Pure Mechanical Packet Stacker - Prototype

[Gavin786]

Many have attempted it.  But now I think it is finally achieved.  A pure mechanical packet stacker.  No automation.  No shutoffs.  No power needed.

This is a prototype, like most of what I post, the "design the duplicants make" will be much more beautiful/compact.

It is single element and works by using packet displacement in 2 loops.  When a packet is full, then a tiny(or larger) amount will branch off when put across a bridge.  This is usually not much use in making packet stackers as its the full packet that is wanted, but it lets us know where the full packet is.  We can then use this to displace a bubble from another loop which will then intersect with the first loop at the position of what we know is the full packet, displacing it from it's loop and expelling it from the stacker.

As I said, this is a pure prototype to demonstrate the concept - NOT a production design the dupes build.  I know a lot of ppl have been trying to make a pure mechanical stacker for a while, well here it is.

[Saturnus]

There has been other purely mechanical (and way more compact) packet stackers before. However, like yours they all suffer from the fatal flaw of allowing a single packet to be outputted which makes them pretty much useless. The problem lies in the fact that the whole reason you would typically use a packet stacker at all is to maximise the efficiency of two specific pieces of equipment, ie. the thermo regulator and the aquatuner because these use the same amount of power regardless of how much they process. Neither of these two pieces of equipment works with single packets and nor does pipe temperature sensors that would control other equipment you could pair with the packet stacker.

Fortunately, the addition of an automation port on the liquid reservoir makes power free packet stacking with minimum 5 consecutive full packets a possibility even though it still isn't as elegant as the single shut-off version.

Set the reservoir to minimum 1% and maximum 2% and connect the automation output directly to the mechanised airlock it's on.

Here's both the in-line packet stacker with one shut off valve (so 10W power draw when the valve is open, and only when it's open) and the power free reservoir version.

The in-line packet stacker outputs minimum 2 consecutive packets at a time which is perfect but as noted it does use power when open.

EDIT: Note that the reservoir version works with mixed liquids as well but not perfectly. And in that use case I would advice the reservoir set to minimum 98% and maximum 100% instead as that has the greatest chance that all packets of all liquid types outputted are full packets. In such a set up you can stack up to 10 different liquids and it should be noted that if the reservoir is in a vacuum the different liquids inside does not thermally interact, so you can have liquid hydrogen and liquid steel in the same reservoir.

[KittenIsAGeek]

Another way to do this is to invert the output signal from the reservoir using a NOT gate.  Assuming you have your reservoir still set to 2% high, 1% low, then any time the signal is green you will be emitting full packets from the reservoir and you can use it to signal whatever is down the line that it is good to continue operating.   

As long as the pipe to your device isn't full, your reservoir will simply pass the packet on.  Once the pipe fills up, liquid will start to back up into the reservoir, raising the level above the high threshold and, because of the NOT, will signal green to your device that it is free to operate.  No doors or shutoffs necessary.

[Gavin786]

 

3 hours ago, Saturnus said:

There has been other purely mechanical (and way more compact) packet stackers before. However, like yours they all suffer from the fatal flaw of allowing a single packet to be outputted which makes them pretty much useless. The problem lies in the fact that the whole reason you would typically use a packet stacker at all is to maximise the efficiency of two specific pieces of equipment, ie. the thermo regulator and the aquatuner because these use the same amount of power regardless of how much they process. Neither of these two pieces of equipment works with single packets and nor does pipe temperature sensors that would control other equipment you could pair with the packet stacker.

Fortunately, the addition of an automation port on the liquid reservoir makes power free packet stacking with minimum 5 consecutive full packets a possibility even though it still isn't as elegant as the single shut-off version.

Set the reservoir to minimum 1% and maximum 2% and connect the automation output directly to the mechanised airlock it's on.

Here's both the in-line packet stacker with one shut off valve (so 10W power draw when the valve is open, and only when it's open) and the power free reservoir version.

The in-line packet stacker outputs minimum 2 consecutive packets at a time which is perfect but as noted it does use power when open.

EDIT: Note that the reservoir version works with mixed liquids as well but not perfectly. And in that use case I would advice the reservoir set to minimum 98% and maximum 100% instead as that has the greatest chance that all packets of all liquid types outputted are full packets. In such a set up you can stack up to 10 different liquids and it should be noted that if the reservoir is in a vacuum the different liquids inside does not thermally interact, so you can have liquid hydrogen and liquid steel in the same reservoir.

Liquid reservoir seems not to have min, max, or automation - perhaps you are using a modded or beta version of the game ?  This seems like a really nice best solution overall and is what I would surely pick if it was an option.  I have not seen any automation or parameters on this, however.  I will check again if I am missing something.

I am guessing you have never yourself tried to make a pure mechanical packet stacker out of pipes.  I have several times now, which is why I am kinda proud of this, more than the other things, it is not something that is easy, and I have not seen anyone else make one that works 100% like this, and I did check around on forums, discord and videos.  I would not have claimed it was first invented if I had.  Best I saw was on Brothgar's video where there was the cross-version which I did play with a lot and could not get to work 100%.  Tried several times and had many ideas, none of them worked in the end.  I am convinced there is no viable way to make a pure mechanical packet stacker with just a single element approach.

I have wanted to stack packets many occasion, but never as a feed-in to an aquatuner or thermo regulator.  Normally these are part of a cooling loop, which is usually full with coolant.  I dont really see the value of sending out more than 1 packet guaranteed at a time.  And if I am designing a stacker in the future this wont be a design criteria I will aspire to.  Best to send out packets as soon as can.  Most people asking for help with packet stacking that I have seen are finding the output from for example natural gas generators is clogging, and all the small packets are wasting their filters/resources.  If this is really a true problem and I have an aquatuner, it means there is plenty access to power and some automation/valves is on the menu then, esp this can be made easy if we know all the packets are 100%.

And I am hoping someone understands the idea behind this(2 different element loops) and creates a cool, compact version of it.

And I see there is another post referencing the Liquid Reservoir option, I will go and have another look at that, clearly I am missing something.

8 minutes ago, KittenIsAGeek said:

Another way to do this is to invert the output signal from the reservoir using a NOT gate.  Assuming you have your reservoir still set to 2% high, 1% low, then any time the signal is green you will be emitting full packets from the reservoir and you can use it to signal whatever is down the line that it is good to continue operating.   

As long as the pipe to your device isn't full, your reservoir will simply pass the packet on.  Once the pipe fills up, liquid will start to back up into the reservoir, raising the level above the high threshold and, because of the NOT, will signal green to your device that it is free to operate.  No doors or shutoffs necessary.

Thanks, I just checked again, certainly this is the best approach, spider sense says a NOT gate is needed here, but I cant for the life of me see any options on liquid storage to allow me to specify a min or max, or automation connection ?!?

Is this a beta or a mod?

[KittenIsAGeek]

5 minutes ago, Gavin786 said:

IIs this a beta or a mod?

Yes, beta, but it is going live soon.

[Saturnus]

3 hours ago, Gavin786 said:

Liquid reservoir seems not to have min, max, or automation - perhaps you are using a modded or beta version of the game ? 

No mods but the preview branch so it'll go live later this week or next week.

3 hours ago, Gavin786 said:

I am guessing you have never yourself tried to make a pure mechanical packet stacker out of pipes. 

Yeah I have but I quickly found it a pointless waste of time, and made the in-line packet stacker using automation design and posted it here about a year ago as a direct response to Brothgar's attempts.

EDIT: I should note that it is because you cannot make a mechanical packet stacker that never output a single packet at a time I found it a fruitless venture to spend time pursuing.

Remember, until the preview branch rolls out this or next week shut offs do not use power at all, so it is a power free version as well but just needs to be connected to power. In the post above I'm preempting the update so that anyone who reads it in the future can use it without going: "hang on, shut off do use power".

3 hours ago, Gavin786 said:

And I see there is another post referencing the Liquid Reservoir option, I will go and have another look at that, clearly I am missing something.

The design presented above is the first post on the forum (or anywhere as far as I know, at least nothing on reddit or discord) to use the new automation port on a liquid reservoir as a packet stacker.

[Oozinator]

I use always since loong time, such "cheap" stuff to stack small packets, before they get filtered (not mechanical - by electrical filter), i could filter them out same way by completely mechanical filters, but i had some weird happenings with them and basic filter never failed.