Manifold

A Manifold is one selection over several interchangeable vessels. It holds nothing itself; it decides which of its member tanks to use at any moment.

Direction

A Manifold works in one direction. A source manifold draws from its members; a destination manifold fills them. All of its members share one material.

Figure 1. A Raw Draw manifold: four tanks, selected by rotation.

The rules

A manifold picks its member by a rule you choose:

• Priority: always the highest-priority member that can take part.
• By level: the fullest or the emptiest, so a set of tanks stays balanced.
• Rotate: it moves the scan start each time, so the last tank in the set is never stranded.
• By product: keyed to a run table, so the tank in use follows what the day is making.

Duty and standby

Because a manifold uses one member at a time, the others stand by. That is duty and standby: one tank works while the rest wait, and the manifold can wash each one on handover. Two members that wash on handover may not share a single clean group, so give each its own.