Finding the level of a can of beer
metron9
Posts: 1,100
I would like to make a sensor to find the liquid level of a can of beer.
My first thought is to put at least 4 temperature sensors from the bottom side of the can to the top side of the can so that I can read all four sensors and compare them to each other making the assumption that the top of the can will be warmer than the bottom of the can when there is cold beer in the can. Yes when the can warms up to room temp along with the beer i wont be able to tell the level but that's ok because who wants warm beer anyway.
So my Idea is to mount four http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM45.pdf sensors to a board strip
Problem is they are sot-23 chips and I am wondering if someone has a part number for a similar sensor and price maby a axial mount or if anyone knows of a sensor array I could use instead of 4 parts. I plan on using a mega48 atmel chip to read the voltage on the outputs with its ADC pins.
Or other thoughts on the subject.
My first thought is to put at least 4 temperature sensors from the bottom side of the can to the top side of the can so that I can read all four sensors and compare them to each other making the assumption that the top of the can will be warmer than the bottom of the can when there is cold beer in the can. Yes when the can warms up to room temp along with the beer i wont be able to tell the level but that's ok because who wants warm beer anyway.
So my Idea is to mount four http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM45.pdf sensors to a board strip
Problem is they are sot-23 chips and I am wondering if someone has a part number for a similar sensor and price maby a axial mount or if anyone knows of a sensor array I could use instead of 4 parts. I plan on using a mega48 atmel chip to read the voltage on the outputs with its ADC pins.
Or other thoughts on the subject.
Comments
Why not just use a pressure sensor to weigh the can?
Make a cup holder for your beer that says.....
"Hey dude your getting low on this beer, you better think about getting another cold one."
....Heck, since cold air sinks, you could place a temperature
sensor in the cup holder as well. Put that against a countdown
timer that says....
"Dude! you better drink me before I get too warm or I'm gonna get poured down the sink."
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Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Mabee making use of PING? I dunno....
I would imagine weight is the best..
Just make a PAD, that weighs it. Put in code to know when you took the drink off the pad,(no weight) and then have it re-measure the weight of the drink once its back on the pad.
Post Edited (BPM) : 11/5/2005 11:27:07 AM GMT
How about combining a strain gauge transducer (to measure the weight of the beer glass/can) with the Peltier beer cooler.
I'll have to think about this over a beer...
An open ended tube runs down into the well. The tube is slowly pressurized with air until the pressure goes no higher because the gas is bubbling out the end of the tube. The air pressure in the tube is a function of the depth of the water column. You can actually buy gauges equiped with a hand pump to perform this measurement. The gauge is calibrated in "feet of water column."
For beer I'd replace the air column with a CO2 column.
Is this supposed to still be useable? Quite frankly, if you're attaching a 'contraption' to a beer can to determine if it's empty or not...well, you're missing the point of having a beer!! haha j/k
you'd obviously want something that's transparent to the user/drinker!
If it won't attach to the bottom of the can (where its concave) then anything else would jsut be in the way.
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·
Steve
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
And, yes, BPM, they do use a frequency --·very, very high frequencies.
They get X-rayed.
·
·
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thanks for your time,· Eric
IMO, detecting the liquid level in a can of beer is an obsolete project - why ?
Well - in Germany, we usually use glasses to drink beer, so the glass acts as an instantaneous optical fill level indicator for the beer-glass-operator. I must admit that the precision of this indicator might become less accurate when the beer-glass-operator has already consumed a certain amount of beer.
Besides this, the full-to empty time ratio of an average German beer glass is relatively short as the average beer-glass-operator has a relatively large beer-sink capability. Therefore, it does not make too much sense measuring the fill level, a simple, digital full-empty signal would be sufficient enough to alert the waiter/waitress to deliver a fresh glass of beer.
Cheers!
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Greetings from Germany,
G
LOL
It then turned up in large quantities in Milwaukee in the late 19th Century.
PJ,
·· Interesting...I've never been to a brewery, but I have been to a winery (A few), and the places out from where I used to live (NY) actually use a method similar to how a gas pump works to tell how much has been put into the bottle.· No X-Rays there.· Seems a little X-treme!·
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
csavage@parallax.com
In some cases, we use encoders....the newer gizmo's use a 'vibrating wire'.
A bucket is suspended with a wire tightly connected to the bucket and part of the frame. A given frequency is put on the wire....as precip accumulates in teh bucket, the frequency of the wire increases....
no doubt a novel idea would be to have a voice or indicator light letting us know we're running low....but unless you can make it unobtrusive....it's a hard item to sell!
How about an RFID coaster.....put your mug in the 'mount' have the ID read and then the mug weighed....a profile is set up to pour your favorite beer and it stops filling when the 'weight' reaches a given amount!
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·
Steve
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
Nonetheless, what seems to be the real question is how to measure liquids of any sort in a large tank of geometric shape [noparse][[/noparse]places that you cannot merely weigh the vessel]. I know that their are problems with ultra-sonic or infrared due to phsyical limitation. Temperature sensors on the exterior are somewhat approximate. Flow meters may be a some use, but require calibration and re-calibration.
Also, some liquids are a fire hazard, so the question of isolation from electrical spark adds to the challenge. It seems that most of these things still remain in the realm of low technology [noparse][[/noparse]using mechanical floats or dip sticks].
Also, many producers of liquid product might find it more convienent not to have every drop of yeild tightly accounted for. I can never seem to get a full cup of coffee in Taiwan [noparse][[/noparse]except Starbucks, maybe]. That is really what the 'head' in beer is really all about. You convince the customer that they are getting a greater value while selling them a bit less product. The same with the froth on a latte.
In sum, actual weight seems to offer the only emprically sound way to resolve things. Particularly in this case, High Tech may just become a cloak for hiding higher yields. An economist once told me that there isn't any system that cannot improve profits by cheating and not getting caught. Engineers and scientist tend to be more interested in the ideal than the rest of the world. The perfect cash register keeps the employees honest, but the tax collector confused.
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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
But this only really applies if you are pouring your own beer...not if you're opening a can and checking its status!
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·
Steve
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
maybe, they invented it in ancient Sumeria but this is such a long time ago that I forgot it
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Greetings from Germany,
G
Yes, but what we lack in quality, we (Milwaukee) make (or used to make) up for with quantity! This is also the home of the word famous (?) naked beer slide!
Side Note to create more noise: Early in the thread there was mention of audio signalling and messages about the beer. The correct phrase when near empty (or warm) should be someting like:
"Honey, my beer is almost emtpy [noparse][[/noparse]getting warm], could you please bring me another". This should be transmitted via one of the RF units to a portable receiver affixed to, or near by, the significant other of the beer ingester.
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John R.
8 + 8 = 10
· There just isn't time to wait for a strain gauge to settle, vibrations, calibrations,·and all that jazz.· Those cans are just sailing on that conveyor belt, baby; it's all about production, efficiency, time is money.
· Y'know, when the can "says" 12 fl. oz., then it ought to be at least 12 fl. oz., or you know there's gonna be trouble.· They don't want to undersell or oversell.
· [noparse][[/noparse] N.B., a cold glass/pitcher/stein and "pouring down the side" go far in minimizing that head of foam.··America is·a cold-beer country and decent barkeeps are dialed-in.· In England and Germany, oftentimes they fill past the top, to over-flowing. ]
· Hey, does everybody know about exposure to cosmic rays while on jet-airliners, the radiation emitted by all concrete, and the Americium source in smoke detectors (those are "BRC", till you put a bunch in a box)?
How many REM's in a bowl of Quisp?
(this thread has gone awry)
Chris I.
PLUS, when your not using it, the radiation could be used to power your house, especially your beer fridge in the garage.
REM is about dosage and exposure (oh, me): time, the strength of the source, and your proximity to it.· So, for REMs, the question would be: How many REMs from a bowl of Quisp?· And the answer would be: That's going to depend on·your serving size and how long you're standing next to it.
Now if you don't mind I have to check and see how many cans I have left in the box.....
Thank You.
You'd also have an issues subtracting the beer nuts that are consumed too....too many variables to keep track of outside of a lab!
**OOPS>..sorry guys, I made a 2nd page on this!
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·
Steve
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
I don't think so - you woould have to weigh the consumer's blood
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Greetings from Germany,
G