Searching For Flow Sensors

[Blackened]

Hey all,

Has anyone had any luck finding affordable flow sensors or detectors? I'd like to be able test the flow through the RIMS and at the very least detect blockages. I've seen some clear plastic ones around but can't find a link right now. But they might not have been food grade anyway.

Cheers

 

[glenwal]

http://www.futurlec.com.au/Flow_Sensor.jsp


(haven't used them myself - so can't say if they are any good)

 

[Blackened]

http://www.futurlec.com.au/Flow_Sensor.jsp


(haven't used them myself - so can't say if they are any good)

Champion! Thanks The warm water model is *just* inside the specs I'd be using if for. Might be ok but I'll keep looking for a bit to find something with a greater temperature range.

 

[kirem]

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Atlas-Scientific...sid=p4340.l2563

 

[seemax]

http://www.futurlec.com.au/Flow_Sensor.jsp


(haven't used them myself - so can't say if they are any good)

I've got one of those... works in air and water, never tested with wort though. It's food grade plastic though.

 

[Blackened]

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Atlas-Scientific...sid=p4340.l2563

Holy crap! Way too pricey for me but seems like they might be more accurate. Still only up to 80c though, I was hoping to find something capable of being sterilised buy boiling water.

 

[Blackened]

I just ordered a Futurlec model. It's only $14 inc postage so I'll at least get my head around it's operation using it to fill the HLT. Plenty of similar ones on ebay, but these are cheaper and in Oz surprisingly. Seeing as I'm only using it for filling the HLT, it will only need to be accurate/calibrated to roughly the same flow rate every time (mains water pressure). Eventually I'd like to be able to measure flow at 5 or 6 points in the process... but little steps to begin with.

 

[kirem]

I have played around with flow sensors a bit, wrote some code to be added to brewtroller etc. The problem is accuracy and you have to pay for it.

if it is just flow/no-flow you are concerned about then there are other ways to do. Zizzle used a method of current sampling and detected when the motor driving the pump had no load.

opto-sensor is another option.

 

[dmac80]

Zizzle used a method of current sampling and detected when the motor driving the pump had no load

^^This is a great idea, smart man that Zizzle.

 

[Blackened]

I have played around with flow sensors a bit, wrote some code to be added to brewtroller etc. The problem is accuracy and you have to pay for it.

if it is just flow/no-flow you are concerned about then there are other ways to do. Zizzle used a method of current sampling and detected when the motor driving the pump had no load.

opto-sensor is another option.

Yeah, there's a whole raft of flow switches on eBay. Good for detecting when the HLT is empty.
So when you say the problem is with accuracy, do you mean that once calibrated, the sensors still don't measure the same twice under the same conditions? What sort of problems have you found specifically? If I end up using them to measure recirc rates then I guess 10% (stab in the dark) either side of 2LPM (for the sake of arguement) would be ok. But when filling the HLT it's more about target volume and 10% might be more variation than I'm happy with. Might even end up more accurate to calibrate fill rate over time and just use a simple timer to guesstimate volume.
Looking forward to having a play anyway.