Any way to get the conveyor loader to deliver less than 20kg?

[Crimsontide]

I'm supplying my fridges from my main food storage using automation.  When the fridge gets empty it signals the loader to send a single packet of food to a receptacle beside the fridges.  Problem is that it sends the food in 20kg packets, and my dupes (18 atm) eat about 5kg a day, which means some sits in the receptacle and eventually goes bad.  Is there any way to deliver less than 20kg of food in a packet, or some way to automate fridges with a set/reset like system (ie. only signal when it can store a full 20kg packet)?

Also, putting a low priority loader in with the fridges won't work, as the room is a 'nature preserve' and loaders are industrial equipment.

[Saturnus]

In the food storage have the only fridge the conveyor can be loaded from set to 5kg.

Well, that's the main gist of how to do it. I'm sure you'll fill in the blanks.

[Crimsontide]

I'm confused at how that would help.  The sweeper would pull 5kg from the receptacle to fill the fridge, but the other 15kg would stay in the receptacle and slowly go bad over the next 3 cycles.

[Zarquan]

Just now, Crimsontide said:

I'm confused at how that would help.  The sweeper would pull 5kg from the receptacle to fill the fridge, but the other 15kg would stay in the receptacle and slowly go bad over the next 3 cycles.

He is talking about where the conveyor starts at the loader, not where it ends.

[Crimsontide]

Ahh ok, I see.  Thank-you.

[Zarquan]

39 minutes ago, Crimsontide said:

I'm supplying my fridges from my main food storage using automation.  When the fridge gets empty it signals the loader to send a single packet of food to a receptacle beside the fridges.  Problem is that it sends the food in 20kg packets, and my dupes (18 atm) eat about 5kg a day, which means some sits in the receptacle and eventually goes bad.  Is there any way to deliver less than 20kg of food in a packet, or some way to automate fridges with a set/reset like system (ie. only signal when it can store a full 20kg packet)?

Also, putting a low priority loader in with the fridges won't work, as the room is a 'nature preserve' and loaders are industrial equipment.

Have you considered putting the receptacle in CO2?  Then it is in a sterile atmosphere and the food won't decay.  In the picture, I am showing two usable ways to do this.  (at least, they work if you don't have any flatulent dupes).

[Crimsontide]

The main food storage is in a sterile atmosphere (chlorine) but the 'pantry' (aka nature preserve) where the dupes go is right next to the mess hall.  There isn't room to stick water locks.  Limiting the food dispatched is a better option for my base IMHO.

[Zarquan]

6 minutes ago, Crimsontide said:

The main food storage is in a sterile atmosphere (chlorine) but the 'pantry' (aka nature preserve) where the dupes go is right next to the mess hall.  There isn't room to stick water locks.  Limiting the food dispatched is a better option for my base IMHO.

You don't need water locks.  In the image, there is no water.  It is a CO2 lock.  This works perfectly.  Unless you have flatulent dupes, who just mess up everything.

[psusi]

I'm confused as to why you care.  If it is being stored in a refrigerator, then it won't go bad.  Also I think I'm about to try and set up that neat trick where you just use a chute to dump all of the food into a 1 tile opening with chlorine or co2 in it and let the dupes reach through the diagonal to grab it.

[KittenIsAGeek]

8 hours ago, Crimsontide said:

I'm confused at how that would help.  The sweeper would pull 5kg from the receptacle to fill the fridge, but the other 15kg would stay in the receptacle and slowly go bad over the next 3 cycles.

Use two sweepers.  One pulls from the main storage and puts 5kg into a fridge.  Another sweeper that is only in range of the fridge then turns on with automation to move the 5kg on to a rail.  Use an exclusive or gate (or other automation) so that only one sweeper can be active at a time to prevent the other sweeper from re-filling the fridge.

[SharraShimada]

What about a loop? I imagine this setup: Incoming fresh food from your storage area, just put on the flow by a conveyor vent. Fridge on prio 5, it will be filled with a sweeper first. Conveyor loader with priority below that, will be filled with excess, transporting it back to the storage. 

[PhailRaptor]

9 hours ago, Zarquan said:

You don't need water locks.  In the image, there is no water.  It is a CO2 lock.  This works perfectly.  Unless you have flatulent dupes, who just mess up everything.

The simple fact is that mass deletion is still a thing.  If the concentration of other gases (namely O2) is too high, CO2 will still mysteriously vanish when no one is looking.

[Zarquan]

1 hour ago, PhailRaptor said:

The simple fact is that mass deletion is still a thing.  If the concentration of other gases (namely O2) is too high, CO2 will still mysteriously vanish when no one is looking.

But the pressure in the base shouldn't be that high.   Also, I use these locks to make my infinite gas storage systems accessible.  I personally have never had these locks spontaneously break.  Not that they don't break, it's just not spontaneous.  Bleach stone, polluted dirt, etc can break them very easily. 

[Crimsontide]

As Saturnus and Kitten suggested, using automation on the source end to limit to 5kg is the best method for my situation given the room/space considerations.  The room is a nature reserve so a conveyor loader won't work, and while having a tiny CO2 lock is a possible solution and I appreciate the suggestions... its just so ugly.

Also, since sweeper arms can go through blocks diagonally, you could stick in conveyor receptacle in a small CO2 'room' (like Zarquan's solution) with the diagonal edge not built, gas can't escape even by accident but the sweeper has full access.

[KILLABUDZ]

Or just store all of your food in a single safe food box with diagonal access and ship in a couple kg of bleachstone first. 

[Stoned]

I had the same problem when I set up my automatic food distribution system aka the sushi circle...

I worked around by using two fridges at every end of the conveyors, one with high priority and low capacity as a signal giver, one low priority and high capacity as an overflow. As long as you use a filter with your signal giving fridge a sweeper or dupes will fill the signal fridge from the overflow. Works fine for my base.

[Craigjw]

On 17/01/2020 at 9:48 PM, KILLABUDZ said:

Or just store all of your food in a single safe food box with diagonal access and ship in a couple kg of bleachstone first. 

This approach works like a charm, it's possibly the easiest and simplest way to store food or ingredients.

[xantar2482]

I don't know if this will help you out but you can use a type of back flushing, well that's what I call it at least.  

I don't worry about the amount of food being sent.  I have two fridges and a sweeper on the receiving side of the line.  The main fridge has the automation signal with a delay of like 20 seconds that tells another sweeper on the loading side to turn on and off.  The overflow fridge is not connected to the automation.   So when the main fridge has food removed the automation starts the delay timer, giving the receiving sweeper time to refill the main fridge(higher priority) from the overflow fridge(lower priority).  If the main fridge isn't filled then the signal goes through and triggers the loading sweeper to send food.  It will continue to send food until the main fridge is filled.  The remaining food from the line is then loaded into the overflow fridge.  

It's not perfect and can be refined.  But it hasn't given me too many headaches.   You could set the loading fridge to x kg then do a memory toggle or something like that.