffer and filter gates are reset? This could cause problems in your system if you didn't otherwise great system. I actually have one pulsing scanner setup which is a little less efficient but requires less automation. I will try to post a picture today.

[Angpaur]

7 minutes ago, AMBLCO said:

Did you know that when you relog the buffer and filter gates are reset?

That is why there are water clocks.

I need one more for that 100s gate. I thought I can skip water clock there, but later I realized it it is risky part that needs secure time measurment.

[AMBLCO]

Nice, well done and could you post the save file please?

[Angpaur]

Yes, when I'm back from work. I totally forgot about the save file.

[Angpaur]

Added the save file (pasted into original post) and also here: meteor scanner.sav

It is just 3-4 scanner pulses before detecting incoming meteors so you can easly see how the whole thing works.

[Mullematsch]

I implemented your design with slight changes to my already build setup and it is working beautifully.

I tried designing something similar to this a while back and got fed up with all the timings and annoyances (like buffer filter gates resetting during reloads etc.).

This is a amazing build, love it. 

[Angpaur]

Just now, Mullematsch said:

This is a amazing build, love it. 

Thanks!

I hope more people will be able to improve their scanner setups like you did.