The Fluid Conveyor is used to control fluid flow through the use of multiple input and output ports. Inputs and outputs may be placed anywhere along the length of the conveyor. The direction, speed, acceleration and angle of repose along with the length and width of the conveyor are all factors that will affect where material rests inside the conveyor and when and to which output port the material will be sent.
The Fluid Conveyor cannot have a negative speed. If the target direction is changed, the Fluid Conveyor will decelerate to 0 speed and then accelerate to the target speed.
In order to simulate a moving fluid material, the Fluid Conveyor breaks all of its content up into a series of slices defined by the user. The more slices in the conveyor, the higher the resolution. This also means there is more processing required to move and repose the material through all the slices.
Inputs are defined over a range of slices. For every tick where material moved into the Fluid Conveyor from one of the input ports, the incoming material will be spread evenly through all of the slices that fall inside the input range.
Outputs are defined at one point along the conveyor. Each output has a forward and reverse output percentape as well as a stopped rate. The forward and reverse percentages specify the total percentage of material that should exit through that output based on the current direction. If the output cannot handle all of the material, it is either spilled onto the floor (see Allow Spillage) or it will pass the output. The stopped rate will cause material to flow through the output when the conveyor is stopped. For example, if the stopped rate is 0.1 and the material sitting on top of an output is 0.5, the output will take 0.1 fluid units per tick, until there is no more fluid available to take.
The angle of repose defines the material's steepest angle of descent of the slope relative to the horizontal plane. This angle ranges between 0 and 90 degrees. For example, dirt has an angle of repose of 30-45°, dry sand 34°, wet sand 15-30°, and water is 0°. The fluid conveyor also has a repose rate. A value of 0 will cause the Angle of Repose to be ignored.
The repose rate defines how quickly a reposing pile of material will reach its natural resting state (based on the angle of repose). The repose subroutine will be run the number of times specified in this field (the larger the number, the more processing time it will take each tick to repose). A value between 1 and 10 is usually sufficient.
If allow spillage is checked on the Inputs/Outputs page, the fluid conveyor will try to send the full percentage of material to each output. Any material that cannot be handled by the downstream object will be spilled onto the floor. Any material that is unable to leave the conveyor through on output port that reaches the end of the fluid conveyor will also spill onto the floor. The spillage amount is recorded an a total amount of material spilled.
Similar to the Fluid Tank's Marks, sensors can be added anywhere along the length of the Fluid Conveyor. These sensors can be set up to be triggered based on the Peak Height of a section, or on the total Volume of the section. Each sensor has a Start and an End position. This marks the range over which the sensor will look for the specific values. You can also specify the low, mid, and high values for each sensor. When fluid passes one of these values, a Sensor Trigger is fired.
For statistical purposes, the fluid conveyor will be in one of the following states at various points during a simulation run:
The Fluid Conveyor is stopped and there is no material in it.
The Fluid Conveyor is conveying but has no material in it.
The Fluid Conveyor is stopped and no material is entering or leaving.
The Fluid Conveyor has material that is currently being moved along the length of the trough at a speed > 0.
The Fluid Conveyor has material but it is stopped. Material is settling and flowing through outputs.
The Fluid Conveyor is sending material downstream and no material is entering.
The Fluid Conveyor is collecting material and no material is leaving.
The fluid conveyor object has seven tabs with various properties. The last four tabs are the standard tabs that are common to most fluid objects. For more information about the properties on those tabs, see:
The Statistics tab is obsolete and is not supported for this object any more. Use the Statistics group in the object's Quick Properties instead.
The remaining three tabs--the Conveyor tab, the Inputs/Outputs tab, and the Sensors tab are unique to the fluid conveyor object. The properties on these tabs will be explained in more detail in the next three sections.
The Conveyor tab has the following properties:
The maximum amount of fluid material that this object can hold at any time.
The amount of material that is in the object when the model is reset.
This opens the Initial Product Window which allows the modeler to define the Product ID and sub-component mix of the material that is in this object.
Toggles manual speed control. You can change the direction, target speed and acceleration while the model is running. The manual speed control is designed to help you understand more about how the conveyor will react to changes in speed or direction.
Specifies the initial direction of the conveyor. The current direction is also displayed while the model is running.
Specifies the initial speed of the conveyor in the given initial direction. Speed values for the fluid conveyor cannot be negative. The current speed is also displayed while the model is running.
Specifies the initial acceleration of the conveyor. Infinite acceleration is defined as 0. The current acceleration is also displayed while the model is running.
The number of slices of fluid material that are placed along the length of the conveyor. The more slices, the better the resolution for displaying the volume of fluid. However, the more slices in the fluid conveyor, the more computations, causing your model to run slower.
Defines the material's steepest angle of descent of the slope relative to the horizontal plane. This angle ranges between 0 and 90 degrees.
The repose rate defines how quickly a reposing pile of material will reach its natural resting state (based on the angle of repose). A value of 0 will cause the Angle of Repose to be ignored. The repose subroutine will be run the number of times specified in this field (the larger the number, the more processing time it well take each tick to repose).
The layout of the fluid conveyor affects the conveyor's behavior, so the model should be reset after the layout has been changed to apply the changes.
Specifies the width of the start of the conveyor.
Specifies the width of the end of the conveyor.
Specifies the length, or X dimension of the conveyor.
The centerline offset skews the conveyor's trough. The value specifies the distance and direction (can be positive or negative) that the centerline of the trough is offset from the standard centerline.
Specifies the sidewall height of the conveyor's trough. This value is purely visual and has no effect on the behavior of the fluid conveyor.
Specifies the leg height of the conveyor. This value is purely visual and has no effect on the behavior of the fluid conveyor.
Use the or to Sample a color or press
"..." to choose a color.
Sets the color of the trough and legs. You may also change the transparency of the trough (allowing you to see the material's height profile through the sidewall).
Sets the color of the material. You may also change the transparency.
Set the color of the three directions of the fluid conveyor, Forward, Reverse, and Stopped. You may also change the transparency.
The Inputs/Outputs tab has the following properties:
Displays all of the objects currently connected to an input port of the Fluid Conveyor:
Displays all of the objects currently connected to an output port of the Fluid Conveyor:
The Sensors tab has the following properties:
Displays all of the sensors for the Fluid Conveyor:
Icon | Description |
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Adds a new sensor to the table. |
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Removes the selected sensor from the table, or if no sensor is selected, removes the last sensor in the table. |
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Moves the selected sensor up or down in the list. |
This table has the following columns:
The sensors have the following triggers: