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mjain
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 23

Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 11:56 AM

Hi,

We are designing a system for grain processing. One of the parameter we need to monitor is Moisture. Can anybody suggest a very good moisture sensor/transmitter which can be interfaced to PLC. Please note that I am looking for very cost effective solution .

Manish
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lyn
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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#1

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 12:19 PM

Go here: Search GlobalSpec and type in "moisture sensor".

Then select a suitable device from the choices you see.
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Fredski
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#2

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 12:21 PM

call your Honeywell rep for a variety of choices
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lyn
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#3

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 12:45 PM

Sometimes I should just not respond.........................but,

You need an engineer, either on staff or on retainer to answer these questions for you.

Having to rely on people who do not know anything about the details of your many problems and are on the other side of the world, will never get good answers.

You can't get everything handed to you for free. Sometimes you need to break loose with a buck.
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Circuit Breaker
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#14
In reply to #3

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/10/2012 3:01 PM

A national chain used to advertise "You got questions - We got answers". I add "Right answers cost extra." -- JHF

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Ace Boeringa
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United States - Member - New Member Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Washington USA
Posts: 566
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#4

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 5:45 PM

The good ones are not cheap, and the cheap ones are not robust. Choose one.
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lyn
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#5

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 5:56 PM

I'm squarely with Fredski and Ace Boeringa here.

Moisture content is one of the most important factors you have in the proper storage of grain. Why would you skimp on a sensor.

This is the epitome of false economy. Lose $50,000.00USD of wheat over a $50.00USD sensor?
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MUKULMAHANT
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#10
In reply to #5

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/09/2012 8:02 AM

<This is epitome of false economy. Lose $50,000.00USD of wheat over a $50.00USD >>

So Correct an observation!
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HiTekRedNek
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#12
In reply to #10

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/10/2012 7:14 AM

Accountant to Production supervisor:"We are losing $1 a load on every truckload that leaves here."

Production supervisor to accountant:"Damn! at that rate, we will have to sell 100 loads a day to make any money!"

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MUKULMAHANT
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#6

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 10:31 PM

Ask these people if they offer PLC interfacing

http://www.bionicsscientific.com/testing-measuring-meter/grain-moisture-meter.html
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pmelnikov
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#7

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 11:25 PM

The others have made absolutely excellent points- completely. I am an instrumentation systems engineer and I solve these kinds of problems for a living. I clearly cannot solve the problem for you here, because there is a huge number of parameters not specified, but I will tell you what pieces of info- INITIALLY must be determined:

First: nature and character of the PLC system into which the moisture sensor will interface.

Second: at what point or at what points- plural- in the grain processing process do you need to monitor the moisture ??? Different monitoring points will see the grain differently (whole grain/solid/slush-slurry/sitting in a vat/sitting in a bag) and on and on and on. Different "things" require different types of sensors to monitor them. There are thousands of different moisture sensor types and they are defined by the physical parameters & interface of the substance they are to monitor.

Third: you have to answer some questions in order to get the proper sensor. What program must the data be read into so as to give you a read out of moisture content ??? for example- and this is just one of the questions that must be answered to sole your problem (s) here.

Fourth: Knowing the questions to which answers must be supplied is absolutely necessary & you clearly don't know them- no criticism of you, just fact/reality. You MUST hire an engineer to resolve these issues or you will NOT be able to solve this. If the moisture content of the grain is important to you and I suspect that it is, this is what you must do and this is SOME of the info that must be determined.

Do you know all the info that must be determined ???? Can you resolve these issues yourself ???? If not and if it NEEDS to be solved, hire someone, like myself or w/ my skillset, to solve it. No other way or ways. Not trying to me mean to you, trying to be helpful within the framework of a realistic approach to your problem. Again- not mean, just fact.
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lyn
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#11
In reply to #7

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/09/2012 8:23 AM

Good points ans a good answer.
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welderman
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#8

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/08/2012 11:35 PM

There are many types of sensors available. You will need to provide information such as response time, accuracy, moisture range, etc. My favorite choice (and I have many of them) is the chilled mirror type. Their response time isn't great and you need clean air samples to use them, but their long term accuracy is excellent. This type of sensor will monitor the humidity of the air adjacent to the grain. If you want to measure the moisture content of the grain itself, you need a different approach.
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suresh sharma
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#9

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/09/2012 5:36 AM

Hi Jain, We have Mr.Shyam from Bhopal who is expert on sensors and he is member of CR4. Perhaps he can help you.

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vargaalex
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#13

Re: Moisture Sensor

12/10/2012 9:34 AM

I would suggest that you hire a good instrument engineer, who can design your system correctly.

The issue here is that if you do not know then just asking will not necessarily get you a good answer, since you have not given any data for the requirements, as for example size of the silo, quantity of units, type of grain, duration of storage of grain, humidity that you are trying to control, ambient temperatures, humidities, etc.

Based on all these instead of asking questions which can get you in trouble present the questions with all the backup information, and hire someone who can design the system for you.

And if you are serious about being cost effective "HIRE A PROFESSIONAL" even if it is a remote consultant over internet.
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PWSlack
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#15

Re: Moisture Sensor

01/14/2013 3:02 PM

So "We" aren't actually designing it; a bunch of anonymous strangers on the internet are designing it and "we" are just hijacking their work.

Get real. Hire someone.

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Users who posted comments:

Ace Boeringa (1); Circuit Breaker (1); Fredski (1); HiTekRedNek (1); lyn (4); MUKULMAHANT (2); pmelnikov (1); PWSlack (1); suresh sharma (1); vargaalex (1); welderman (1)

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