Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Don't know how to use a machine? Looking for efficient setups? Stuck in a mission?
dabalciunas
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by dabalciunas »

This is the only belt design I know which truly guarantees input and output balancing.

"Waste of resources" or not, for balancing 1-1 belts I would just use the 2-Belt I/O Balancer, because it doesn't use unconnected underground belts, which saves you from unwanted underground belt connection mistakes in very tight spaguetti places.

2-Belt I/O Balancer
2-belt balancer R.png
2-belt balancer R.png (54.26 KiB) Viewed 6876 times
2-belt balancer L.png
2-belt balancer L.png (45.26 KiB) Viewed 6876 times

4-Belt I/O Balancer
4-belt balancer.png
4-belt balancer.png (309.52 KiB) Viewed 6876 times
Last edited by dabalciunas on Tue May 11, 2021 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Fooluaintblack
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:14 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by Fooluaintblack »

I'll just leave these here...
Lane Balancers.png
Lane Balancers.png (4.39 MiB) Viewed 6804 times
Left to right:

1-1
2-2
2-2 Unlimited Throughput
2-2 Inline
3-3
4-4
4-4 Inline
5-5

To my knowledge, these are the best available however the 5-5 needs a lot of work, it's a giant mess. There's a really nice 6-6 and 8-8 out there but no one really makes the odd sizes...

User avatar
ssilk
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 12888
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by ssilk »

dabalciunas wrote:
Wed Oct 14, 2020 11:19 am
This is the only belt design I know which truly guarantees input and output balancing.
viewtopic.php?p=482201#p482201

The article links also to
https://gist.github.com/Bilka2/aeec4ff7 ... 0cf1046a06
Cool suggestion: Eatable MOUSE-pointers.
Have you used the Advanced Search today?
Need help, question? FAQ - Wiki - Forum help
I still like small signatures...

dabalciunas
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by dabalciunas »

Fooluaintblack wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:19 am
I'll just leave these here...

Lane Balancers.png

Left to right:

1-1
2-2
2-2 Unlimited Throughput
2-2 Inline
3-3
4-4
4-4 Inline
5-5

To my knowledge, these are the best available however the 5-5 needs a lot of work, it's a giant mess. There's a really nice 6-6 and 8-8 out there but no one really makes the odd sizes...
I didn't understand the "2-2 Unlimited Throughput" though, what does it improves over the 2-2 version? Maybe I am missing something here...

The ones I posted are true I/O balancers, meaning the can take from any of the 2 lanes of any input belt and then output it to any of the 2 lanes of any output belt. This explains why they look "bigger" than the compact ones.

The 3x3 version you have posted uses more elemements than your 4x4 version, so I would just prefer to use the 4x4 instead of the 3x3.

Below is another slightly different 4x4 design, which also serve as AxB where A and B can be any number between 1 and 4:



And by following the same principle of this 4x4, I also made the 8x8 Full Throughput Balancer: any input lane can be redirected to any of its output lane. Due to the size of the build, minor gaps may occur temporarily until the balancer adapts itself to the new input/output.

Attachments
4-belt.jpg
4-belt.jpg (219.95 KiB) Viewed 5390 times
8x8 Full Throughput Belt Balancer.jpg
8x8 Full Throughput Belt Balancer.jpg (455.98 KiB) Viewed 5390 times
Last edited by dabalciunas on Sun May 16, 2021 3:48 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Zanthra
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 207
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:18 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by Zanthra »

dabalciunas wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 12:17 pm
I didn't understand the "2-2 Unlimited Throughput" though, what does it improves over the 2-2 version? Maybe I am missing something here...
The normal 2-2 version shown there only has 1 path for left lane input to get to left lane output, the unlimited one has 2 paths.

dabalciunas
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by dabalciunas »

Zanthra wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 3:59 pm
dabalciunas wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 12:17 pm
I didn't understand the "2-2 Unlimited Throughput" though, what does it improves over the 2-2 version? Maybe I am missing something here...
The normal 2-2 version shown there only has 1 path for left lane input to get to left lane output, the unlimited one has 2 paths.
I did not quite understand yet, I think I must be really missing something here... see the attached images here, the left input belt can be diverted to the left output belt in 2 different ways: inverting lanes or not. Is there really a need for the extra elements, considering the output is limited to the same belt speed as the input?

I was so interested on the compact 4x4 desgn, that I decided to fully test it. However unfortunately I have found a throughput issue with this compact 4x4 design: it cannot fullfill the necessary throughput when only left lanes of output belts are consumed, which could lead to starvation of assembly machines. See the image below, it is self-explanatory...
Attachments
compact 4x4 issue.jpg
compact 4x4 issue.jpg (497.47 KiB) Viewed 5602 times
2-belt balancer L - B.png
2-belt balancer L - B.png (49.74 KiB) Viewed 5613 times
2-belt balancer L - A.png
2-belt balancer L - A.png (50.73 KiB) Viewed 5613 times

Trebor
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 288
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:39 pm
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by Trebor »

dabalciunas, I think you are making an invalid assumption about these lane balancers. Although they have a splinter on the input they should only have one belt as input not two.

Take a look at the designs by disentius in this viewtopic.php?f=202&t=74911 for some two belt lane balancers.

User avatar
disentius
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 694
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 3:17 pm
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by disentius »

Solution for single lanes.
However, this will break the input balance the moment you have one of the imput lanes starving, not ideal.
2021-05-11 17_17_02-Window.png
2021-05-11 17_17_02-Window.png (909.33 KiB) Viewed 5574 times
2021-05-11 17_19_36-Window.png
2021-05-11 17_19_36-Window.png (1.33 MiB) Viewed 5574 times

Zanthra
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 207
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:18 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by Zanthra »

dabalciunas wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 9:32 am
Zanthra wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 3:59 pm
dabalciunas wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 12:17 pm
I didn't understand the "2-2 Unlimited Throughput" though, what does it improves over the 2-2 version? Maybe I am missing something here...
The normal 2-2 version shown there only has 1 path for left lane input to get to left lane output, the unlimited one has 2 paths.
I did not quite understand yet, I think I must be really missing something here... see the attached images here, the left input belt can be diverted to the left output belt in 2 different ways: inverting lanes or not. Is there really a need for the extra elements, considering the output is limited to the same belt speed as the input?
That’s for left belt input to left belt output, now do the same for left lane input (from both belts) to left lane output (from both belts), there is only one belt lane of internal capacity for two belt lanes of input.

Coincidentally the “problem” for the compact 4-4 belt balancer you discovered is the same problem the normal 2-2 belt balancer has, and is the exact problem that the unlimited 2-2 belt balancer solves.

Try the same test on both the 2-2 variants as you did for the 4-4. The normal will have the same problem while the unlimited works perfectly.

Basically in this nomenclature, your 4-4 balancer would be "4-4 Unlimited Throughput".

dabalciunas
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by dabalciunas »

Zanthra wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 5:11 pm

That’s for left belt input to left belt output, now do the same for left lane input (from both belts) to left lane output (from both belts), there is only one belt lane of internal capacity for two belt lanes of input.

Coincidentally the “problem” for the compact 4-4 belt balancer you discovered is the same problem the normal 2-2 belt balancer has, and is the exact problem that the unlimited 2-2 belt balancer solves.

Try the same test on both the 2-2 variants as you did for the 4-4. The normal will have the same problem while the unlimited works perfectly.

Basically in this nomenclature, your 4-4 balancer would be "4-4 Unlimited Throughput".
Oh... I see it now. Thanks for opening my eyes for that issue. I was actually wondering why the 2-2 was so much smaller than the 4-4. The explanation is, there is no free lunch! :D

Anyway, now we got a 2-2 Full-Thoughput Balancer and a 4-4 Full-Thoughput Balancer

I was not happy with the fact that both of these balancers do not guarantee the output of items to happen in an alternate way, from every available input lane. So I came up with a new 2-2 Full-Thoughput Alternator design, which I have also posted on that thread referenced by Trebor: viewtopic.php?p=545588#p545588

It is this monstrosity, which works like a charm:

Attachments
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator.jpg
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator.jpg (310.47 KiB) Viewed 5508 times

Zanthra
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 207
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:18 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by Zanthra »

dabalciunas wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 1:03 am
Zanthra wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 5:11 pm

That’s for left belt input to left belt output, now do the same for left lane input (from both belts) to left lane output (from both belts), there is only one belt lane of internal capacity for two belt lanes of input.

Coincidentally the “problem” for the compact 4-4 belt balancer you discovered is the same problem the normal 2-2 belt balancer has, and is the exact problem that the unlimited 2-2 belt balancer solves.

Try the same test on both the 2-2 variants as you did for the 4-4. The normal will have the same problem while the unlimited works perfectly.

Basically in this nomenclature, your 4-4 balancer would be "4-4 Unlimited Throughput".
Oh... I see it now. Thanks for opening my eyes for that issue. I was actually wondering why the 2-2 was so much smaller than the 4-4. The explanation is, there is no free lunch! :D

Anyway, now we got a 2-2 Full-Thoughput Balancer and a 4-4 Full-Thoughput Balancer

I was not happy with the fact that both of these balancers do not guarantee the output of items to happen in an alternate way, from every available input lane. So I came up with a new 2-2 Full-Thoughput Alternator design, which I have also posted on that thread referenced by Trebor: viewtopic.php?p=545588#p545588

It is this monstrosity, which works like a charm:


It's possible to reduce that slightly, as it duplicates much of the work. For example a slightly shortened version:
Blueprint string:

Mixer.JPG
Mixer.JPG (76.88 KiB) Viewed 5498 times
And a diagram showing 2 independent internal lanes of left lane to left lane capacity. Note that it branches after splitting and reconverging the lanes into belts.
Mixer-ft.jpg
Mixer-ft.jpg (98.62 KiB) Viewed 5498 times
As the other one branches before reconverging the lanes:
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator-annotated.jpg
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator-annotated.jpg (376.36 KiB) Viewed 5497 times

dabalciunas
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am
Contact:

Re: Is it possible to input balance a single belt's lanes?

Post by dabalciunas »

Zanthra wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 4:11 am
It's possible to reduce that slightly, as it duplicates much of the work. For example a slightly shortened version:
Perfect, good catch! I further improved the compactness of the design, still maintaining all of its original properties, allowing it now to be crossed by other belts.

Attachments
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator.jpg
2-Belt Full-Throughput Alternator.jpg (296.08 KiB) Viewed 5466 times

Post Reply

Return to “Gameplay Help”