Design of a Primary Test Calibration System for Price Industries' Testing Department
Date
2019-12-04
Authors
Xi, Bingsheng
Le, Lynn
Gill, Kamalpreet Singh
Saygnavong, Andrew
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Abstract
Price Industries is an international manufacturer of commercial air circulation products headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. These products come in all forms such diffusers, noise dampers, and fan coils. One of the best testing facilities at Price Industries is also located in Winnipeg, Manitoba: The Price Research Center North. This facility contains various testing rooms and systems for all sorts of air distribution products. The overall objective of this project is to design a primary test calibration system that can calibrate the flow rate meters attached to each test rig to eliminate the need to outsource the flow rate meter calibrations. The final design of the primary test calibration system uses the displacement of a piston through a hydraulic cylinder to measure the volumetric flow rate with a high accuracy ultrasonic sensor. Actuating valves controlled through a microcontroller sequentially open and close valves to allow for fluid to flow into the tank. A total of four electronic actuating valve control which portion of the fluid can enter and exit the tank. As fluid flows into one end of the tank, the piston will be moved, and the displacement is measured through an ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor is placed on a plate at the end of the piston rod outside of the tank to measure the distance between the sensor and sensor lid. Through the use of both temperature and pressure sensors, the microcontroller will be able to determine when the system has reached a steady state to begin calibrations, as well as control the actuating valves to allow fluid to move the piston back in the other direction. The microcontroller takes the readings from all the sensors and calculates the flow rate of the system and outputs the results. The primary test calibration system is 62.2” x 28.4” x 26.0” in size and is able to accommodate fluid flow ranging from 1 Gal/min to 60 Gal/min with an accuracy within 0.116%. The total cost of the design is $11,800 and the total weight of the design is 389lbs. In this report, the entire design process can be found […]