UnknownMurder Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 Now you've seen this. Here's the code and everything. https://github.com/tgstation/tgstation/blob/master/tgui/src/interfaces/power_monitor.ract Now time for me to defend my argument why we should have this instead of what we have right now. Should be more "complicated" for non-engineers - "Too much scribbly lines and numbers I can't understand this shit. Help me, engineer." Makes the job more visualization, little more fun, and more engineer-like for engineers. - "The numbers, Mason! The numbers! What do they mean?!" A little more brain thinking - "what can I do to maintain the green line consistent and static - is it giving it too much power? - did we just have a power spike? - do we have too much load?" Allows better conversation between engineers and engineer apprentices - "See this green line. It shouldn't go under the red line. It should stay over the green line. You understand? Good." Creative and something unique for once. Some people has a hard time understanding graphs. So, it helps someone in real life how to understand graphs better, it can be educational in a sense.
Soultheif96 Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 It would help with the reading power output across the station in their categories. If mining has a big battery getting charged, I can tell how much it is consuming right away. I am for this suggestion as it would make our lives a little bit easier.
Arrow768 Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 Well, the thing you linked is for tgui. We dont have tgui. -> We are Using vueui, which is a completely different system. But still, something like that should be possible with our GUI System aswell.
Karolis2011 Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 It's was in my head for a while, I knew it existed. It will be added eventually as we have VueUI now. Just need to get few things done till every condition will be satisfied to allow it to happen.
UnknownMurder Posted July 29, 2019 Author Posted July 29, 2019 So, a friend pursuing a electric design major student fascinated about this decided to ask me how this works. I shall explain as I should've explained in my original post. The green line is how much the power is available to be distributed. The red line is a demand for power. In the screenshot of OP, the green line is going up which means that more power is being generated. The red line is flat on 0 W. This indicates two things. The power is not being distributed. The power monitoring system is not hooked up to station grid/engine. I'm sure the answer is 2 because you can see below, there are no areas connected which means it is not hooked up to station grid/engine. Given a scenario where demand for power (load) increases and power generated. It would definitely look like this. If the red line is over the green line, this means that there is more demand for power than there is available. Some areas will not be getting charged and station will lose power eventually. Statistically, the relationship of Available Power (green) line is the opposite of/contrasts with Load Power (red) line. I hope this is clear for you. @Pratepresidenten @Soultheif96 @Karolis2011 @Arrow768
SmallGreenAnt Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 (edited) I am woefully ignorant of the engineering and electrical code in Aurora so dismiss anything that doesn't apply. However, if I might make some smallgreenant suggestions that might be beneficial, should this ever come to be implemented. Applying an IRL traditional electrical distribution approach to this, you would likely see at least four lines on the graph: Generation - Total kW/MW that is being produced from the source, in this case typically a super matter engine, and solars. Transmission - The total amount actually being transmitted with account for changes in voltage, phase, etc. (not applicable as I don't believe code accounts for degradation over distance, phase, voltage, or other impedance due to SMES and such). Connected - The absolute maximum amount of potential for all equipment/areas on a grid. Demand - The actual amount of electrical draw from real-time consumption/usage. As described, a connected line on the graph is important as it demonstrates how much potential energy could suddenly become demand from any APC. Where as in the industry it is imperative to know the connected because cables and over-current protection need to be sized appropriately per code, it is useful in this game to alert engineering when new equipment is suddenly added to an APC so that they can anticipate and adapt. E.g. Science only shows a demand of 2.4kW but it shows connected 6kW for all those chargers and the teleporter. Obviously connected would rarely fluctuate but it would also more easily demonstrate unanticipated grid connections such as an IPC, exosuit, or ninja charging themselves but it would also more accurately show where a problem in a system exists. If all the connected and demand drop for a department, the issue likely exists in the main service line before the subsystem. Whether or not this is a feasible goal code-wise, I am unsure. I would imagine each machine or computer with the potential to pull from a grid would have to list its maximum draw to create that kind of information. In any event, this seems like a good tool for both teaching and monitoring regardless of the additions suggested! Edited July 29, 2019 by SmallGreenAnt
Melting Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 This seems really good, a substantial boost to the powernet info available to engineers. There are many times that I've wanted to view power consumption ego over the last few X minutes, so it's also not just "data for the sake of data", but a practical addition. Plus, I really like the idea of hooking up the Tesla and watching that green line shoot skyward like a bat out of hell. Sounds very satisfying!
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