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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Colour Maximite based flow bench.
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5183 |
A flow bench is a tool used by anyone serious about getting more horse power out of a engine. The flow bench can tell you the CFM of a cylinder head, carburetor, exhaust, plus lets you measure or restrict flow in parts of the "port" to find turbulence, dead air, etc. Recently I've been working on a set of heads for my old Monaro, and was using the services of another flow bench, but decided it was time to build my own. This is my second flow bench, I built one back in the 80's when I played around with Datsuns. I wont go into details of how a flow bench works, other that to say it uses a few vacuum/pressure sensors, and "test orifice" used to measure the flow, vacuum motors ( 2 in my case ), humidity, kPa and temperature sensors to improve the accuracy, and a bunch of math. My bench is constricted from 12mm MDF. I used 8mm coreflute cut into strips and glued together to give laminar flow inside the cabinet on each side of the test orifice. The cabinet was sealed inside and out, then painted, as MDF is porous and leaks air. The air pumps are a pair of 1300 watts vacuum cleaner motors. The code was written for a Colour Maximite 2 and is a work in progress. I used ChatGPT to help me write the function to get data from the barometric sensor MBE180, the rest is mine. Its not pretty, and still needs a lot of work. Usually when flowing something you are comparing it to a previous test, so the code can have a set of comparison data loaded as well as the "working file". Eventually I'll document the whole project, but though I would share this for now.     A CD is used as a standard flow bench test unit, 14.4CFM at 10 inches, This was before I calibrated the sensors. Calibration involves a bucket of water, a length of clear tube, and a ruler. Flow benches use 28 inches of water ( 1 PSI ) as a standard vacuum, but the software can calculate flow at a lower pressure.   flow.zip Glenn Edited 2026-07-05 15:43 by Gizmo The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Volhout Guru  Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5965 |
Wauw, This is really inspiring. And practical use of mmbasic. Thank you for sharing. We need more of this kind of applications shown here Volhout Edited 2026-07-05 16:00 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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mikeb Senior Member  Joined: 10/04/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 179 |
Nice one. Well done. There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don't. |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8919 |
What a lovely job, Gizmo! A credit to you. :) I take my (virtual) hat off to anyone who can cut 12mm MDF straightish, never mind capable of being an airtight seal. Mind you, I don't have access to a table saw. That carefully calibrated test orifice looks unusually similar to a CD. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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