Canister Pilot

Canister filler & purge station for both gases and liquids.​

Canister Pilot can handle both regular canisters and smart canisters, for both gases and liquids. The idea is having a quicker method of filling up canisters compared to having one being filled by a regulator over a much longer period of time.

From time to time our waste tank runs full and needs to be emptied, but perhaps it might be a good idea to capture and reuse the gases in the waste tank. Canister Pilot also supports being set up as a purge station.
If for some reason you are also carrying canisters of water across your station, the liquid canisters are also supported in purge mode.

I have attached a number of screenshots, showing the build process for a Canister Station. The screenshots show the construction of a "Filler Station", so a place to refill your canisters.

You have a choice between using a normal Volume Pump as the "filler pump" or a Pressure Regulator, though I would recommend going with the Volume Pump. To fill up a smart canister with 18 MPa at 20³C, takes about 5 minutes and 30 seconds using the pressure regulator, where the Volume Pump setup in this same configuration only takes about 25 seconds to complete.

Before you start worrying about power, the script maintains the running of the pump(s) and the pipe analyser, turning them off when they are not needed. They are also configured on-the-fly by the script, so there is no issue in building them into a frame like I have done in the build screenshots.

The White pipe would be your supply pipe that provides whichever gas / gas mixture or liquid you want the Filling Station to provide. The Orange pipe is the "Excess Purge" pipe, which will return whatever excess there is left after the canister has been filled. If you are not worried about accidental contamination due to inserting an incorrect canister (say your jetpack canister in your oxygen filler station – this would contanminate the oxygen!), then you can merge the orange and white pipes directly to your Oxygen storage tank and thereby skip running the excess through your atmospherics system to sort it out (saving a bit of filter durability). This is your choice.

If on the other hand you need a "Purge Station" where you can empty out your waste canister, follow the same build guide but leave out the "Filler Pump" and the "Purge Analyser" – neither of these are needed for a Purge Station.

Note that the Gas Display Console is entirely optional – use it or leave it out as you see fit. I think it’s nice to have 🙂
If you do include the Gas Display Console, it should be configured to the "Gas Tank Storage" for the setup, not the IC housing. Make sure you configure this before turning the IC housing on – once the script is running, it’ll force the console off unless there is work to be done.

In "Idle" mode only the IC housing will be on (50W). Insert either a normal canister or a smart canister and the station will spring to life.
At first the script lets the pressure settle for a bit – roughly 2 seconds. This is a safety measure when inserting a partially filled canister. By letting the pressure settle between the canister and the pipes, there is "even ground" to begin the filling process from.
Following this, the filling process begins. This continues until the default or configured target pressure has been reached for the inserted canister type. The script has configuration options for normal canisters and smart canisters individually.
Once the canister has been filled, the station goes into "wait for removal" – waits for you to pick up the canister.
When you have taken the canister out, the station will reclaim the excess gases / liquids that are now sitting in the pipe attached to the Gas Tank Storage.

Colors on the LED:

• White & off: idle mode.
• Orange: settling pressures – pre-filling
• Yellow: filling canister
• Green: filling completed – canister can be removed.
• Red: reclaim purge ongoing – do not insert a canister

In most cases, you can swap the canister in the Gas Tank Storage for another one, as long as the canister you are swapping with is of the same size. If you swap a smart canister for a normal canister, the normal canister will likely sustain damage due to overpressure! In extreme cases, this could lead to an explosion.
On the other hand, if you are swapping a normal canister for a smart canister, the filling station will adjust to the change.

In "idle" mode the station will just sit there with everything turned off, same as the filling station mode does.
Insert a canister with something in it, the Purge Station springs to life and starts pumping out whatever gases / liquids are in the canister. You should connect the purge line to your atmospherics setup or water storage accordingly.
Once the purge is completed, the station switches to "wait for removal" and just waits for you to remove the canister or swap it for another one that needs purging.

Colors on the LED:

• White & off: idle
• Yellow: purging contents – emptying the canister
• Green: purging completed – canister can be removed or swapped for another one.

This is not the fastest way of doing these things. Canisters can be processed much quicker using the Turbo Volume Pump, so if you are looking for high-speed canister processing this script will not be able to help.
If on the other hand you want a decent multi-purpose single script that can handle all of your canister needs on both the gas and liquid sides of things, then Canister Pilot is a good choice. Of course as the author I have to say that, however this script has been specifically designed to cope with the multitide of different scenarios that can occur in terms of our needs in dealing with canisters.

I hope you enjoy! 🙂

I have a few other scripts that might be of interest.

Atmospherics

Filtration Pilot (OnBoard)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978782048

Production

Printer Pilot
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978782048

Sorter Whitelist Automation
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978782048

Miscellaneous

WeatherWatch (24h Clock)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978782048