4 belt balancer

[DaveMcW]

This setup balances resources equally across 4 belts without sacrificing speed.

4-belt-balancer.jpg (104.8 KiB) Viewed 7574 times

[Nova]

Well, it keeps its promise, so if someone needs exactly this kind of thing, he or she could use it.

[DanielHall15]

So, I'm the noob here, and I know nothing, but ... why do you split the upper lane into two lanes before moving them down and recombine them? This serves no obvious purpose for me?

I'm sure there is some smart reasoning behind it. I would just like to know...

[JackTheHat]

So, I'm the noob here, and I know nothing, but ... why do you split the upper lane into two lanes before moving them down and recombine them? This serves no obvious purpose for me?

I'm sure there is some smart reasoning behind it. I would just like to know...

Probably because when items go around a it will lower throughput. So if the belt is too full it will slow it down. If you split the belt into 2 as it goes around bends you have the amount of items on the belt. This means the belt isn't full enough to be slowed down by the turns.

[DerivePi]

since it doesn't cost anything to extend the underground belts their full length, I always try to do just that.

[therapist]

Does this balancer actually split the 4 streams evenly? Or does it just split those streams evenly when the belts are full?

I can see how this belt setup can displace overflowing amounts of items onto adjacent belts to achieve a nearly optimized 4 lane throughput, but I don't think this setup can actually accomplish load balancing. From what I see, this "balancer" doesn't even balance loads between the 2 lanes of a single belt, let alone balancing loads between multiple belts. If it can do these things, I'm curious as to how you've achieved this?

[DanielHall15]

On paper, it does work. No, really. I ran an extensive "on paper" test in the office today. Unless one or more are fully loaded, all belts will come out even.

Assume input (per minute):
Belt 1: 30
Belt 2: 20
Belt 3: 18
Belt 4: 12

First two and last two get "split":
Belt 1: 25
Belt 2: 25
Belt 3: 15
Belt 4: 15

First belt is flipped down:
Belt 2: 25
Belt 3: 15
Belt 4: 15
Belt 1: 25

First two and last two get "split":
Belt 2: 20
Belt 3: 20
Belt 4: 20
Belt 1: 20

Like I said, on paper it works. I have never even come close to have a need to actually build a 4-belt "highway".

[Laremere]

I had a similar design for my 4 lanes of train unloading to 4 lanes of furnace. However I ran into a problem: When the four output lanes are backed up, splitters prefer their left input. So the far left belt would feed all four outputs, emptying itself far early than the other lanes. This can cause a problem especially if 2 or 3 feed the output, and one of them ends up backing up, decreasing efficiency once the backup clears and inserters can't fill the lanes fast enough. This was my solution:



With no backup the lanes will mix a little and run just fine. If one lane backs up the other lanes will start receiving more items. If all four lanes back up then the input lanes will pipe directly to the output lanes.

[ssilk]

Technically it is in 99% of all cases enough to set 2 splitters, then one, then again 2:

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I never had the situation, that after this, one belt has obviously more stuff.

What I found much more difficult is to balance the sides of the belts, the lanes. Technically sometimes not possible.

[starxplor]

What I found much more difficult is to balance the sides of the belts, the lanes. Technically sometimes not possible.

To balance, first put all items on one side, I usually use a quick turn followed by a turn back after skipping a single belt to force everything onto one side.

Next, run the input into a splitter with the side branch on the side of the empty lane. Just turn this output back into the primary lane, and everything is even.

[ssilk]

To balance, first put all items on one side, I usually use a quick turn followed by a turn back after skipping a single belt to force everything onto one side.

That halfs your capacity.
https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... ontributor

[starxplor]

Yes, but it shows it is technically possible to even out lanes. I was only refering to that, not worrying about throughput.

[DaveMcW]

If a belt is backed up, you need double splitters to balance it.

Here is a pic of an 8 belt balancer.