Emergency power with delay (Combinators help)

[ili]

Hi
I have a nuclear power setup and a coal power setup.
I want the coal setup to tern on only if power is low so I made this simple setup to connect the steam setup when needed:

2017-08-19_17-51-59.png (915.55 KiB) Viewed 5393 times

The problem is that it is very "flickery" turning on and of rapidly, So I want to add a delay like so:

If accumulator is below 100% connect steam setup (that what I have now)
If steam setup was activated keep it active for 60 seconds (delay)
If accumulator power go below 100 reset the 60 seconds counter (so the steam setup will not tern off if power is still low)

I wasn't able to make it work myself.
Thank you

[twepy]

What you need to implement is a S/R latch, this allows to set condition to turn it on and a condition to turn it off. For example switch on when the accumulator drops below 90% and switch the coal off when accumulator is at 100%. In this topic you can find some tutorials on combinators and an example of a S/R latch.

[ili]

What you need to implement is a S/R latch, this allows to set condition to turn it on and a condition to turn it off. For example switch on when the accumulator drops below 90% and switch the coal off when accumulator is at 100%. In this topic you can find some tutorials on combinators and an example of a S/R latch.

After some more trial and error I have something working, yes using the S/R latch (the single combinator version)
Improvements are welcomed (Constant combinator is just for simulating power failure)

Blueprint

Code: Select all

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2017-08-19_19-57-56.png (566.29 KiB) Viewed 5380 times

[Tritano]

I have seen a neat idea: control the offshore pumps of the steam engine, not the output power.

This helps because there is a quite long delay between cutting off the water supply and the
steam engines stopping.

[impetus maximus]

2 combinator SR latch.

SR.latch.png (44.04 KiB) Viewed 5274 times

set the decider to when you want backup to kick on. <90 for example. set the arithmetic to the negative amount you want backup to recharge the accumulators.
the blueprint is set to <90 to kick on, and -10 (arithmetic) which will wait till accumulators are at 100 to switch off.

blueprint string

Code: Select all

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

[Engimage]

The problem with your setup is the low capacity of accumulators. This design you are trying to implement is working fine if you want to implement steam backup for solar power. In this case your accumulator charge decays slowly giving you an opportunity to make a frame for say 50-90% of accu charge and turn steam on if below 50% and turn back off if you reach 90%.

In your case if you want to back up nuclear with steam your single accumulator will get drained in no time so you will still have that flickery anyways but maybe a little less frequent.

Much more effective solution in your case would be measuring amount of steam in nuclear power plant storage (which you should implement between heat exchangers and steam turbines) if the storage is large enough.
This storage would also help you implement nuclear power fine control (for saving nuclear fuel). You can search info about this scenario here on forums. In two words this storage serves as accumulator of steam and you start feeding reactors with fuel only if your steam level falls below certain value. This will save you quite an amount of nuclear fuel in case your factory consumes less than reactor's capacity.
So with this storage implemented you turn on nuclear supply if you get say less 50% steam in storage and you can set up to turn on your steam if you fall below 20% and turn it off if >50%.

Also I would recommend using water pump control as opposed to power switch as it has no issues with blueprinting and it naturally provides "cooldown" as steam egines will consume water in pipes even if pump is turned off.

[ili]

The problem with your setup is the low capacity of accumulators. This design you are trying to implement is working fine if you want to implement steam backup for solar power. In this case your accumulator charge decays slowly giving you an opportunity to make a frame for say 50-90% of accu charge and turn steam on if below 50% and turn back off if you reach 90%.

In your case if you want to back up nuclear with steam your single accumulator will get drained in no time so you will still have that flickery anyways but maybe a little less frequent.

Much more effective solution in your case would be measuring amount of steam in nuclear power plant storage (which you should implement between heat exchangers and steam turbines) if the storage is large enough.
This storage would also help you implement nuclear power fine control (for saving nuclear fuel). You can search info about this scenario here on forums. In two words this storage serves as accumulator of steam and you start feeding reactors with fuel only if your steam level falls below certain value. This will save you quite an amount of nuclear fuel in case your factory consumes less than reactor's capacity.
So with this storage implemented you turn on nuclear supply if you get say less 50% steam in storage and you can set up to turn on your steam if you fall below 20% and turn it off if >50%.

Also I would recommend using water pump control as opposed to power switch as it has no issues with blueprinting and it naturally provides "cooldown" as steam egines will consume water in pipes even if pump is turned off.

Yep my setup flickers every minute
I don't know why I didn't think of measuring the steam
But it was fun to make and works nicely

[Engimage]

Yep my setup flickers every minute
I don't know why I didn't think of measuring the steam
But it was fun to make and works nicely

Be aware that for this to work you need some exess steam turbines in your nuclear setup so that they will consume saved steam faster than reactors can produce it. Then steam tanks will be effective buffer to trigger backup. If you lack turbines or have exact amount steam level in tank will not change and won't trigger backup even if power plant is working on max capacity.