hypnopotamust
New Member
Hi,
I recently started playing with a few simple circuits and put together a few kits and that sort of thing but I'm by no means competent to any appreciable degree with electronics.
I was looking for ways to integrate some of the electronics into some work related tasks and I'm looking into ultrasonic range finders to measure fluid levels in some oil storage tanks. They're outside under an overhang so not directly in the weather but would experience temperature changes in Michigan. The tanks are aprox. 16 feet tall with 2" npt openings and a 26" manway that I could remove and cut for any mounting if need be.
I can convert wet/dry inches to volume easily enough which would be a nice benefit but primarily, I'd like the sensors to trigger an alarm as well as a relay shutting off the pump filling the tank. The process is monitored but this as a backup would be nice insurance in the event someone were called away.
I've seen a good bit of discussion about the ultrasonic range finders but does anyone know how they do measuring liquids and are they fairly reliable and accurate? If the accuracy is within an inch or two thats fine as long as it's reliable. Measuring high accuracy is secondary to it reacting at a distance of x inches.
This sort of project would require me to do quite a bit more learning which is fine but I wanted to get some of the experts opinions before I jump in. I planned to start with one unit and test it in a few different tanks and if everything works fine, install them on 15-20 tanks.
Are people using these in an industrial environment or primarily for robots and that sort of thing? Any opinions as to what would be the best marriage of simplified design, reliability and price?
I recently started playing with a few simple circuits and put together a few kits and that sort of thing but I'm by no means competent to any appreciable degree with electronics.
I was looking for ways to integrate some of the electronics into some work related tasks and I'm looking into ultrasonic range finders to measure fluid levels in some oil storage tanks. They're outside under an overhang so not directly in the weather but would experience temperature changes in Michigan. The tanks are aprox. 16 feet tall with 2" npt openings and a 26" manway that I could remove and cut for any mounting if need be.
I can convert wet/dry inches to volume easily enough which would be a nice benefit but primarily, I'd like the sensors to trigger an alarm as well as a relay shutting off the pump filling the tank. The process is monitored but this as a backup would be nice insurance in the event someone were called away.
I've seen a good bit of discussion about the ultrasonic range finders but does anyone know how they do measuring liquids and are they fairly reliable and accurate? If the accuracy is within an inch or two thats fine as long as it's reliable. Measuring high accuracy is secondary to it reacting at a distance of x inches.
This sort of project would require me to do quite a bit more learning which is fine but I wanted to get some of the experts opinions before I jump in. I planned to start with one unit and test it in a few different tanks and if everything works fine, install them on 15-20 tanks.
Are people using these in an industrial environment or primarily for robots and that sort of thing? Any opinions as to what would be the best marriage of simplified design, reliability and price?