but they are 1/2" threads. my pumps are 1" and the restriction is unacceptable since speed is an asset with my set up. also they only flow 30 l/min which is about 480 gph. where as my pumps will flow 720 gph.
do you guys have any suggestions on a practical (read inexpensive) way to measure flow rate?
i was thinking about using a drill pump in reverse (having the pump spin the drill spindle. and then just hooking that up to a hall sensor or rotary encoder. but i'm not sure about how much work it'd take to spin that thing.
I had thought about the two flow meters but 2 would flow around 480 gph and my pump pushes out 720 gph. i'd have to get 3 per pump and that would (15 flow meters)
the tanks are actually soft and they collapse. i did think about making a small 'hard tank' out of 3" pvc that i could pipe the outlet port of the bag into it. then use some sort of height/distance sensor. but that wouldn't work for the bow ballast since there will be two of them seperated (one would go under the seats and a second would go in the ski locker about 1 ft below).
i do have a vent port on the bags. but since they are soft ballast i dont think it would be as reliable to measure the air.
Watermeters.com offers nice bronze units with 1pulse/gallon, see datasheet here. They are not cheap, but any water meter with any sort of accuracy at this port size (i.e. low restriction) is expensive. That's still not the world's best resolution but better than nothing (i.e. ~8lb / pulse).
Depending on how sensitive your pumps are to dead-heading, the flow restriction is not an issue - review the pump curve. Thus, if speed is not an issue (i.e. you're OK with waiting 2x+ longer than usual) you may be able to use those cheapie sensors you referenced. I wouldn't use such hardware below the water line, however.
A less expensive option (open-loop) is to put a current switch on the pump. Measure the length that the pump has been running, multiply by a known flow rate (and that has to be verified with the local head conditions!) and voila. Current switches are cheap, Current Magnetics is one company that sells them.
You can also use a flowmeter in parallel with a pipe. In theory the flow will be proportional to the diameter of the two pipes. In practice you have to make measurements and create a lookuptable for different flowrates.
The form (angles) of the connection of the pipes will determine how much goes through each pipe, you might need to experiment with that too as you like to have the max nr of pulses when the pump is at 100%.
Not trivial testing, but can be done (watermeasurements are preferably done on a hot day
Constantin: Watermeters.com offers nice bronze units with 1pulse/gallon, see datasheet here. They are not cheap, but any water meter with any sort of accuracy at this port size (i.e. low restriction) is expensive. That's still not the world's best resolution but better than nothing (i.e. ~8lb / pulse).
Depending on how sensitive your pumps are to dead-heading, the flow restriction is not an issue - review the pump curve. Thus, if speed is not an issue (i.e. you're OK with waiting 2x+ longer than usual) you may be able to use those cheapie sensors you referenced. I wouldn't use such hardware below the water line, however.
A less expensive option (open-loop) is to put a current switch on the pump. Measure the length that the pump has been running, multiply by a known flow rate (and that has to be verified with the local head conditions!) and voila. Current switches are cheap, Current Magnetics is one company that sells them.
cheap is better for me right now. since i'll have 5 pumps and don't 'really' need this feature. it's more of a luxury. speed is a factor. it usually take 8-10 minutes to fill my ballast bags. which is about the right amount of time. by the time i get my board on and suited up. im at that threshold. waiting another 10 minutes would be annoying.
I was going to go with a timer based setup like you had mentioned (the pumps are being controlled by an arduino so i could skip the current switches). but i'm not sure how much flow is affected from the speed of the boat v. boat floating. that could greatly affect flow rate.
robtillaart:
You can also use a flowmeter in parallel with a pipe. In theory the flow will be proportional to the diameter of the two pipes. In practice you have to make measurements and create a lookuptable for different flowrates.
The form (angles) of the connection of the pipes will determine how much goes through each pipe, you might need to experiment with that too as you like to have the max nr of pulses when the pump is at 100%.
Not trivial testing, but can be done (watermeasurements are preferably done on a hot day
i like this idea a lot. I did end up getting a cheap drill pump which i'm going to modify with a hall sensor and magnet. sort of making a cheap and high volume flow sensor. if that doesn't work. i'm giong to test this idea out.
thanks to everyone that has contributed so far. this forum is great
A ratiometric approach may certainly work. The drill pump is a good idea also. You may be able to skip the hall effect sensor and use a infra-red system as well if the vanes are visible. Such a sensor might be easier to mount and more rugged.
Constantin:
A ratiometric approach may certainly work. The drill pump is a good idea also. You may be able to skip the hall effect sensor and use a infra-red system as well if the vanes are visible. Such a sensor might be easier to mount and more rugged.
hmm.. the vanes are behind a black abs case. i could potentially put a cylinder with a hole drilled through it on the drill shaft portion of the pump. then do the infra-red set up. are you thinking that the magnet would introduces some sort of wobble or harmonic distortion?
oh yeah, i understand not to drill the case but if i attached a cylinder to the shaft that the drill chuck clamps down on. then drill a hole into that cylinder. put the sensor on one side and the ir led on the other. it would get two pulses per revolution..
I've tried one of those sensors on the inlet to our turkey barn, on a fairly hot day, with 10,000 birds drinking like crazy I was measuring 350-450 l/hr!
You could hear the little turbine in the sensor literally humming away!
From the mess these charming creatures make when they break a water line, I can tell you that it was an accurate reading!
The little *$%&^'s can empty a 2000l header tank onto the barn floor in a couple of hours!
So I think the sensor can measure quite a bit more than SeeedStudio say!
I have no doubt that you can 'push' sensors of this type beyond their intended ranges. However, you do risk the possibility that the output becomes non-linear or otherwise deviates from the actual once you go outside the specifications that the manufacturer has laid down.
10,000 turkeys, eh? That's got to be non-stop entertainment and one big barn.
As to the sensor, I have checked it with various flow rates and it is accurate
Seriously, for AUS$14 it's cheap compared to the other flow sensors I've checked out
Including building my own then calibrating it.
I hooked them up to hoses then used a stopwatch to time how long it took to fill a 20l, 200l and 400l container.
I had a crazy ides, comes in two flavors, IF you have an obstruct-able view of the pump shaft (s) "Dimple" them on one view able place and either fill the "Dimple" with black paint or one of those 'super' or 'rare earth' magnets I've seen and used commercially sold 1.5 X 1 mm rare earth magnets (get samples, as I did) and count motor RPM (s) after some relative total count (time) the tanks are full/empty and time becomes a manipulatable fraction of full/empty... regardless of load (more or less) No? IMO...
cyberteque:
2 barns, 10,000+ in each... yes it does keep me a "tad" busy ...
As to the sensor, I have checked it with various flow rates and it is accurate
Hi Cyberteque,
That's fantastic news, so glad the sensor is doing what you need it to. My wife and I fondly remember your part of the world, 13 wineries in one day over in McLaren Vale (hic!), a visit to the Lothlorien B&B over on Kangaroo island, among other activities. Beautiful part of the world.
I use a somewhat bigger water meter, a DLJ-100 because I was trying to keep flow restrictions to a minimum (this is off a cistern pump) and because flow rates can be in excess of 15GPM ~ 50l/min. The large vanes of the meter also have a hard time getting clogged with the minute amount of gunk that the pump does pass.
Some day when I have too much time, I'll bore the lot of you on how I built a filtration / backwash system with an Arduino controller to keep our drip irrigation system clear of clogging debris. Being the cheapie I am, I enjoyed fabricating all the PVC pipe / filters / etc. for a fraction of the cost that commercial systems retail for. Better yet, the pressure drop through the system is minimal, so the variable-speed SQE pump from Grundfos is happy. Now I only wash the filters once a year, when the season is over and I retire the filtration system from the outdoors to the shop. Plants are happy, wife is happy, so I am happy.
Your water quality must be better than ours!
By the end of summer the iron deposits in our filters, taps, drinker cups is a pain!
I mainly wanted to sense "abnormal" flow, ie when the lovely birds, that I love so much and give my life purpose, knock a drinker cup off the line.
I can't post video or photos of that particular mess, but I can tell you that I didn't think turkeys were wading birds!
Our cistern is filled with water from the roof as well as city water when we run low. We have some calcium carbonate issues but nothing that a dip in some white vinegar can't fix. Presumably, the acid in the rain up here helps dissolve the carbonate when it comes to the garden system, have yet to find a way to do it for the whole house...
We use this REALLY nasty crap to clean and sanitise the drink lines.
30% hydrogen peroxide & 30% paracetic acid, will set fire to paper filters, burn your skin.
but if i attached a cylinder to the shaft that the drill chuck clamps down on. then drill a hole into that cylinder. put the sensor on one side and the ir led on the other. it would get two pulses per revolution..
