I need a saddle to make an air lift pump out of 2" PVC pipe. It's in the experimental stage and hoping a 3/8" air line will provide enough air or if I have to go to 1/2". Making my own saddle will give me the chance to experiment. Broke my favorite ingot mould by pounding it on the concrete to release the ingots.
The saddle will mount about a foot above the bottom of the pipe. Air from the Roots blower creates an air bubble that forces the water up the pipe. This is for our sewage plant and I'm working on an automatic system to pump the bottom of a couple clarifying chambers. Sediment builds up in the bottom and needs pumped back into the digesting chamber. I'm trying to add an Arduino board to control it. Right now I just open a valve manually and move the pump from chamber to chamber.
In the plant environment you might be better off setting up controls with a small PLC. The control logic is kind of standard and you can get modules to handle high current loads (110v,240v,400v,600+V) There are even PLC's that use Arduinos as the brain just ruggedized and in a standard din rail mount Example link. This will give you the ability to control things but have the easy replaceability of standard parts (a plus in places that hand built one-offs could be troublesome when they fail). Just an Idea.
Thanks for the input but I think a PLC will be overkill as I only need to control 2 maybe 3 solenoids. I also want to be able to fine tune the run and delay times with the Arduino phone app. Here's the theory of operation. A timer picks the motor control relay. The time is adjusted, depending on plant conditions, by the service tech. When timer goes active, one minute delay, pick S1 for 1 min, delay 3 minutes, pick S2 for 1 minute, delay 3 minutes, pick S3 for 1 minute. End cycle until timer goes off. The solenoids are the air valves. Here's the schematic.
@FishbonzWV not to drag up an old thread or go way off topic... but I am anyway. Do you work in wastewater treatment? I work at the local water treatment plant. I do mostly plant electrician and SCADA tech stuff. Technically I work for the fresh water plant but I spend some time at our wastewater plant too.
No, I just do the maintenance on our small package plant. Retired from my paying job as an ET. Tomorrow's job, replacing the bearings on the motor and changing the oil in the blower.
Retired from my paying job as an ET. What would ET be? Electronics Tech? I showed a couple of the new guys how to rebuild a motor just the other day. Slowly moving out of the mechanical maintenance side of things as I take on more of the electrical and controls side of things.
That was the job title but we always joked it meant Every Thing. No matter what broke, we fixed it. And the tradition is still being carried on in retirement.
Decided to go with a simpler approach to the clarifying chambers. Made airlift pumps for each of the 4 chambers with a manifold fed by a 1/2" line with a single solenoid. Solenoid is controlled by a delay off relay. Every time the blower kicks on the solenoid opens for six seconds. I've never seen the chambers this clear.
