Hello, and thank you for reading this message. I want to ask anybody if there is a certain motorized water valve I could use in a school project. I need this valve to be small, compact, and be able to be controlled by an arduino. The motorized valve should be about the size of your average shower head valve. I will provide more details after some suggestions are made, but for now Thanks for all the help!
I will provide more details after some suggestions are made
That's not the way this works. If you want suggestions you have to provide the specifications of your project.
Would you ask an engineer "Design something for me that does something.."
We need the valve specs: Flow rate , fitting size etc..
We can assume the interface to be anything the arduino can acomodate. Motorized valves come in all shapes and sizes.
Be specific. List your criteria. That's rule #1 for forum posts:
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,148850.0.html
Oh sorry this is my first time on a forum. Well I never really thought about that info yet. FLow rate, fitting size. I think the flow rate should be around 1.5 gallons per minute and by the fitting size if you mean thread size, that would be 1/2 inch. If there is any more info that is required for this I would like to know. It could be made out of anything, as long as it doesn't release toxins when heat is applied (heat as in 50 degrees c). It would be best if this it is a ball valve and the torque and other things like how much electricity or anything else that is needed can be anything. Sorry for the lack of detail though. Any info I missed can be anything that works. Thanks!
I also need the resolution (smallest possible change in flow from computer command)
If for example it was a PWM controlled valve there would be only 255 steps. If it was some other kind of signal like 0 to 10V analog,
it would be more but I'm not having any luck finding prices.
Motorized valves should be readily available from any decent sized plumbers suppliers. Try Google.
...R
Does the rate of flow need to be controlled or will simple on-off suffice? - Scotty
Sorry I should be more clear.
I want to see if I can divert water from my shower to a tank while I'm waiting for it to turn hot.
I intend to use the ATLAS SCIENTIFIC ENV-TMP temperature sensor in the pipe/tube but need a motorized valve of some sort to automatically send the "hot" water back to the shower.
I'm not sure if a solenoid valve is what I need.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Have you looked for motorized valves at a suitable plumbing suppliers?
...R
How much money you have to spend? Is this just a simple test setup or will it be permanent? I'd look for a faucet valve as these are easy to turn and usually turn less than 180 deg. so a servo could be used to control the valve.
I tried looking for motorized valves and they are fairly expensive.
Zoomcat has a point. There are some large servos used for large scale model aircraft that have quite a bit of torque. It would require a custom fitting to replace the handle or possibly a modification to the handle. You would need something to mount the faucet to like a baseboard .
For your application of routing flow from one to two different directions requires a 3-way valve, so called because it has three connections, one for inlet and two for outlets. I would assume you would continue to use the existing manual valve to control the actual flow rate as you shower, with the new 3-way value installed upstream to just direct flow to storage or shower valve, and as such would probably be cheaper (relatively, still not cheap due to port size) to use a 3-way solenoid valve and therefore control would be much simpler and cheaper power mosfet switching transistor controlled by the arduino.
The more expensive route would be a quarter turn 3-way ball valve mechanically coupled to a high torque servo but I'm sure that would be much more expensive then the 3-way solenoid valve. If using a solenoid valve be sure to use a 12 or 24 vdc coil rather then mains powered as water and mains power can be a dangerous combination and probably not legal for DIY installations.
The more professional solution is to install a whole house instant hot water function where there is small continuous flow from the hot water heater to all the service locations with a return loop back to the water heater But that is not a simple DIY project and needs lots of pipe insulation and other details to keep the energy costs under control.