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Balancer mechanics

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Revision as of 20:38, 5 February 2017 by Bilka (talk | contribs) (Addded small mechanics section, added see also)
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Balancers are used to evenly distribute items over multiple belts or multiple belt lanes.

Belt balancers are usually used to balance multiple belts before or after train stations to ensure even loading of buffer chests and train wagons. They are also used to even out production by placing them in front of large machine arrays with multiple input belts. Belt balancers do not balance the individual belt lanes!

Lane balancers are usually placed after production to ensure that a belt is fully compressed or before consumption to ensure that both lanes of the belt are evenly drained.

Lane Balancers

Input Unbalanced, Output Balanced

These balancers evenly distribute the items onto the output lanes but do not "pull" evenly from the input lanes when the output is backed up. They are input unbalanced.

The last two balancers are a special case, they only work when there are items on only one side of the input belt.

Input and Output Balanced

These balancers evenly distribute the items onto the output lanes and "pull" evenly from the input lanes when the output is backed up. They are input and output balanced.

Belt Balancers

These belt balancers are all tested to be input balanced and output balanced. Throughput under full load is 100% and min throughput with blocked in- and outputs is also tested, it is noted when that is under 100%. Tests are done using this handy tool by d4rkpl4y3r on the Factorio Forums. When there are multiple versions of balancers that have the same stats but different sizes, the balancer with the smallest footprint is shown.


1 belt → x belts


2 belts → x belts


3 belts → x belts


4 belts → x belts


5 belts → x belts


6 belts → x belts


7 belts → x belts


8 belts → x belts

Mechanics

1 full input belt gets split into two 50% full belts which get split into 4 belts that are each 25% full.

Belt balancers use the mechanic that splitters output items in a 1:1 ratio onto both their output belts. That means that a splitter can be used to put an equal amount of items on two belts. Since the process can be repeated infinitely, balancers with 2^n output belts are easy to create.

File:Balancer Mechanics2.png
First the belts A and B go through a splitter so that the output belts contain an equal amount of items from each input belt (AB). The same is done with belts C and D. Then the mixed belts AB and CD go through splitters so that their output belts contain items from each input belt (ABCD)!

Balancers also use the mechanic that splitters take an equal amount of items from both input belts. That means that a splitter connected to two input belts will evenly distribute those items onto the the two output belts. To balance belts it has to be made sure that the output belts contain an equal number of items from each input belt.

References

See also