Hi all. I am looking for some project guidance on a project that i would like to start in the near future that i am looking for some guidance on. I am planning on using an arduino nano to get and display the information from an air compressor. The arduino would need to display air pressure, amperage, temperature, Run hours, and RPM. The plan is to use a 4-20ma sensors for the pressure and temperature. i have an inductive clamp on sensor for amperage and a inductive pickup for the rpm. i currently have a working code for the hour counter that i can use. I was planning on using an interrupt function for the RPM measurement but i am not sure if the arduino will be able to calculate the RPM and also display the other information as well or should i use two arduinos?
Thoughts?
Have a look at the motor type - some mains types with only run at at fixed speed anyway , so that might be pointless , it might be enough to know it’s running ( eg from current ) .
Most usually have at least one pressure guage, others two.
One for the tank and one for downstream of the regulator.
Run hours not really required on an air compressor but if you must there are ones available which will interface with your mains voltage as standard.
RPM has already been covered....
Temperature, again, why..?
What will the compressor be used for?
Note that the datasheets state
Unless specifically provided otherwise, Atmel products are not suitable for, and shall not be used in,
automotive applications. Atmel products are not intended, authorized, or warranted for use as components in applications intended to support or sustain life.
...R
The reason for the temperature is that it is a water cooled compressor. The temperature will be used to monitor the water temperature. Also the reasoning behind the RPM is that this is a VFD compressor. This compressor is ran a different speeds depending on operating conditions. we need a way to monitor RPM for performance monitoring and to ensure that compressor is receiving the correct oil/water flow through all operating conditions.
The compressor is used in a marine environment for supplying atomizing air as well as a few other auxiliaries.
@bluejets the hour counter is a must as the maintenance schedule is based on hours. I was hoping to interface it with an arduino as this project will eventually be remotely monitored.
Does not sound like anything that an arduino could not handle. Using a single nano would be preferable, multiple boards tend to just add unneeded complexity..
What type of display will you be using?
Do you intend to save a log of the information?
How are you going to be implementing the remote monitoring, WiFi, text messaging, etc?
Also consider using the watchdog timer to automatically reboot the system if anything goes wrong and the code hangs.
bluejets:
Run hours not really required on an air compressor but if you must there are ones available which will interface with your mains voltage as standard.
The oil on a Hydrovane compressor I used to service had to be changed at specified run hour intervals. There was an hour meter on the machine.
Steve
I plan on using an lcd for the display. The only information i will be logging are the hour counter and i think i will store this in the EEPROM. It will use wifi for remote monitoring( this will be at a later time). The only issue i am thinking of is when i run the interrupt function to measure the rpm will the arduino be able to handle the data from the other sensors as well?
The Arduino will be plenty fast enough to keep up with your readings. So much so in fact that you will need to ensure that you don't write to the display too frequently or you may not be able to read it.
ryan_brown17:
@bluejets the hour counter is a must as the maintenance schedule is based on hours. I was hoping to interface it with an arduino as this project will eventually be remotely monitored.
Bad idea...as mentioned if the Arduino goes down , so does your hour log. If stored in other form of memory, then this would need really good filtering as vfd's and motors tend to be rather noisy environments.
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VFD normally would have some means of displaying speed or at least frequency from which speed is derived.
Temperature protection would, I'd imagine, already be included in any system that has cooling water running through it.
Hi,
As the motor is controlled by a VSD, as @bluejets has mentioned, it will/should have an analog output 0 to 10V or 0 to 20mA or 4 to 20mA for RPM which you can use to interface with the Arduino.
It should also have a load current analog output as well.
Is the pump 3phase?
The VSD will also have some alarm outputs that you can also use to send fault conditions to the monitor screen.
What make/model is the VSD?
Thanks.. Tom.. 
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