Pipework design: better pipe buffer

[Kasuha]

When you want to create a pipe buffer, you usually just fill the wall with a meandering pipe. This design has the advantage that when it's empty and first packet comes in, it does not take long to get through, but if the output pipe is blocked, it still gradually fills up, allows fast draining and can contain about as much liquid/gas as the meandering pipe. 

Notice all the valves are fully open, they're not used to limit the flow. If you need to put it behind walls or ladders, use bridges instead of valves.

Note I have not optimized the design perfectly, the idea is that each next pipe should be about as long that a packet gets through it before all previous pipes can get drained; it does not quite work with innermost pipes (but created potential gap is small) and and the outermost pipes may be unnecesarily short. This is more about the design idea.

[Kasuha]

Newer, slightly improved design already in practical use - as a buffer ahead of oxygen condenser while processing a pocket of polluted gas with 90 kg of PO per tile. May still not be big enough...

[Risu]

Isn't this just moving the single tile that mass is taken from somewhere else? It's still a linear pipe, just segmented.
 

[Kasuha]

16 hours ago, Risu said:

Isn't this just moving the single tile that mass is taken from somewhere else? It's still a linear pipe, just segmented.
 

No, it is not single pipe. It is five parallel pipes of different lengths and the shorter pipes get filled first so there is material ready. If a single packet comes in, it reaches the end almost as fast as if it was a straight pipe, it does not have to go through all the meandering. The longer pipes only start to fill up if the output pipe is full and does not accept further packets.