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Development and Experimental Assessment of a Fluid Flow Monitoring

System Using Flow Sensor and Arduino Interface

Chapter · September 2020

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_12

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Development and Experimental
Assessment of a Fluid Flow Monitoring
System Using Flow Sensor and Arduino
Interface

Sharad S. Mulik, Abhishek D. Patange, R. Jegadeeshwaran,

Sujit S. Pardeshi, and Aditi Rahegaonkar

Abstract The flow monitoring has been a priority in fluid handling industry for
controlling and regulating various parameters. Any change in flow dimension directly
affects the output parameters in the domain of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, fluid
power, etc. This may lead to huge economical and quality loss which is totally unbear-
able. The traditional fluid flow measurement methodologies are time consuming,
bulky and affected by pressure, temperature, and viscosity with self-draining charac-
teristics. It also requires appropriate observation followed by theoretical calculations.
This motivates developing a flow management system incorporating integration of
flow meters with the electronic control system. In the generation of open-source
instrumentation, it is quite easy to implement such in-house built systems. This paper
presents development of a fluid flow monitoring system using flow sensor YF-DN50
and Arduino interface. The algorithm is designed in ARDUINO IDE and is commu-
nicated to Microsoft Excel through PLX DAQ. The experimentation is carried out
on centrifugal pump to measure the outlet discharge by conventional method and
with use of developed system. The comparison of outlet discharge measured by both
approaches has been plotted for calibration purpose. The advocated approach is effi-
cient, reliable, inexpensive, and flexible particularly for academic research. Addi-
tionally, the system may perhaps be implemented in stand-alone special purpose
industries and for laboratories at engineering institutes.

Keywords Fluid flow monitoring · Flow meter · Arduino · PLX DAQ ·

Centrifugal pump

S. S. Mulik
Rasiklal M. Dhariwal Sinhgad School of Engineering, Pune, India
A. D. Patange (B) · S. S. Pardeshi · A. Rahegaonkar
College of Engineering Pune, Pune, India
e-mail: abhipatange93@gmail.com
R. Jegadeeshwaran
Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600127, India

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license 115
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_12
116 S. S. Mulik et al.

1 Introduction

The flow monitoring is essential for assessing the movement of fluid. A lot of
measurement techniques are used to monitor the flow. The positive displacement
flow measurement technique is based on principle that it collects a fixed volume
of fluid and measures time enquired. On the other hand, some flow measurement
methods are based on forces generated by the flowing fluid as it conquers known
constraints, to indirectly measure the flow. The flow can be monitored by measuring
the velocity of fluid over a known area. For voluminous flows, the flow rate is calcu-
lated from the change in concentration of a dye or radioisotope [1–3]. The traditional
instrumentation like flow meter, venturi meter, orifice plate, and Pitot tube are well
known from decades. Advancement in the technology has adopted reforms in flow
measurement too. The flow meters triggered by magnetic field are assembled with
an electronic circuit. The impeller magnets of a positive displacement flow meter
triggers the latched circuit in sensor, which in turn emits and sends a square wave
pulse to a controller or any other monitoring devices [4]. Castaner et al. [5] used
an economical hot wire flow meter where it does not get exposed by the flow but,
however, due to the pins in the lead frame where thermic contact is provided. Ramyaa
et al. [6] developed a system which measures the pipes of the hose fluids flow rate,
and system made is also economical. The system comprises of PIC 16F877A micro-
controller, detectors, fluid injectors, a power source, display, etc. This system can
be used in the farm which will prevent it from damaging the crops and also it is
easily accessible in the market and also economical than the other products. Sood
et al. [7] designed water flow meter system which saves water as well as the energy
while supplying water to the crops. In the system which consists of detectors called
Hall effect sensor, the rotation varies with the flow of water. These detector measures
output voltage which is relative to a magnetic strength of the input in the microcon-
troller. Hao and Garcia [8] developed a system which stored the kinetic energy in a
capacitor from a fluid which can be used expeditiously. Cai and Toral [9] presented
a research on measuring the individual phases in a hybrid network model where
the fluid flow is in the horizontal direction pipelines by the network that are neural
(KSOFM: The Kohonen self-organizing features map and MBPN: Multilayer back
propagation network). These techniques are used to categorize it by variation of
the fluids or the deviation of pressure values of various fluid flow regimes. Char-
acteristics are retrieved from the variation and deviation of pressure values that are
unique to the individual phase flow rates in multiphase flow. It is reviewed that the
traditional fluid flow measurement methodologies are time consuming, bulky and
affected by pressure, temperature, and viscosity with self-draining characteristics. It
also requires appropriate observation followed by theoretical calculations. Also the
modern techniques are based on costlier proprietary software-hardware tools [10–
13]. This motivates developing a flow management system incorporating integration
of low-cost flow sensor YF-DN50 with the electronic control system built using
open-source instrumentation, i.e., Arduino, IDE, PLX DAQ. This system serves as
Development and Experimental Assessment of a Fluid … 117

Fig. 1 System layout and mechatronic integration circuit

a data acquisition system to acquire, process, display, and store data which can be
used further for analysis if any.

2 System Design, Mechatronic Integration, and Design

of Algorithm

An innovative approach for development of a fluid flow monitoring system was

formulated using YF-DN50 flow sensor and Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller.
The provision of integration of multichannels of flow sensors at a time can be made.
The core flow sensor, i.e., YF-DN50, consists of turbine which is placed inside plastic
envelope upon which a magnet is placed. As the turbine blades rotate, the fluid flows;
hence, the magnetic fluctuation obstructs hall sensor, the degree of interference is
being subjected to the velocity of flow, and therefore, the sensor emits pulse signal,
which is used to estimate the water volume [14]. Arduino ATMega2560 has 16 analog
inputs, 54 digital input/output pins, 16 MHz crystal oscillator, power supply cord,
and USB connection. This system can be connected with the USB cable and further
connected to a computer. Figure 1 shows system layout and circuit diagram. The
algorithm was designed in Arduino IDE, and it is integrated with MS Excel through
PLX DAQ. The flowchart of the algorithm is given in Fig. 2.

3 Experimentation and Testing

The objective of the experimentation is to evaluate the performance of developed fluid

flow monitoring system and validating it with conventional experimental method.
118 S. S. Mulik et al.

Fig. 2 Flowchart for algorithm

Experimentation is carried on a centrifugal pump (KCFM-302 centrifugal pump test

rig) at various speeds. Suction and delivery pressures are measured using pressure
gauge. The discharge time is recorded for 10 cm rise in water level in measuring tank.
Then discharge was calculated using formula Q = Volume collected/time required.
Then, for same conditions, the discharge was measured using developed system.
Figure 3 shows the experimental setup.

4 Results, Validation, and Discussion

Figure 4 represents the results displayed in MS Excel. The pump speed varied from
1600 to 3254 rpm. It shows variation in discharge w.r.t. change in pump speed. Outlet
discharge varies linearly as pump speed increases. The head, output power, overall
Development and Experimental Assessment of a Fluid … 119

Fig. 3 Experimental setup

efficiency, and pump efficiency can be plotted. PLX DAQ software enables to read,
store, and display results in MS Excel.
The graph in Fig. 5 shows comparison of discharge measured by both ways. Exper-
imental method shows good agreement with discharge measured using developed
system.
The pump characteristics plotted for the experimentation is carried out here.
Figure 6 shows variation of head, output power, and efficiency with respect to
discharge.
The developed system is more compatible as compared to the existing fluid flow
measurement systems which are time consuming, bulky and affected by pressure,
temperature, and viscosity with self-draining characteristics. The existing systems
also require appropriate observation followed by theoretical calculations. Hence, the
developed system incorporates flow management system integration of flow meters
with the electronic control system. In the generation of open-source instrumentation,
it is quite easy to implement such in-house built systems. The advocated approach
is efficient, reliable, inexpensive, and flexible particularly for academic research.
120 S. S. Mulik et al.

Fig. 4 Results on MS Excel using the developed system

Fig. 5 Comparison of results RPM versus discharge

Development and Experimental Assessment of a Fluid … 121

Fig. 6 Comparison of results RPM versus discharge

5 Conclusion

A novel fluid flow monitoring system incorporating integration of low-cost flow

sensor YF-DN50 with the electronic control system built using open-source instru-
mentation, i.e., Arduino, IDE, PLX DAQ was developed. This system serves as a data
acquisition system to acquire, process, display, and store data can be used further
for analysis if any. The control system was designed to develop mechatronic inter-
facing of sensor and microcontroller. The algorithm was designed in ARDUINO IDE
and is communicated to Microsoft Excel through PLX DAQ. The experimentation
was carried out on centrifugal pump for monitoring and measuring outlet discharge
by conventional method and with use of developed system. The comparison graph
of outlet discharge measured by both the methods has been plotted and found to
have good accuracy. The total price of prototype is near about Rs. 1000/- which is
most affordable to all. The advocated approach is efficient, reliable, inexpensive, and
flexible particularly for academic research. Additionally, the system may perhaps
be implemented in stand-alone special purpose industries and for laboratories at
engineering institutes.

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