Valve

The Valve is a building that attaches to Pipelines. Its primary purpose is to limit the flow rate and prevent backflow.

Operation
The Valve has two uses: Unlike Pipeline Pumps, Valves don't block the head lift, even when their limit is set to zero.
 * Limiting how much fluid is allowed to pass through (from 0.0 to 600.0, one decimal precision), with a resolution of about 8 bit - 1 ( 600 / 254 roughly equals 2.3622 )
 * This means that valves have finite, discrete values. Setting it to 240 will round up to 240.9 ( 2.3622 * 102). Setting it to 36 rounds down to 35.4 (2.3622 * 15).
 * Without calculations, the true value can be determined by watching the flow rate through a valve once a system has started up. This allows a player to determine if the game has rounded the player-set value up or down, and adjust by increments as necessary if the resulting value is undesirable.
 * Limiting flow in one direction only, thus preventing backflow (just like Pipeline Pumps)

The Valve is a pressure sensitive attachment: depending on how full the pipe on it's input side is, it will allow more or less fluid through when its limit is lower than the maximum of the pipe (less than 300 or 600 m³/min). If the pipe is half full, then the maximum flow is around half of the set limit.

Tips

 * Due to the finite number of valve values, trying to use precise numbers can prove detrimental: for example, in a 3:4 Sloppy Alumina to Electrode-Aluminium Scrap setup where the third refinery's output is split and merged with the other two, the third refinery will be unable to fully output through a valve set to 120 as the actual value is only ~118.1. In this system it would be necessary to set the valve to 121 (real value is around 120.5) or greater.

History

 * Patch 0.3.6.3: Moved from Tier 6 - Expanded Power Infrastructure to Tier 5 - Oil Processing
 * Patch 0.3.6: Introduced

Valve