AMENDMENT(11-Nov-2009):
To stop confusion for new readers of this thread, this project is panning out to be more of a
Data Acquisition / Engine Monitor / Emergency Shutdown Unit
for now anyway!
(End of amendment to post)
Guys I've been pondering about a DIY Data Acquisition and/or Auto Engine Controller for stationary engines for a long time.
After replying to a post elsewhere in this forum, I decided that its about time I do something about it and see if its possible to do it in a moderately easy way.
What I want to accomplish is a DIY "open source" Data Logging Unit to a PC and in the future I should be able to convert it to an Auto Engine Controller (with Logging in tact) by just changing the programming and minimal interface circuitry. I want to use regularly available building blocks for the system, ie. experimental boards & stuff that are normally well priced and there are a big following and code for them available from other peoples projects.
Just for reference I copied a section of my other post to here:This guy from the link below has done a lot of work on the subject with an electronic controller, but its quite involved and a lot of people (most) would not be able to do it, but if you read his pages, you get the general idea:
http://martin.nile.googlepages.com/automaticgeneratorcontroller
Here is just a commercial auto engine controller:
http://www.fwmurphy.co.uk/products/engine_controls/engmot_asm150.htm
but its functions would be limited.
This product should do the job with a few censoring devices attached:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDuemilanoveI've done a bit of digging around on this Experimental USB Micro-controller and found the following:
They are available almost all over the world and cost effective,
There's a huge following of people using these on forums and such,
The programming software is Windows based & free,
Existing programming code can be copy/paste/stitched & loaded directly through USB port,
to name a few.
Here is a answer snipped from an email I wrote to a guy that supposedly knows:
"...these things can do pretty much anything. Don’t worry about the code – there is so much available online you literally copy it and paste it into the arduino software, compile it and dump it via USB. The online community is SO helpful as well, there are arduino IRC channels we can recommend spending some time on too.
A good thing to do is go onto youtube and type exactly what you want – for example “arduino temperature monitor” etc, and most guys who post videos of projects also post links to code. Wherever you have a sensor, you can log data to wherever you want, even to the extent of being sms’d system failures etc.
From a flexibility and expandability point of view, the duemilanove is ideal for what you want. Like I said though, spend some time in forums, IRC channels, youtube and the Arduino site."So, I ordered one and also 4x Temp. sensors. 1stly I want to see if I can hook it up to the 4 sensors and get it to log some temperatures of my WVO heating system to PC.
From what I understand it should go something like this:
Install the software,
Cut & Past existing code for a temperature sensor I found on the net into it,(its a little bit more involved than this, must duplicate it 4x, but you get the idea)
Connect my temp sensors to the Board,
Plug it into the USB port,
Compile and program the PIC.
and that should more or less be it, I should then be able to log 4x temperatures to my PC, all for +/- $53 including the temp sensors!
The main thing is that the project is only as good as the coding of the PIC and as nice as the User Interface on the PC.
What I need to know is what type of signals do we want to monitor on a gen-set?
Analog:
Temperatures ie. Water, WVO fuel in & out and maybe Exhaust if one can get a sensor for it.
Oil pressure for the Changfa guys
AC Volts
AC Amps
Digital:(On/Off)
Low oil pressure
Low Fuel
Outputs:
Emergency shutdown
I'll worry about controlling a throttle later
Anymore you guys can think of that I'm missing? I can then look around for code for these and also see how they may be interfaced with the board.
Obviously there are only so many I/O to use and I'll probably will have to prioritize.
This description is probably over simplistic and there's probably much more involved, but I have to start somewhere!
Any input is appreciated, thanks.
dubbleUJay
