I'm in the early planning stages of a project, and I'm wondering if Arduino can make it work.
I'd like to semi-automate a home brewery. I'd like to use the board to monitor three temps, control at least one via digital out / PID, and possibly run two pumps and / or several valves.
I'd like it to communicate to a laptop, which apparently it can via serial. And, as the icing on the cake, I'd like to both monitor and control the process with a homemade GUI.
A giant step from blinking LEDs, I know, but at least some automation would get me to beer quicker and easier, which is the main goal.
I don't see any reason why a standard Ardunio couldn't handle this - your needs certainly haven't exhausted any of the pins. I think the difficult part of this project will be the software, both on the Arduino and for monitoring/control/logging. Good luck with the project!
Well certainly that is all within the capablities of an Arduino. However implementing PID and tuning of it's parameters is not something someone new to microcontroller programming will find easy to do. A lot depends on how much pretested code one can find and utilize.
controlling pumps and valves can be done with the arduino, but not directly, so there's hardware considerations too
Everything you list is in the capability of the arduino, but its a pretty big project. Now, you mention being in the early planning stages, what I would do is break down each part of that list into projects, It may take a little longer (especially if you sit down and master everything needed), but in the end all these small "learning" projects end up being your desired goal
I found out today I may have access to a copy of LabView, which would be perfect if I decide to do it all myself (which would be entirely more fun.)
I'll keep you all posted with updates - once I get the controls system mapped out, there's still the programming, the process design, the engineering, the plumbing, the wiring, the electrical... I'm over my head on half the individual parts, let alone the whole project.
