Pipe Interior Pattern Impedes Flow.
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I have a misunderstanding on how PIPE works that I hope someone can help me clear up.
It's stated that once you remove some brick, the interior of the pipe becomes usable and elements should be able to flow unimpeded.
As an experiment, I made an hourglass shape that contained water at the bottom that I was going to boil. The hourglass shape was a pipe connecting two triangular containers made of titanium. I filled the bottom triangle with water and used the element FIRE to heat the water. To my surprise, the water vapour never made it to the top of the triangle but instead got stuck on the rainbow pattern representing the pipe interior.
As an experiment, I erased the rainbow pattern but left the brick alone and repeated the experiment. The water vapour made it to the top triangle without trouble.
This makes me wonder if I'm either misunderstanding what PIPE is supposed to be used for, or that I'm actually supposed to do what I did: remove the pipe interior without nicking the brick. If it is the latter, what's the point of even using PIPE when I just can use a hollow rectangle made of titanium, but open at both ends?
Thanks for any replies received.
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You use pipe by drawing a line, and erasing the brick at the end of the pipe where you want your steam in this case, to flow.
For example,
2452506View Save 2452506
If you erase the brick at the end, allow the rainbow pattern to form then after you erase the brick at the other end, CO2 will flow from the bottom to the top.After you have done that, it should look like this
2452507View Save 2452507 -
You should create the hourglass pattern while paused. Then, erase the top to create an exit. Once the entire pipe has generated, erase at the bottom for the entrance. Perhaps you skipped one of these steps and that's why it didn't work.
The rainbow pattern shows how particles transfer through the pipe. They can only move to certain colors from a specific other color. Since it's a 3-state color, this ensures particles move in the correct direction and don't go backwards.
PIPE is great for moving things from one place to another. In this case the steam automatically moves up anyway. But if you were moving an element in an unnatural direction it would help.
Edit: I'm super slow to respond, on a phone lolEdited once by jacob2. Last: 13th Aug 2019 -
Thanks to all who replied. :)
I want to make clear, as mentioned in my OP, the brick at both ends were removed and the interior of the pipe was drawn in automatically. Both ends were not blocked.
Phox's design is similar to what I had with one exception: the pipe did not protrude in each triangle but was flush with the opening of each triangle. I doubt there was a leaking of steam outside the structure.
What I will do when I get home (and should have done in the first place) is provide my experiment for everyone to see to show what I mean. Watch this space for the edit.
Thanks :)
And here are the examples in question.The first one is with the pipe interior preserved. Notice how it bunches up.
The second one is with the pipe interior erased. See how it easily rises to the top?
The same outcome happens when I use a beaker shaped object instead of an hourglass shape. The third and fourth image shows this difference in start contrast.
I have a theory. The interior of the pipe might offer resistance in the form of different densities and clumping. The pipe interior is a physical surface that steam will collect on and thus offer drag. When I remove the interior, it's a vacuum so steam will more easily pass through.
Edited 2 times by Moggie. Last: 14th Aug 2019 -
Maybe you're still a little confused about how PIPE works. What it does is push particles in blue sections to red, red sections to green, and green sections to blue. Particles inside PIPE move up one pixel a frame. Once a particle gets to the end of the PIPE, it pushes it into the empty space and lets whatever happen to it after that.
In your screenshots, I see there's some water at the end of the PIPE blocking anything else from coming out. There needs to be empty space at the end of the PIPE in order for it to push things out. Maybe something is cooling down the steam too much, leading to water pooling up there? Anyway, this is why usually the end of pipes aren't facing up, it's hard for things to quickly clear out of the way, and pipes require empty space at the end in order to keep the flow.
I'd suggest either heating up the steam more to ensure it doesn't cool into water, or not use PIPE for this save.
Another thing to mention is that as a solid element, PIPE partially blocks pressure. Without the PIPE, pressure moves more freely through the opening. This also explains why the non-PIPE version has better flow. Things inside PIPE no longer have their properties, so steam in PIPE isn't actually steam. It's just PIPE that has information about a stored particle of steam inside it. It will transfer the information about that particle all the way to the end, until it releases it.Edited once by jacob1. Last: 14th Aug 2019 -
You're correct there's a misunderstanding on my part. I assumed PIPE behaved like well, a pipe. I wasn't aware the color notches played a role in how the particles moved and that in itself explains why there was something that looks like a drag.
It also explains why particles moved more freely when I got rid of the interior entirely. It's a vacuum now and no beading as a result of cooling will happen.
In any case, I'll probably just construct my own tube to get the desired effect.
@phox (View Post) if I only open one end, the opposite end will be sealed off by a thin brick line after the interior generates. I need to manually clear it on that side as well.
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@LBPHacker (View Post) Thanks for the clarification. I stand corrected.
