Pipeline Pump

The Pipeline Pump is a building used to increase Pipeline pressure. It is directional, which is denoted with two arrows in its blueprint and also on the structure itself. It can be either built separately or attach to an already built Pipeline. A Pipeline Pump also snaps to Walls, making it easier to build pumps exactly 20 meters apart vertically.

Head Lift



 * Fluids have a Head Lift that dictates how far upwards they can travel in Pipelines. In short terms, a 1m rise requires a Head Lift of 1m, a rise of 10m requires a Head Lift of 10m and so on.
 * The Head Lift's lowest point is measured at the geometrical center of a pipeline pump or the pipe connector of a fluid outputting building. Fluid Buffers are the only excption, with their Head Lift being measured upwards from the bottom of the building.
 * , and  provide recommended head lift of 10 meters + 2 meters beyond limit. Pipeline Pumps output at a "Recommmended Max Head Lift" of 20m + 2m beyond limit, thereby having a theoretical maximum Head Lift of 22m, yet practically the limit is at around 23m, after which flow rate will drop sharply and reach 0 m³/min at around 23.3m.
 * Note that the applied Head Lift is not accumulative, it is therefore necessary to space out the pumps evenly if the rise exceeds 20m and that the maximum Head Lift shown in the Pumps UI is 22m.

Head lift exploit
Pipeline pumps, if used in large quantity, can be a burden to the Power grid, thus innovative solution is highly desirable to minimize the power usage. If multiple fluid sources connected to a single or multiple pipelines with different head lifts, then the highest head lift among them will be applied to the entire connected network. This makes head lift exploits possible, provided water bodies at different heights are in close proximity such as near the waterfalls.
 * To do so, first construct as many water extractors at the lower water body as you need.
 * Build a floating factory above the lower extractors, but not more than 10 meters higher than the upper water level. Connect the pipes between the factory needing the water and those extractors.
 * Construct 1 water extractor at the upper water body. Extend a water pipe down the waterfall and to connect this extractor to all the other pipes at the lower part.
 * All the pipes will then share the head lift of the highest water extractor.
 * For this setup, Pipeline Pump is not required at all.
 * If a waterfall is not available, a priming pipe can be built by applying an upward pipe boosted by pipeline pumps until a high point, then return downward and connect to multiple lower pipes to share its head lift among them.

Flow direction
A Pipeline pump has a direction, as indicated by the arrows on its building hologram. Even when unpowered, a Pipeline Pump also act as a one-way valve: It prevents fluids from flowing backwards. The pistons of the pump are always pointed backwards against the fluid flow direction.

Flow rate

 * A Pipeline Pump outputs the fluid at the speed which it receives them, it will not increase the flow rate.
 * Refering to the description "Outputs fluids at 300 m per minute" it might have a maximum work capacity of 300m³/min. Unfortunately, this is currently not verifiable because the Pipelines also max out at 300m³/min, but the description "Useful for [...] balancing out throughput" further deepens this claim while also hinting at faster pipelines. (Also by the UI of the Water Extractor, stating a Max Flow Rate of 600m³/min for the internally stored water and the Oil Extractor on pure nodes overclocked at 250% with also an output of 600m³/min.)

Unpowered pump

 * An unpowered pump still allows fluid to flow through in its pumping direction, allowing it to act as a one-way valve. This resets head lift on the output side of the unpowered pump to zero.

Snapping

 * A Pipeline Pump can be snapped to an existing pipeline, similar to a splitter.
 * A Pipeline Pump can be placed on Foundations for precise placement. You can rotate it in 90 degrees interval horizontally.
 * A Pipeline Pump can be placed on Walls for precise placement. You can rotate it in 45 degrees interval vertically.

History

 * Patch 0.3.3.0: Added audio feedback when head lift exceeds the maximum
 * Patch 0.3.1.0:
 * Can now be placed on Walls and Foundations
 * Fixed a typo in the UI
 * Patch 0.3: Introduced