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renatoa
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Upgrading my Roaster - Critique my current state and suggest!
shortyjacobs
Hey all, I've been using my DIY hot air roaster for a couple years now, and I'm ready to upgrade it.

If you're so inclined, take a look at what I have, what I currently plan to do, and please suggest how I can make it better.

i.imgur.com/fu4jKQv.jpg

Many more images, walking through the whole roaster, HERE!!: https://imgur.com...

Scope:
Currently -
2 stage flow through vacuum cleaner motor - 120V Universal
-Controlled by 120V SCR ebay module, manual
Home Depot plumbing bits to get up to the RC
2kW 240V heat gun element inline switched on a 2 sec duty Auber PID output on manual mode - Currently run 100%
PT100 RTD temp probe about 1" into RC on bottom for bean temp, readout on Auber PID
Exhaust and Chaff "collection" handled by a range hood above the roaster

Current method of roasting: Charge 450-500g beans into the RC, turn on fan and manually adjust for spout, turn on heater at 100%, adjust fan throughout roast for RoR control, (heater is at 100% from start to end). Read and record temp every 30 sec in a spreadsheet and calculate ROR. Aim for getting to 300*F ASAP, 20*F ROR to FC, 10*F ROR to end, (typically FC-FC+ for my espresso roasts).

Typical Roast Graph:
i.imgur.com/EPr9KmD.png

Plans-
Arduino w/ TC4+ w/ Artisan w/ ET, BT, and exhaust temp K-Type thermocouples
- Control of fan speed with ZCD and SSR
- Control of heater with SSR
- Hopefully PID control of heater with semi-manual fan speed control to maintain loft
- Figure out some way to quiet the intake more.

Thanks folks!
-Keith
 
jbrux4
I am not going to critique a dang thing - cuz I can't. It seems quite impressive as is. You did ask about quieting the intake a bit more. I am building my own fluibed right now, and I have put in all my chips in with a Solberg FS-31P-200. I am really close to testing it within the set-up, so I can let you know of any real benefit in the near future.

Solberg FS-31P-200 Inlet Compressor Air Filter Silencer, 2" MPT Outlet, 7-1/4" Height, 10" Diameter, 135 SCFM, Made in the USA: https://www.amazo...&psc=1
jbrux4 attached the following image:
silencer_and_filter.jpg

R/
Jared
 
shortyjacobs
Wow that's an interesting idea. Spendy, seeing as I only have about $100 into my roaster as is, (before accounting for the TC4/Artisan upgrade), but that thing is pretty cool. Jeez, 7x10", that's about the size of a big coffee can. My first instinct is that the pressure drop will be murder on the system, but my second instinct is that I'm using a vacuum motor, and I've got a ton of extra headroom in terms of power with it, (I don't think I'm even at half power to loft 500 grams), so the inlet pressure drop may not matter too much. In your testing, I'd be very interested in both sound with/without the silencer, as well as "fan setpoint to loft x grams of beans" with and without. Cool idea though!

I was toying around with some other ideas, more DIY, (which, as you can see from my setup, is very much my style). I was considering "egg carton foam" wrapped on the inner and outer diameter of my inlinet pipe, or a foam "hat" on the end of the pipe, or maybe a series of flat baffles inserted into the intake, (kind of like a muffler??). I can't find anything for intake silencing done by others anywhere on the internet though.
-Keith
 
CK
Another option... Google Helmholtz resonator. A tee placed on the inlet pipe allows for a custom Helmholtz resonator to be attached that you can tune to your system specs. By attaching different lengths of closed tubing, you can listen to the differences in sound levels. I've been experimenting with these with good results at lessening the intake and motor sound.
 
shortyjacobs
Ohmygod what a great idea! Reminds me of this video:

https://www.youtu...mp;t=4m35s
Edited by JackH on 01/04/2020 1:42 AM
-Keith
 
jqaman
I'm impressed with your setup,nice job...john
 
shortyjacobs

Quote

jqaman wrote:

I'm impressed with your setup,nice job...john


Thanks! I stole the bulk of the ideas from oldgearhead, he's the MVP. It may not look like much but it's got it where it counts (kid).
-Keith
 
shortyjacobs
It?s alive!!!

Edit: ignore my questions below, missed this on an earlier read through of the TC4+ thread:

Quote

3: New board revision
Lastly, I have made a few updates to the PCB as of a few weeks ago. Nothing major, but a few minor quality-of-life improvements:
* Silkscreen labels have been moved so they are not hidden by screw terminals anymore.
* IO2 and IO3 connecters now have a 5V pin, for easier interface with PWM dimmer board.
* Through-hole capacitors now have extra 5.08mm spaced holes for easier soldering and more flexibility.


Question 1) there were three holes each in the TC4+ for the two caps, whereas the diagrams showed two. Multimeter and loupe tells me the third hole was added to accommodate the wider stance of the ceramic caps, and putting the leads on 1 and 3 is fine. Correct?

Question 2) diagrams show two pins each for IO2 and IO3. I got 3 pins for each. Ummmmm...?

Next step, hook up my ssr?s (random for fan, zero crossing for heater), build a breadboard ZCD while I wait for the one I bought on Tindie to arrive from Singapore or Thailand or I can?t remember, borrow/steal a o-scope from work, and see if this thing flies!

i.imgur.com/wq2N6Jt.jpg
i.imgur.com/3ablM17.jpg
Edited by shortyjacobs on 01/16/2020 10:30 PM
-Keith
 
shortyjacobs
Ok, new question. I making a quick ZCD while I wait for a ?manufactured? one to arrive on the slow boat from Thailand. I?m using this schematic: https://cdn.hacka...XD-THT.pdf

Question (I?m great with mains voltage electrical stuff, not as used to logic level pixie wrangling). Do I need the 4.7ohm resistor (I think it?s a pull up resistor?) on the +5V signal if I?m supplying that +5V from the IO3 header on the TC4+?. Isn?t that pin already at logic level?
-Keith
 
renatoa
It's 4.7 KILO ! Yes, pull up.

You have already enabled internal pullup for interrupt pin, check this sequence in phase_ctrl.cpp:


  pinMode(INT_PIN, INPUT); // enable input on the interrupt pin
  digitalWrite(INT_PIN, HIGH);  // enable internal pullup on the int pin
  triac_state = disabled;
  setupTimer1();
  attachInterrupt(EXT_INT, ISR_ZCD, FALLING);


My ZCD also has a similar resistor on board (10k), but using or not make no difference, internal pullup seems doing its job.
 
jbrux4

Quote

shortyjacobs wrote:

Wow that's an interesting idea. Spendy, seeing as I only have about $100 into my roaster as is, (before accounting for the TC4/Artisan upgrade), but that thing is pretty cool. Jeez, 7x10", that's about the size of a big coffee can. My first instinct is that the pressure drop will be murder on the system, but my second instinct is that I'm using a vacuum motor, and I've got a ton of extra headroom in terms of power with it, (I don't think I'm even at half power to loft 500 grams), so the inlet pressure drop may not matter too much. In your testing, I'd be very interested in both sound with/without the silencer, as well as "fan setpoint to loft x grams of beans" with and without. Cool idea though!

I was toying around with some other ideas, more DIY, (which, as you can see from my setup, is very much my style). I was considering "egg carton foam" wrapped on the inner and outer diameter of my inlinet pipe, or a foam "hat" on the end of the pipe, or maybe a series of flat baffles inserted into the intake, (kind of like a muffler??). I can't find anything for intake silencing done by others anywhere on the internet though.


You can see the results of my testing here: https://forum.hom...post_70401 I never took off the intake/silencer because there was no need. Hope this helps.
R/
Jared
 
shortyjacobs
Jared that?s awesome, thanks!

Side note, hooked up the Arduino, home cooked ZCD, a random fire SSR and my fab.

Couldn?t get the fan to go. There was power all the way to the SSR, but it appears the SSR wasn?t firing, and my multimeter registered no volts on OT2 with fan at 100%.

So, since I don?t have an O scope, now I?ve gotta figure out how to turn the Arduino into a pulse counter to see if the ZCD is firing....
-Keith
 
shortyjacobs
Oops. Figured it out. Attached the ?signal? wire to pin 6 on the opto isolator chip, when really it should be tied to pin 5 before the pull-up resistor.

Anyone know what the ?x? means on pin 6? Don?t connect it to anything? How does the transistor work if the Base is disconnected??

i.imgur.com/ABd8X0d.jpg
-Keith
 
greencardigan
Does your multimeter have a duty cycle or frequency mode? You can use those to check the ZCD output. Or even just checking the voltage on the ZCD output should give you an idea if it's outputting anything.

What sketch do you have on the Arduino? Is it set in a mode that supports the ZCD?
 
shortyjacobs

Quote

greencardigan wrote:

Does your multimeter have a duty cycle or frequency mode? You can use those to check the ZCD output. Or even just checking the voltage on the ZCD output should give you an idea if it's outputting anything.

What sketch do you have on the Arduino? Is it set in a mode that supports the ZCD?


Hey greencardigan, I think I have your sketch, the Q_PID one, v6.7, running in PAC2 mode. No fancy multimeters for me, just the $8 amazon one, so no duty cycle mode that I can tell. Actually, it has something that looks like a square wave, which I always assumed was a function generator, but it?s probably a duty cycle thing after all!

Anyway, I posted again just as you did, I just hosed up my ZCD on the logic side. I bet that?s it.

By the way, I need to buy you a beer. This sketch is well commented, well documented, and has tons of features. This is my first foray into Arduino, so that praise likely doesn?t carry much weight, but thank you for a great piece of work!!
-Keith
 
renatoa
PAC3 is needed, in order to use IO3 to read the ZCD.

The base of the transistor inside an optocoupler is controlled by light.
 
shortyjacobs
Thanks folks. renatoa, I'm in PAC2 with IO2 currently reading the ZCD. After corrected my faulty signal wiring, the Arduino appears to be controlling the fan! But not well.

At many fan setpoints, (15 and 16% are especially egregious, but I can hear variation at other fan speeds), the fan runs like a badly tuned car. Sputtering and changing in RPMS quickly with no human input. In fact, just plugging in AC power with the Arduino set at 0% fan will kick it sputtering to life (scared the poop out of me on the first powerup). At any other fan speed it still seems to sputter a bit in speed, and 100% does not seem like 100% at all, more like 50% on my old manual SCR dimmer.

Setup is a Picker PCS53-240A-15R random fire SSR and my ZCD on IO2. You can see the arduino LED is flickering madly too, even at 100% fan power, and the arduino LED would flicker when the fan was sputtering to life even at 0% commanded fan speed, so it's not just a junky SSR or junky ZCD.

Any ideas?

Video to try and show what's up.SPEAKER HEADPHONES WARNING, loud fan.

Here's a video showing both fan and heater at 100%. Heater LED is solid, (as is LED on heater SSR), fan LED is still pulsing:
Edited by shortyjacobs on 01/20/2020 3:17 PM
-Keith
 
greencardigan
Have you got the correct mains power frequency set in the user.h file?

I also have the pulsing issue on my small roaster when I go below 10% fan power. I figured it was something to do with the pulses coming from the ZCD and getting out of sync or something. Also maybe your ZCD output pulse is different in length and timing compared to Jim's ZCD that he developed the TC4 with?

Not sure how it's triggering the SSR with power set at 0%. Possibly some electrical interference?? Does it do that without the ZCD connected?

Quote

By the way, I need to buy you a beer. This sketch is well commented, well documented, and has tons of features. This is my first foray into Arduino, so that praise likely doesn?t carry much weight, but thank you for a great piece of work!!

JimG did all the hard bits with the core of the code, I just added a bunch of features that I wanted.
 
shortyjacobs

Quote

greencardigan wrote:

Have you got the correct mains power frequency set in the user.h file?

I also have the pulsing issue on my small roaster when I go below 10% fan power. I figured it was something to do with the pulses coming from the ZCD and getting out of sync or something. Also maybe your ZCD output pulse is different in length and timing compared to Jim's ZCD that he developed the TC4 with?

Not sure how it's triggering the SSR with power set at 0%. Possibly some electrical interference?? Does it do that without the ZCD connected?



Mains is correct (60Hz, I'm in the USA). I think I figured it out - I had 5 volts going to my ZCD from the TC4, per https://cdn.hacka...XD-THT.pdf. But your (still excellent), quick start guide PDF only showed ground and signal going to your ZCD. I disconnected my 5V wire, and now it is much much smoother. I get one blip very occasionally, but its much much smoother and feels more like "full fan speed" at 100% as well.

I think the 5V reversed the logic? So instead of going "low" when it crossed zero, it went high when it crossed zero, and was low everywhere else? Would that have led to aliasing and sputtering? I don't know. Like I said, I'm not used to playing with stuff below 120V. Logic circuits are weird.
-Keith
 
greencardigan
Also try connecting the TC4 ground to mains ground. I've had motor pulsing issues in two controllers that were solved by grounding the TC4.

https://forum.hom...post_66056
 
renatoa
I can't speak for others power conditions, but in my country mains is very noisy and ZCD can fire 2-3 times around the "zero cross" voltage, which actually is around 10V, is not a real zero.
This multiple firing obviously mess the timings of ICC, and probably PAC too.
To counteract this, added false firing code in TC4ESP fork, that solved the issue.
Can be solved also hardware, with a capacitor placed on opto-coupler inputs, to filter the mains spikes, the value depends on resistors used.
 
Elfmaze
I'm aiming for the same bean charge in my roaster. Looking at two stage blowers over the single stage. What wattage pump are you using?
 
renatoa
I guess you are asking thread owner, not me...
This is usually done starting the message with name of user prefixed by @ sign, as @shortyjacobs in this case.
Posting a message after other's, without such hint, means you are asking the poster of previous message.
 
Elfmaze
Yeah, thought I had hot reply to his original thread, still getting used to the code on this forum I guess
 
JackH
You can either use the quote feature or @username to direct your question.

Reading your post, it was obvious to me that you were referring to the OP.
---Jack

KKTO Roaster.
 
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