Auto water ballast system

[e1cycle]

Greetings ,
I'm looking for a way to always hold a set water ballast weight , by Using weight , not a water level, for the system operation to maintain the correct ballast . If there is too much weight , the scale will trigger a discharge pump to pull water out to get the weight into spec . If it is Light , it triggers a pump to add water.
The capacity of pump water the system will use will be 25 gallons to draw from, Or put into the tank that is being weighted and used as ballast. It needs to be exact , within 1/4 pound.
Are there scales on the market that have this capability to have set end points that will trigger other functions. ? The max weight the scale will see is 500 pounds. So this whole system is rather light weight, small scale, and portable
Thanks for any links or suggestions.

 

[tygerdawg]

Sense the weight with a load cell with analog output.
Send the analog output to a simple PLC with analog input card.
Use PLC to control inlet & outlet pumps.
Might be able to get the system response you require with simple on/off control. But can always upgrade to PID loop control later if needs are more stringent.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[e1cycle]

Thanks T Dawg .
Is there any particular makes or brands you would recommend for this? Or a company that could send all the components for it?

 

[MikeHalloran]

The first company that comes to mind for the load cells is Omega Engineering:

http://www.omega.com

They won't be the lowest price supplier, but they have great, highly educational, catalogs, and there's a fair chance they can supply everything, if you insist on dealing with just one source.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[tygerdawg]

for easy cheapo PLCs you can look at

http://www.automationdirect.com

, in particular the DL05 model comes with a few I/O and you can get an additional analog module to plug into it. You'd have to use the I/O to run motor starters for your pump motors.

You can also look at

http://www.unitronics.com

and

http://www.ezautomation.net

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com