Pipe Thermo-Switches

[Nekobi]

Hello!

Switches really are a great thing in the game, and the one I use the most is the thermo switch. But for measuring the temperature of a gas passing through a pipe, it's quite bad. Even with granite piping and wolframite thermo switches, the gap between the real temperature inside the pipe and what the switch measure is rather huge! (One time I had a difference of nearly 100°C even after waiting a while for balance, or am I bad at this?)

 

This is why I suggest a new switch, that can measure the temperature of a gas (or liquid) directly in pipes.

It could be one of these two forms:

  -Like the gas/liquid valves, but it doesn't reduce the flow at all, and function like a thermo-switch.

  -Or, like a pipe, but with a thermometer and a switch integrated into it!

 

I really think this could be a nice add for more precise temperature management in setups that uses gases and/or liquids.

 

What do you think?

[Botaxalim]

Instead more type of switch, they should introduce more type of material of pipe, maybe later iron, copper, allumunium,gold ,steel ,tungsten, or any advance material for pipes with tredemous heat transfer,

Because we have right now is so raw in term of usefullness, granite ,amalgam, wolfrmite.... too raw

Just waiting for smelther or metal refinery

[Whispershade]

I've considered making this suggestion as well. So I am definitely on board to see something like a pipe segment thermal switch.

[Reaniel]

53 minutes ago, Nekobi said:

This is why I suggest a new switch, that can measure the temperature of a gas (or liquid) directly in pipes.

It could be one of these two forms:

  -Like the gas/liquid valves, but it doesn't reduce the flow at all, and function like a thermo-switch.

  -Or, like a pipe, but with a thermometer and a switch integrated into it!

I really think this could be a nice add for more precise temperature management in setups that uses gases and/or liquids.

What do you think?

Hmm... If I'm reading you correctly, what you're suggesting is a temperature-controlled valve, yes?

That would be really useful, for sure.  I mean right now I'd have to use a gas/liquid filter with a thermal switch to (sort of) achieve this, and it is still dependent on the external medium temperature, not the internal medium temperature (and costs power).

I'd like it better, though, is if it would have alternative outputs (like the filters), where the flow will go into one above a certain temperature and anotehr below a certain temperature.  That'd be more useful than to have it shut off altogether.

[Reaniel]

17 minutes ago, Botaxalim said:

Instead more type of switch, they should introduce more type of material of pipe, maybe later iron, copper, allumunium,gold ,steel ,tungsten, or any advance material for pipes with tredemous heat transfer,

Because we have right now is so raw in term of usefullness, granite ,amalgam, wolfrmite.... too raw

Just waiting for smelther or metal refinery

More refine metal is nice for sure, but not very useful in terms of piping material.

[Nekobi]

38 minutes ago, Botaxalim said:

Instead more type of switch, they should introduce more type of material of pipe, maybe later iron, copper, allumunium,gold ,steel ,tungsten, or any advance material for pipes with tredemous heat transfer,

Because we have right now is so raw in term of usefullness, granite ,amalgam, wolfrmite.... too raw

Just waiting for smelther or metal refinery

Yeah, I really would like metal refinery and chemistry, I want this so much! And definitely more materials for building.

But would it change anything? The determinant factor for heat transfer is the material that has the lowest thermal conductivity, so it won't make any difference I think, as it will always be the gas with the lowest conductivity...

 

21 minutes ago, Reaniel said:

Hmm... If I'm reading you correctly, what you're suggesting is a temperature-controlled valve, yes?

That would be really useful, for sure.  I mean right now I'd have to use a gas/liquid filter with a thermal switch to (sort of) achieve this, and it is still dependent on the external medium temperature, not the internal medium temperature (and costs power).

I'd like it better, though, is if it would have alternative outputs (like the filters), where the flow will go into one above a certain temperature and anotehr below a certain temperature.  That'd be more useful than to have it shut off altogether.

I also have a gas temperature setup, that rely on cold hydrogen passing through pipes. If I cool it too much (I have 4 thermo-regulators, yeah I'm crazy) it freezes in the pipes, and the Dupes have to open a very high-pressure hydrogen room where the thermo-regulators are and... and... and it results in a total mess.

So my thermo-regulators are controlled by 3 thermo-switches in the last room before the hydrogen is recollected to be cooled down. The gap between measurement and real gas temperature is so big, the whole setup is very unprecise and I have to control the temperature myself...

 

I was thinking about a switch like the others, but that work with gas inside a pipe. Like the thermo-switch, it shuts the power circuit after it when conditions are reached.

A valve that just stops the flow when it's to cold or too hot would be a terrible thing, resulting in constant blocked pipes when the conditions are reached...

 

A filter that separate a fluid depending on its temperature could be useful, but hard to design, it would require so much piping after (2 pipe circuits instead of one)...

What we REALLY need is more basic, like a valve with 2 output, as the filter, but when it's powered it redirect all fluids coming in in the second output instead of the main one.

[The Plum Gate]

Such a device (s) would allow for nice flow control and dwell time too. Batching the loads...

[Reaniel]

58 minutes ago, Nekobi said:

Yeah, I really would like metal refinery and chemistry, I want this so much! And definitely more materials for building.

But would it change anything? The determinant factor for heat transfer is the material that has the lowest thermal conductivity, so it won't make any difference I think, as it will always be the gas with the lowest conductivity...

 

I also have a gas temperature setup, that rely on cold hydrogen passing through pipes. If I cool it too much (I have 4 thermo-regulators, yeah I'm crazy) it freezes in the pipes, and the Dupes have to open a very high-pressure hydrogen room where the thermo-regulators are and... and... and it results in a total mess.

So my thermo-regulators are controlled by 3 thermo-switches in the last room before the hydrogen is recollected to be cooled down. The gap between measurement and real gas temperature is so big, the whole setup is very unprecise and I have to control the temperature myself...

 

I was thinking about a switch like the others, but that work with gas inside a pipe. Like the thermo-switch, it shuts the power circuit after it when conditions are reached.

A valve that just stops the flow when it's to cold or too hot would be a terrible thing, resulting in constant blocked pipes when the conditions are reached...

 

A filter that separate a fluid depending on its temperature could be useful, but hard to design, it would require so much piping after (2 pipe circuits instead of one)...

What we REALLY need is more basic, like a valve with 2 output, as the filter, but when it's powered it redirect all fluids coming in in the second output instead of the main one.

1. Extensive tests showed that, when cooling/heating a gas (or low mass liquid tiles), piping material matters A LOT, as wolframite pipes will outperform granite/sandstone by a wide margin.  However, Tungsten is only slightly better in this situation despite having 4x more thermal conductivity.

Also, when you're cooling/heat a liquid (or high mass gas tiles), it is a complete fiasco, with Wolframite and Tungsten causing the cooling bug that resulted in extra cooling/less heating due to heat being destroyed.  Also, granite pipes will create extra heat in cooling a liquid.

Which is why I said refine metals as piping material isn't going to do much to the current system unless there's fundemental changes and fixes to it.  However, the lowest thermal conductivity thing isn't how it works in a piping system heat transfer.

2. I don't see how it'd be "so much piping" than regular filters or your suggested idea. Your suggested idea still requires "2 pipe circuits instead of one" for the separate output anyway.

3. The original suggestion is a way to deal with the "internal medium temperature" because right now there's no way to design something that'd react to it (not easily anyway).  If what you're trying to achieve is simply for a valve that's power-triggered, the gas/liquid filter can already (sort of) do that.

Power off:

:

Power on:

 

[Nekobi]

15 minutes ago, Reaniel said:

1. Extensive tests showed that, when cooling/heating a gas (or low mass liquid tiles), piping material matters A LOT, as wolframite pipes will outperform granite/sandstone by a wide margin.  However, Tungsten is only slightly better in this situation despite having 4x more thermal conductivity.

Also, when you're cooling/heat a liquid (or high mass gas tiles), it is a complete fiasco, with Wolframite and Tungsten causing the cooling bug that resulted in extra cooling/less heating due to heat being destroyed.  Also, granite pipes will create extra heat in cooling a liquid.

Which is why I said refine metals as piping material isn't going to do much to the current system unless there's fundemental changes and fixes to it.  However, the lowest thermal conductivity thing isn't how it works in a piping system heat transfer.

2. I don't see how it'd be "so much piping" than regular filters or your suggested idea. Your suggested idea still requires "2 pipe circuits instead of one" for the separate output anyway.

3. The original suggestion is a way to deal with the "internal medium temperature" because right now there's no way to design something that'd react to it (not easily anyway).  If what you're trying to achieve is simply for a valve that's power-triggered, the gas/liquid filter can already (sort of) do that.

Power off:

:

Power on:

 

1 : Oh, I didn't know the pipe material matters... Well, the game says that the lowest conductivity win, or I misinterpreted something. And since I never used cheats in this game, I don't know much about how it works exactly...

Still, I'm using gas pipes and I can't use Wolframite, I'm stuck with granite, yet the best option I have :/

 

2 : Yeah I was kinda confused in my thoughts there... I just wanted to say I want a general 2-outputs pipe switch, rather than using the filter as it wasn't intended to (plus this disposition is specific, you need the filter to be perpendicular to the input pipe, so it needs quite some space).

 

3 : I still want to be able to measure the internal temperature of a pipe x)

I don't even know how to do this, and I have very few room for it (I only make tight spaces (again, no cheats)... Really, there's pipes and power circuits everywhere inside my "very cold polymer factory")

[Reaniel]

38 minutes ago, Nekobi said:

1 : Oh, I didn't know the pipe material matters... Well, the game says that the lowest conductivity win, or I misinterpreted something. And since I never used cheats in this game, I don't know much about how it works exactly...

Still, I'm using gas pipes and I can't use Wolframite, I'm stuck with granite, yet the best option I have :/

 

2 : Yeah I was kinda confused in my thoughts there... I just wanted to say I want a general 2-outputs pipe switch, rather than using the filter as it wasn't intended to (plus this disposition is specific, you need the filter to be perpendicular to the input pipe, so it needs quite some space).

 

3 : I still want to be able to measure the internal temperature of a pipe x)

I don't even know how to do this, and I have very few room for it (I only make tight spaces (again, no cheats)... Really, there's pipes and power circuits everywhere inside my "very cold polymer factory")

Which is why I agree with your original idea

I want to have a valve that deals with the temperature of what's inside the pipes, but temperature triggered valve for stuff outside the pipes can be done with a filter and a switch at this time (I use it for temperature control in my farms back in AU).

As for the lowest conductivity thingie, it's mostly a matter of direct tile to tile heat transfer.  (Though this still doesn't account for how plastic tiles are bugged like crazy if you use it to conduct heat).  But when you're dealing with pipes, it's a bit different, and wolframite pipes do actually perform better.

 

[Nekobi]

11 minutes ago, Reaniel said:

As for the lowest conductivity thingie, it's mostly a matter of direct tile to tile heat transfer.  (Though this still doesn't account for how plastic tiles are bugged like crazy if you use it to conduct heat).  But when you're dealing with pipes, it's a bit different, and wolframite pipes do actually perform better.

Oh okay, I learned something then.

What bugs are there with the plastic tiles?

Well it have a crazy high conductivity but besides that...