An Overview Of The Arduino Tachometer
The system we designed here is another good example of given some input, what will you output? The CPU Fan generated interrupt pulses and our output system reacted accordingly telling us how many RPM the fan spins at. Although it wasn't 100% precise, I will take 95% precise for the $10 in parts that it takes to build this tachometer with an Arduino.
What To Do Now
Break-beam systems are useful not just for tachometer readings but also for reaction based systems. Perhaps you want to know when a door is opened or shut. Maybe you want to be sure nothing passed under your robot. There are many uses for a break-beam and while the circuits used here are only introductory, there's many routes you can take to build bigger and better IR break-beams for tachometers and other awesome devices.
Conclusion
Overall I consider this project to be a success. The results were actually more promising than the PIC tachometer...Although, I blame that on both time and experience. Anyway, the system worked as we designed it and reliably enough that we saw the results we were hoping for...3000 RPM fans ran at about 3000 RPM and so on. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and learned something about build your own tachometer with an Arduino!
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.
The system we designed here is another good example of given some input, what will you output? The CPU Fan generated interrupt pulses and our output system reacted accordingly telling us how many RPM the fan spins at. Although it wasn't 100% precise, I will take 95% precise for the $10 in parts that it takes to build this tachometer with an Arduino.
What To Do Now
Break-beam systems are useful not just for tachometer readings but also for reaction based systems. Perhaps you want to know when a door is opened or shut. Maybe you want to be sure nothing passed under your robot. There are many uses for a break-beam and while the circuits used here are only introductory, there's many routes you can take to build bigger and better IR break-beams for tachometers and other awesome devices.
Conclusion
Overall I consider this project to be a success. The results were actually more promising than the PIC tachometer...Although, I blame that on both time and experience. Anyway, the system worked as we designed it and reliably enough that we saw the results we were hoping for...3000 RPM fans ran at about 3000 RPM and so on. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and learned something about build your own tachometer with an Arduino!
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.