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Leak detector

I am making a leak detector. Nothing fancy just couple of probes which
short out in case of a leak. I was thinking of using an analog IC to
do this instead of using discrete components. Can any one suggest some
design ideas, any particualar ICs. One that comes to mind is AD8555.
Thanks in advance....
 
L

Luhan

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am making a leak detector. Nothing fancy just couple of probes which
short out in case of a leak. I was thinking of using an analog IC to
do this instead of using discrete components. Can any one suggest some
design ideas, any particualar ICs. One that comes to mind is AD8555.
Thanks in advance....

That chip looks like major overkill for this application. Do you know
the wet and dry resistance ranges? You usully need neither speed nor
high gain for this type of use.

Luhan
 
Well the reason I was looking at this was because this is going to be
in a noisy environment and in this case the probes may act as antennas
which may cause the sensor to report faulty output (detecting leak even
when there is no leak). However if you have a simpler suggestion its
most welcome. Thanks...
 
L

Luhan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well the reason I was looking at this was because this is going to be
in a noisy environment and in this case the probes may act as antennas
which may cause the sensor to report faulty output (detecting leak even
when there is no leak). However if you have a simpler suggestion its
most welcome. Thanks...

The usual solution to this kind of noise, since you probably dont need
very fast response, is to do heavy filtering. I usually ground one of
the probes (no noise on that one), and put some series resistor (10k ?)
in series from the other probe with maybe 10 to 100 uf capacitor to
ground. This should also get rid of stray 60hz pickup with a response
time of a couple of seconds. If that works for you.

Luhan
 
P

Paul Hovnanian P.E.

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am making a leak detector. Nothing fancy just couple of probes which
short out in case of a leak. I was thinking of using an analog IC to
do this instead of using discrete components. Can any one suggest some
design ideas, any particualar ICs. One that comes to mind is AD8555.
Thanks in advance....

What exactly is leaking?

I find that a lit match works pretty well for natural gas. ;-)
 
and i guess that would be termed as arson......
anyways its water leaking in very small amounts and in a very noisy
environment........
some kind of differential method will be good I think....
thanks
 
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