E
earlscroft
Hi
I am trying to control the flow of gas from a pupane bottle to a coffee roaster.
The roaster
I have restored a 1930's Uno Coffee roaster with a capacity of 7lb of coffee per roast. The roaster consists of a rotating drum. An axle in the centre of the drum has the gas fed into it. The beans sit between the inner axle and outer skin of the drum.The whole process takes about 12-15 minutes to complete a roast. (If you search for 'Uno Coffee Roaster' on Google the first listing relates to the machine in question - for some reason the forum disallowed the direct link)
The objective
The taste of the beans is determined by many factors, but a large part is played by the roasting process. To that end, I'd like to control the temperature of the roast more accurately. I already have a thermocouple positioned in the drum that feeds data to a wireless transmitter attached to the outside of the spinning drum. I would like to compare this temperature data against a pre-defined set of data and send a signal to the 'device' that increases or decreases the flow of gas.
At the moment my Google searches return details of a device called a mass flow controller. Is this what I need or is there something simpler? I'd be grateful if any member could provide details of a manufacturer or specific model that might do the job.
Once I have all the information I will be contacting a local qualified gas engineer to carry out any work.
Many thanks
Mark
I am trying to control the flow of gas from a pupane bottle to a coffee roaster.
The roaster
I have restored a 1930's Uno Coffee roaster with a capacity of 7lb of coffee per roast. The roaster consists of a rotating drum. An axle in the centre of the drum has the gas fed into it. The beans sit between the inner axle and outer skin of the drum.The whole process takes about 12-15 minutes to complete a roast. (If you search for 'Uno Coffee Roaster' on Google the first listing relates to the machine in question - for some reason the forum disallowed the direct link)
The objective
The taste of the beans is determined by many factors, but a large part is played by the roasting process. To that end, I'd like to control the temperature of the roast more accurately. I already have a thermocouple positioned in the drum that feeds data to a wireless transmitter attached to the outside of the spinning drum. I would like to compare this temperature data against a pre-defined set of data and send a signal to the 'device' that increases or decreases the flow of gas.
At the moment my Google searches return details of a device called a mass flow controller. Is this what I need or is there something simpler? I'd be grateful if any member could provide details of a manufacturer or specific model that might do the job.
Once I have all the information I will be contacting a local qualified gas engineer to carry out any work.
Many thanks
Mark