Chapter 13 ‐ Fluid handling part 2 ‐ Flow rates, storage tanks, fluid wagons, pumps, and barrels

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Fluid flow rates

While a fluid moves by itself through a fluid system such as a long pipeline, its flow rate decreases as the pipe length increases. The decrease in flow rate does not matter for pipelines with very few machines connected, but the difference becomes a problem if pipeline is super long and the fluid demand from the pipeline is high. An example of a long pipe with high demand is a water pipe that feeds more than 10 boilers or a distant nuclear power plant.

The easiest solution to the low flow rate problem is to move as much as possible as of the pipeline underground because underground pipe segments do not count towards the flow rate calculations. A second solution is building a second non-touching pipeline alongside the first to support a greater total flow volume. The third solution is placing pumps regularly along the pipeline, with pump between any 16 or so pipe units (including pipe to ground units but not underground segments), although the pumps need to be powered.

Storage tank

A storage tank is a 3 by 3, drum-shaped metal tank that stores up to 25 thousand units of a single type of fluid. It is unlocked with fluid handling technology and has two possible rotations. Two of its four corners have pipe interfaces at both directions of the corners. These interface corners are diagonal from each other and can be switched by rotating the tank. Hence it is possible to make a row of interconnected storage tanks if they have alternating rotations along the row.

As with pipes, fluids distribute themselves through storage tanks in a fluid system in terms of fullness percentage. Hence in a stabilized system if a storage tank has 5000 units of fluid in it, pipes in the same system have 20 units of fluid, all being 20% full. Meanwhile, if a non-empty storage tank is removed, the fluid inside tries to instantly redistribute itself into nearby empty tanks and pipes, but some of it still may be deleted.

Pump

A pump is a 1 by 2, pipe-based electric device that forces a fluid in a pipe to flow in one direction, and with increased pressure. It also is used to load and unload fluid wagons of trains. It is unlocked with fluid handling technology and is not the same machine as an offshore pump. It has a pipe interface in front of it and another behind it. No fluid flows through the pump if it is unpowered. If there is a limited amount of fluid in a system with a pump in it, usually most or all of the fluid will settle beyond the pump when the system stabilizes, meaning that the part of the system before the pump may appear to be empty while it is still reserved for a particular fluid.

Fluid wagon

A fluid wagon is a 6 by 2 train car with three small interconnected storage tanks on it. Like a regular storage tank it holds up to 25 thousand units of a single fluid. It can be loaded and unloaded using pumps. For a pump to interface with a fluid wagon, it must be precisely placed next to where the wagon will sit on a straight rail, but any tile along the side of the fluid wagon will work. If the pump faces into the rail, it is able to load the wagon, and if facing away it can unload the wagon. The wagon has three spots on its ceiling where a pump can stretch out and connect to automatically, when aligned and parked correctly. Correct alignment requires the fluid wagon's train to be in automatic mode and properly docked to a nearby train station. If in manual mode, the train needs to be stopped and some wriggling forward or backward to park at the right alignment may be needed.

Barrel

A barrel is a drum-shaped steel container that can hold exactly 50 units of any fluid and can be moved. It is unlocked with fluid handling technology and costs one steel ingot to make. Barrels are not place-able entities but they can be moved like other items via belts and inserters and they have a stack size of 10. The filling and emptying of barrels can be done in tier 2 or tier 3 assembling machines that are set to the relevant filling or emptying recipes. A barrel that is emptied is immediately ready for reuse.

Using barrels has the advantage of enabling the carrying of fluids in inventories or on belts. The disadvantages include having to carry back empty barrels and other fluid handling methods being generally faster.

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