"Franz Eckert" wrote in
. dk:

Maybe some of you gurus have an inexpensive idear of how to make a
flow meter that can measure the usage af gas to the engines. I don't
really care if it is analog or digital, as long as i can built it
myself :-)



The medical profession has a clear plastic flowmeter that's about 3" in
diameter with a red ball that the fluid running through it rotates around
the tube. It's a positive flow meter in that the ball just fits the round
tube and the tiniest flow of liquid shows up as a rotation of the ball. I
have no idea where you'd get it, but I'm sure any nurse or hospital supply
person could point you to the right company.

It would be very simple to put a light on one side of this tube and a
photocell on the other (OK, IR LED and photo IC is more complex and up-to-
date). Every time the ball comes around the loop, it would cut the light
so you could TIME the ball's rotation around the loop, which on the tube is
calibrated in cc/hr or minute for the nurse to count. The time measured
would be easily converted to litres/hour or gallons/minute for your
display. The pulses could simply be fed to a serial port on a PC or
notebook already in use with a simple program monitoring the port's data-in
and using the PC's timer functions.

How's that?....(c;

Americans, a lazy, sloven lot to be sure, would use:
http://www.asenashop.com/ivn/pr-0/9286.html
or
http://store.wmjmarine.com/s3fw022u1.html
or
http://www.consumersmarine.com/produ...l.cfm?i=380020
or
http://www.marineparts.com/partspages/FLOSCAN/FLO1.htm

They all run on a little wheel that rotates as the fuel pushes it around
passing through it. A magnet senses the wheel's movement and converts each
vane into a pulse for measurement...

--
Larry