Flow Controller
- Thread starter stevela
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bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
How robust it would be due to the steam I don't know, but they are cheap enough to give it a try. The only waterproof one I found was $99 so a tad expensive. How they would work if covered in clingfilm or other thin plastic, I don't know but it may work.
They fire high frequency sound don't they so any obstruction would render it useless. The one I looked at seemed like an On Off device. 5V high 0v low. I couldn't see if you could make it do anything in between but it does say 'distance measuring deivce'
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
Belter said:
You have an HLT deeper than 4.5 metres!!!!!!!!!! You must be a serious brewer. :whistle: :lol:
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
Belter said:
As far as I know they fire sound and measure the time it takes for the sound to come back. The speed of sound being a known speed so the time differential can be converted to distance. The bit I'm not sure about is what happens if you cover the microphones/emitter with something. A thin bit of plastic should not stop the sound but does it alter the bounce characteristics? The sound beam is very narrow. Also the surface of the water will not be flat like a piece of glass, but rippled so the sound will bounce in a multitude of ways, but hopefully some will come back to the pick up microphone. Only an experiment will guage this. I have ordered one, but as usual it will be 2 or 3 weeks delivery from China. I hate having to wait, when I want to know now. :evil:
Can anyone identify the components in the wiring diagram? I'm not sure about the resistor value. The rest looks fairly self explanatory.
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
That seems about it. I read the code and that is how it looks like it works. The code also has the dimensions of the vessel, so with the use of pi calculates the volume. I guess you need to deduct the dead space in your tun and also the distance above the top of the HLT to the microphones. I'm not sure if that is in the code already, but the calibration may take a little bit of setting up. But it could be made to control the inlet valve into the tun and stop at the desired level. Then it would also be used to measure the volume going into the MT by the reduction in the volume in the HLT. All this sounds easy, but I'm sure it will be a nightmare.
stevela
Regular.
Interesting idea, looking at the rest of the components, the resistor appears to be Brown Red Brown which would be 120 Ohms (http://easycalculation.com/physics/elec ... r-code.php), there is a Piezo buzzer, momentary push button and potentiometer which given that it's connected to one of the pins on the LCD I assume is being used for contrast control so not needed if you are using the shield with keypad (which would also remove the need for a momentary push and the resistor).
Quickly looking at the code before I've had some coffee but I can't see anything to take into account dead-space or displacement from objects that are in the vessel but nothing a bit of testing couldn't cure.
Quickly looking at the code before I've had some coffee but I can't see anything to take into account dead-space or displacement from objects that are in the vessel but nothing a bit of testing couldn't cure.
Cyclops
Landlord.
Why not create scales under the vessels to calculate volume from the weight?
stevela
Regular.
Scales would also work.
I would think you could purchase something similar to these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-pl ... 2c5f4f7d79 take a feed from the signal from the scales to an Arduino (I'm sure I've seen some that connect the display end using a headphone jack) and use it to control the solenoid on/off.
You'd just need to figure out what the conversion is between weight and output signal but wouldn't take too much using known quantities of water.
I would think you could purchase something similar to these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-pl ... 2c5f4f7d79 take a feed from the signal from the scales to an Arduino (I'm sure I've seen some that connect the display end using a headphone jack) and use it to control the solenoid on/off.
You'd just need to figure out what the conversion is between weight and output signal but wouldn't take too much using known quantities of water.
stevela
Regular.
Of course it would only work for the HLT as density of BK/MT etc would be different, also you'd have to be careful heating liquid with the vessel resting on the surface of the scales.
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
That does look like it could be an issue depending on the siting of the unit. Certainly rules it out for use in the MT. But that's isn't necessarily an issue as the volumes going into the MT for the mash can be calculated from the drop in the HLT.
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
My HLT is not much more than 50cm, so if the sensor could be fixed at 1m being 50cm above the top of the HLT, it shouldn't be too affected by moisture, and a fan could direct any steam rising away before it reached the sensor. Calibrating the dead space will be more of an issue I think, but maybe not.
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returning to the surface float idea to present a normalising target, if you use something large to sit on the surface it wont need tethering as its gonna be hard for the sensor to miss and if it covers a substantial proportion of the surface area it may also act as both an insulator as well as minimising the surface area exposed to release steam to cause a problem in the first place.
just add the boyancy of the float (round plastic breadboard, ours floats) to the depth of the return reading for the water level.
just add the boyancy of the float (round plastic breadboard, ours floats) to the depth of the return reading for the water level.
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
That could work. Just have to make sure things like thermowells weren't in the way. But as the hlt probably needs recirc to measure rhe temp the temp probe could go in the recirc line. Also prevent problems with ripples disrupting the sensor.
Ok my replacement LCD shield finally turned up and works perfectly. Thing is... when I start up my arduino the current volume just counts up continuously until it says "Target volume hit" This is with or without the sensor connected. Any ideas?
