Flow meter with flow readout - installed in PC!
 

Hello all.

Some time ago, I acquired a couple of Proteus flow meters. I previously used an older flow meter model connected to a panel meter that showed the flow through the loop. Having the updated flow meter model, I revived my plans of installing a flow meter again in my system. Since I am running two loops, I upgraded my previous design to be able to handle input from two flow meters. Below youcan see the system being tested outside the computer.

The flow meter, made from stainless steel, with 1/2" ID barbs, polished.

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It has connections for voltage output proportional to the flow, relay contacts that can be triggered by an adjustable trip-point, and green/red status LEDs

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While polishing

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Finished

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The complete setup, including the flow meter, junction box, and the panel meter with LEDs and switches for two alarms (activated by the trip-point)

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Junction box that takes input from two flow meters and sends them to the panel meter

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Panel meter in OK state. Note the green LED indicating flow above the trip-point. The meter shows flow in GPM.

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Flow at the trip-point. Both LEDs are ON, but no alarm.

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Flow below trip-point. Red LED is ON, as well as the buzzer alarm. The switches with blue LEDs turn off the buzzer.

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The beauty of this panel meter is that besides being a regular voltmeter, it has an option to scale the output. Since the flow meter outputs 5V DC at 4.5GPM, I can set the panel meter to show "4.5" when it is receiving 5V DC.

Re: Flow meter with flow readout - installed in PC!
 

And here are the pics of the flow meter installed in my (by now) antique case that originally came with a 1st-generation Koolance system.

(Many will say that there is absolutely no point in updating a 5-year old machine that is still running on nforce2 motherboard. Well, I am doing all of this, just as I do anything else to my computer, out of sheer enthusiasm and modding spirit, this is practically the only opportunity for me to use my tools and come up with solutions to arising problems.)

OK, here we go. Out with the old. Notice the nice green build-up on 7/16" ID Masterkleer tubing after a year or two of use. That residue could be partially removed by lab-grade acetone.

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I needed to create a bit more space in the center of the case, so I designed a new mounting bracket for the pump and moved it closer to the 2nd radiator.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s%20500/03.jpg


The Proteus flow meter that I'm using has 7/16"-18 SAE threads, which are mainly used on hydraulic equipment. The fittings that you can see in my initial testing are actually DangerDen's Hi-Flo fittings that, by pure chance, had the thread that I needed. Unfortunately, due to the extremely cramped conditions inside the case (as you will see), I needed angled barbs. After doing a lot of searching and not finding what I needed, I decided to make my own. I mated a 3/4" barb elbow (Loew's home improvement) to the stainless steel hydraulic fitting that came with the meter (basically forcefully threaded the stainless steel fitting into the brass elbow). Since the hydraulic fittings had a pretty narrow ID size, I first drilled them out (on the top, you can see before and after drilling out, and on the bottom the assembled elbow).

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Since the entire flow meter is made from stainless steel and is quite heavy, I designed a simple bracket that bolts to the rail of the case and supports the weight of the flow meter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s%20500/06.jpg


Everything connected. There were no leaks during the testing, and you have no idea how happy I was, as disassembling this jumble of parts and tubing would be a nightmare.

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...and done!

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Due to extemely short lengths of tubing used in my loop (reservoir => D4 pump => 2x120 BlackIce radiator => Maze4 CPU waterblock => Proteus flow meter, cramped into a cubic foot of space), I am able to get close to 2 GPM flow, which is more than enough to cool the XP 2500+ mobile @ 2.5GHz/1.8 Vcore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s%20500/10.jpg

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Well, this is how the computer sits right now. I am thinking of installing the second flow meter into the GPU/Northblock loop, since my flow monitoring system can read from two flow meters.

Thanks for your time! Hope you enjoyed the ride. Would really love some feedback/comments/suggestions!

Re: Flow meter with flow readout - installed in PC!
 

Very cool. How much did the whole flow meter setup cost you?

Re: Flow meter with flow readout - installed in PC!
 

I would rather not discuss the pricing, but I certainly didn't pay the $300 the Proteus company wants for the meter, plus another $50 for the panel meter.

Re: Flow meter with flow readout - installed in PC!
 

Thats nice, because that would have been kinda insane :D Really neat done - although it's too bad the pc is so cramped. Is it possible to input the data into software, maybe to combine it with an alarm/shutdown if the flow drops. ?

Again, awesome :hammer: