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RE: Re: Oil level monitors
- To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
- Subject: RE: Re: Oil level monitors
- From: "Roger" <roger@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 09:05:23 -0000
- Delivered-to: mailing list ukha_d@xxxxxxx
- Mailing-list: list ukha_d@xxxxxxx; contact
ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx
- Reply-to: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Measuring the pressure at the base of the tank will allow you to
measure
exactly how much oil is in the tank ~ 1Bar will be equal to 12meters or so
of
oil level... so for your tank I guess you will have a range of 0-0.1Bar
depending on the oil level. 4-20ma pressure transducers are available
allowing a
reliable long cable run, and it is easy to connect these to an analogue IP
of
any controller. Any sudden decrease in level can trigger an alarm for tank
failure, or theft, etc
Roger
Shingler
Joking appart, I was thinking of installing a night vision enabled
red
webcam on the inside of my existing tank which is about 30 years old and
made
of steel. It's very rusty, and I'm sure that it will leak soon. I figured
if I
could monitor the level of the oil, and take a single snap shot of the tank
each time it was nearly empty, then I could compare photos (at x month
intervals) at come up with an algorithm to determine the rate of oxidation
of
the steel. With a bit more math, I'm sure I could link this into HV so that
my
favourite Freddy Mercury track plays at full blast just before the oil tank
bursts and pollutes the entire Norfolk countryside.
(But
I am serious about getting a reading off the LED - then we could stick the
Oil
Watchman in a cupboard where it belongs)
Hi
Chris,
Dont forget that here in the UK we are extremely limited in what is
available or affordable for Home Automation.
Collectively the members of UKHA have devised many ways of achieving
what they desire either by building/writing from the ground up, or adapting
other technologies to suit a different purpose. There are many self
contained devices such as temperature sensors etc that function well as
stand alone systems but we seek to integrate them with other
systems.
The ultimate aim is to achieve systems that offer the same type of
functionality as the high end systems available in the States but without
breaking the bank too much in the process.
Dont forget there is another side to continuous monitoring, that of
leak detection. You know your tank last for x months but a slow leak
underground may not be noticed until you run out of oil 4 weeks early
whereas your HA system would monitor the falling level and know you werent
using any because the heating hadnt been on therefore it can raise the
alarm.
It
could also do that if someone was stealing the oil whilst you were away
from
home. An SMS alert (and possible security webcam confirmation of oil level
dropping at faster than normal useage rates) means you could call the
police
and have the villians possibly caught in the act.
Keith
You're right Keith -
And I expect you to come up with a diagram to grab the the output
>from
(I just visited their site - and I publicly retract everything I
said in my first mail - it is pretty cool - espeicially if like us you're
about to buy a new tank anyway)
Enter into the spirit of things Chris....
It has to be done because it is a
challenge....
not necessarily because it OUGHT or NEEDS to be done
:-)
The constant reading can then be integrated with a real time feed
>from
get the lowest price thereby leaving more money for toys. OK, so maybe
that is taking it to extremes!
This HA lark is all about playing with as many toys as
possible.
Keith
We thought
about this last week and figured that this was an example of
HA
going too far.
Our oil tank needs filling aproximately 2
times a year.
y thousand litres of oil last about x
months.
So the easiest way to automate things is to set an
alarm on your calendar to
pop up every x months. Then you go and
look at the oil tank to see if it is
time to order. I figured that
if I had a sensor in the tank, I would still
go and do a visual
check anyway before ordering so why waste the effort to
automate
such a rare event....
>-----Original
Message-----
>From: K. C. Li [mailto:li@xxxxxxx]
>Sent:
28 February 2002 22:46
>To:
ukha_d@xxxxxxx>Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Re: Oil level
monitors
>
>
>On Thu, 28 Feb 2002, steveddickson
wrote:
>
>> trying to canabalise one to interface with
comfort, I think Li was
>> going to add it to hi project
list. The manufacturers wern't
>>
interested.
>
>Yes. I have discussed the subject of adding
an electronic feed of the
>fluid level to HomeVision, Comfort
and other systems with the Technical
>Manager of Sensory
Systems. I have a distinct feeling that he
>didn't
like
>the idea at all. He kept saying that there already is an
>option to add an
>automatic dial-out module to the
device when the level is low.
>However, it
>dials out to
a preprogrammed telephone number that the user
>cannot
change.
>
>I suspect cosy arrangements exist between
Sensory Systems and the
>designated oil suppliers for the
automatic dial-out facility. Hence the
>company wasn't keen to
allow other add-ons to break that
arrangement.
>
>Regards,
>
>Kwong
Li
>li@xxxxxxx>Laser Business Systems Ltd.
>http://www.laser.com
>
>
>------------------------
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