Support multi-level import/export overflows

[dennisquintel]

Currently, Refinery can deal well with the following situation, where there is a (possible) overflow in one or the other direction:

It would be super cool if Refinery could calculate something similar, where there are two converters in between, namely B1 and B2 in the following example:

This wish came to light in #24.

[dennisquintel]

Assigning @antw

[antw]

We've decided to put this on hold, temporarily, until we have the graph running in ETEngine. The current solution is not ideal, but it'll do until we have the time to come up with something better.

I was able to solve simple cases such as described in the diagram above, but more complicated ones we proving troublesome. I could get it working when there was an excess of supply from production/import, or an excess of demand from the left, but not both simultaneously.

Anyway, I've stashed my work away in a local branch and will come back to it later.

[wmeyers]

Including @wouterterlouw and linking to #24.

I'm not sure if there ever would be a situation in which there would be both an excess of supply from production/import, or an excess of demand from the left. In that case import and export would have to be non-zero and I don't think etengine really likes that.

Let's pick this up later again when we have the new graph running on etengine! 👍

[antw]

I'm not sure if there ever would be a situation in which there would be both an excess of supply from production/import, or an excess of demand from the left.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I meant that in the more complicated situations, the solution could handle an excess of supply, but not an excess of demand. When changed to handle an excess of demand, it could no longer cope with an excess of supply. We could allow one situation, but not the other; which makes it pretty useless in my eyes.

I still think it can be solved, it's just a much harder problem than I originally thought, so we'll deal with it when there's a bit more time. 😞

[wmeyers]

Alright, thanks for clearing that up! ☺️