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Author Topic: Short pump stack question  (Read 515 times)

moki

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Short pump stack question
« on: November 22, 2012, 04:09:25 pm »

So, I got a question: In a powered pump stack (by perpetuum mobile generator), does it matter at what point I attach the driving axle?

I've built pump stacks before, but I always powered them from the bottommost pump which transferred the power all the way to the very top. Now I'm building a pump stack from the magma sea to 5 levels above ground - about 50z total. Sadly, there's not enough room by the magma sea for a big enough generator and I also don't want to get the water down there first to get the magma up. So... can I just power any pump in the middle and will it transfer the power up and down? Or do I need to build the generator higher up and transfer the energy down to the bottom with axles?

And no, leaving the magma down there is no alternative. I'm building an above ground city and need the magma for general dwarfiness and !!goblins!!
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AutomataKittay

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Re: Short pump stack question
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2012, 04:13:15 pm »

Doesn't matters where you hooks it up, as long as it's all mechanically linked. I've had pumpstacks driven by underwater gears, or by gears on top of the stack itself. Or from the arse-end of one of the pumps. And once even driven from the pumpface, though I don't remember how that worked out :D

If they're mechanically coupled ( needs more power for each additional part) then you can hook the power up anywhere on it! Well, as long as you observe the basic principle of connections.
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moki

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Re: Short pump stack question
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2012, 04:50:04 pm »

Thanks a lot, that'll make it a lot easier for me and my band of bearded alcoholics. I'll use a very basic symmetric design with the tile under the pump's back end channeled out and alternating the direction for every level. The generator will need at least 6 waterwheels, maybe more if I want to have reserves for expanding later on... a single-pump-stack isn't that fast and if the need for more magma (is there ever enough?) arises, I want to be prepared.

Stay tuned for glorious results...
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Sutremaine

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Re: Short pump stack question
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2012, 09:20:45 pm »

Any pump stack should be extremely fast. Are you letting magma run into the lowest pump's intake tile naturally, or are you forcing it there with a separate pump?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is a full-featured and 150-level version of the design presented here. For a pump stack, the intake tile for the lowest pump in the stack would be on the same level as the pump shown in the screenshots.

Digging the ramp in the position shown will break through the wall not only on the pump level, but on the level above it. This should allow for faster refilling of that feeder pump, as there are now two layers of magma feeding into its intake area. You will need to stop the miner from being able to dig out the ramp while standing on the bridge.
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