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Auto water ballast system

Auto water ballast system

Auto water ballast system

(OP)
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.      
Replies continue below

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RE: Auto water ballast system

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
www.bluetechnik.com

RE: Auto water ballast system

(OP)
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?  

RE: Auto water ballast system

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

RE: Auto water ballast system

for easy cheapo PLCs you can look at 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 www.unitronics.com and www.ezautomation.net

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

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