I am setting up an M & V system for phase change materials that are placed interior of the insulation in buildings.
EMONCMS seems like a really good starting point to develop such a system. The basic requirement is to measure the heat flux of the material by using a film heat flux sensor at the PCM.
Has anyone used EMONCMS with a heat flux sensor or have any ideas regarding this?
My understanding is that EMONCMS use any sensor- is this correct?
Hope to hear from you and thanks for any suggestions.
Re: Measure Phase Change Materials useing Heat flux sensor data in EMONCMS
To add some details--
I plan to use this heat flux sensor:
http://www.hukseflux.com/sites/default/files/product_brochure/HFP03%20v1...
And this amplifier:
http://www.hukseflux.com/sites/default/files/product_brochure/AC100%20AC...
The output of the amplifier Voltage is between +3 and –3 Volt.
Can anyone suggest if it should be possible to log this data and visualize it with EMONCMS?
Re: Measure Phase Change Materials useing Heat flux sensor data in EMONCMS
I think the answer is yes. "All" you need to do is to send the data in a format that can be interpreted by emonCMS. That is not trivial, but it should not be too difficult. At a first glance, you will need to offset and scale the input to bring it within the input range that the Atmel ATMega 328P, which is the basis of all our designs, accepts; failing that you will need to add an ADC that will accept the ± 3 V that your amplifier puts out (the ADC in the 328P is 0 - Vcc only), then in software process the numbers and send them.
I am thinking in terms of an emonTx with a custom front end replacing the voltage/current inputs. Look at this for a direct wired interface to a Raspberry Pi, which you can use either to forward the data to a server running emonCMS elsewhere, or to act as the server itself running emonCMS locally.