Is the pipe-sensor filter an intended design?

[Tobruk]

10W that are required to power a pipe-sensor filter compare very favourably to the in-game filter building that needs 120W.

Is this an intended design? Did you know that something like that was possible? Do you feel it should be changed in any way?

One reason I can think of for having such a filter design is to reward players for unlocking automation and pipe-sensors, but that basically makes the filter building obsolete at later game stages.

P.S Some may argue that the pipe-sensor filter has its flaws (for example slipping unwanted packets through if not powered), but that can be fixed for a low-low cost of another 10W shutoff that checks for a NOT-signal.

[SharraShimada]

As you already noticed: Automation is a late game tech. For the beginning, you need the heavy, bulky, powerconsuming things. You may replace it later, as your tech evolves. 

Another filter option ist the mechanical filter, which wont drain any power at all.

[he77789]

You can use the mechanical filter before automation! all you need are bridges and Valve!

[Sevio]

As said above, mechanical filter already exists so I think that a pipe sensor filter isn't a problem until steps are taken to remove the mechanical filter.

It takes more space than the powered filter to set up and by design you will likely want it in a location where multiple different pipelines come together, so it can make pipe routing more difficult. And when you're setting up a temporary pump to clean out an area of liquid/gas that you need to filter, it can be so much more convenient to just pay the power cost for easy filtering.

Another reason why this isn't much of a problem is that due to the high power cost of pumping liquid/gas, the game strongly incentivizes you to avoid filtering altogether. This gives rise to electrolyzers with hydrogen capture roofs above them, using element sensors to avoid your CO2 pumps pumping not-CO2, sealing in natural gas geysers so you only need to pump the natural gas itself.

So the reward for making a low power automation based way to filter is small because you're trying to avoid that situation for other reasons.