Touchscreen Autodraw

[saekeaton64]

I have been working lately on a new auto draw design which features a 4.3" lcd touchscreen display. The setup screen allows the user to set the degrees above the boiling point of water which the auto valve will open, and the high and low limits for the stack temp alarm. The main display screen displays current syrup temp, the set point in which the auto draw opens, the stack temp, an auxiliary 1 temp, an auxiliary 2 temp, the barometric pressure, and indicators for the syrup, stack, and sap alarms. Also included on the main display screen is a switch to manually open the auto valve. The display menu allows for the selection of a larger display of each temp. reading. There is also an alarm screen to allow the user to turn on or off the alarms as needed.

The unit features barometric compensation to adjust the draw point based on barometric pressure.

The unit has two auxiliary 120v plugins, one is controlled by the syrup alarm, the second is controlled by the stack alarm.

Three temperature probes are used to measure the Draw temp, Aux1 temp, and Aux2 temp.

A high temperature thermocouple is used to measure the stack temp.

A float sensor is used to monitor sap levels the the sap/head tank.

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[saekeaton64]

More pictures.

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[saekeaton64]

More Pictures.
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[optionguru]

We're not in Kansas anymore....Wow, that's impressive. It's all I can do to get my hydrometer in the cup without breaking it.

[Dennis H.]

Very nice looking, I love the idea of a touch screen, just not sure if right next to the evap is a good place for it.
How big is the screen? Can you give any more details about the inside workings??

[saekeaton64]

The unit is microcontroller based using Arduino, the touch screen is capacitive touch, not resistive. This should allow the unit to work better in the given environment. The screen is 4.3"(about the size of an iPhone 6 screen).

[Moser's Maple]

is this something for yourself, or you thinking about producing these to sell. really neat idea, love the screen, is the valve full open/shut or (i forget the word i'm looking for) will it regulate itself

[500592]

It would really awesome if you could post a schematic and parts list if possible along with the code for the micro controller thanks a bunch. That's an awesome looking rig I'm sure it's gonna get a lot of attention.

[saekeaton64]

Thanks for the comments.
Moser - right now I will be testing the unit with a solenoid valve and ball valve to throttle flow. If I find that it isn't working well I will switch to a motorized ball valve to see if it makes things better. This is something that I plan to sell if everything works as well as I expect.
500592-like I just said, this is something that I plan to have on the market for next season. If that wasn't the case I would be glad to share all my info with you. The best advice I could give is to watch a lot of YouTube videos on arduino and the sensors for these micro controllers.

[Dennis H.]

Very nice screen size. It was hard to determine how large it was from the pics.
Personally I have found that with a touch screen the larger the better.
I do not have a smart phone but I do have a 4" android based Samsung player and also a 10" tablet. When it comes to the size of the touch screen buttons the tablet is way better.
So if you keep the screens simple and make the buttons as large as possible it should work nicely.

I have looked into the arduino controller myself, kind of a steep learning curve right off but once you have a handle on them the posiblilities are endless.

Great build.

[BnSmaple]

Any idea what price range your looking at if the current design works?

[maple maniac65]

Now there is the million dollar question? Count me in, my sugarhouse already operates in the red so are the numbers going to be red too.

[saekeaton64]

Right now I don't have any hard numbers figured out, but I expect the price for the complete unit (Control box, 3 temperature probes, a thermocouple, float switch, and valve) to be around $800.