bench layout

[Jason]

Hey guys, I've looked all over and I'm just trying to figure out the basic layout of an orifice style flowbench. I think once I decide to start building one, that's the style I'll go with from everything I've read. I've seen a couple of homemade style benches that I was able to understand, such as this one



If I could see just a simple layout of Bruce's plan and how it works, I'd appreciate it. I'm not asking for all the details of the parts that go in it to get out of buying the plans, I just want to understand it first. Any help would be appreciated.

[bruce]

[bruce]

With that being said . . . in your picture if you replace the pipe with chambers you have a basic orifice style flowbench. The pipe design throws a bunch of things into the mix on an orifice style bench. This has been discussed in great detail in other threads here on the forum.

A simple explanation; What you are doing is measuring the pressure difference between the upper chamber and lower chamber or left/right chamber depending on bench design. The orifice sits between the chambers and creates a restriction, knowing the size of the hole in the orifice plate allows you to calculate the flow through the orifice plate. The inclined manometer shows this pressure difference on it's scale. The static pressure allows you to have a way of testing at the same pressure all the time and is taken from the top/left chamber again depending on design.

It really is a simple principle in how it all works.



Edited By bruce on 1222536545

[Tony]

Jason, Bruce is right.

If you want some absolutely free design ideas, first try visiting the readers flow bench projects section:


Then read right through the orifice bench section you are in right now.

After about fifty hours or more of reading, your head will be ready to explode. But absolutely everything you need to know to build yourself a flow bench is right here somewhere, and completely free.

Bruce's plans are the result of pulling together the very best of all these ideas, in an extremely clever way.
And Bruce personally has put in a HUGE amount of time and effort into developing these bench plans.

A great many people have now purchased these plans, and every single one of them has been extremely happy with what they received.
Not one single complaint ever.

[106-1194218389]

Jason,
The picture you show is from Performance Trends. I have helped Kevin beta test a lot of his software. I have helped Kevin for years. His software and Blackbox in my opinion are next to none. I have his Blackbox and Port Flow Analyzer software and it is great stuff. Did you notice the price? I have it because I helped him in testing and doing some of the initial developement on the very system you have pictured. What we found with that orifice in a tube is the realationship of the size of the orifice diameter to the tube diameter affects the flow curve. To make it work you really need to have 6" PVC tubing. That stuff can get expensive and hard to find. You also need air flow straightening honey comb in the tubes. You can build Bruce's bench cheaper in the long run. I have done the Flowquik, The EZ-Flow system and a version of Bruces bench. The most accurate and repeatable is Bruce's bench. I have compared it to a couple of Super Flows and it is actually more accurate. Bruces design, which is a compilation of many peoples ideas on this forum, has resolved many of the short comings of the commercial benchs and is simpler. On top of all this you learn how a bench works. I am using the Blackbox and Port FLow Analyzer software with mine and it is incredible. Bruce and others on this forum are developing an electronic interface and software at this time which will be affordable. Right now I could not afford to buy what I have and I am always thankful and indebted to Kevin at Performance Trends for what he has done for me. Bottom line, having worked with many different benches I can honestly say buy Bruce's plans. It simplifies the whole process and gives you access to a locked part of the forum that is way helpful. A deal at $50.00.

John

[Jason]

Yeah, I was already planning on buying the plans from Bruce, I just posted up that picture to show what I was asking for. I did notice the price, too much for me. I've seen a lot of the pictures in the reader's bench area, but looking at those pictures is like showing my wife a nitrous kit . So is Bruce's plan sort of the same principle? Some of the cabinet style (that's what I call them) benches that I have seen the layouts of look like they just have an open area beneath the test piece. Is the orifice on those style benches somewhere down in the bottom? And where are the motors located, externally or in one of the other panels?

[msj442]

i have been on this forum for about a year. i to will say the 50.00 you pay is WAY underpriced for the headstart on info that you recieve in the blueprints and this forum in itself is a goldmine. the only place you can talk the language of airflow and not get the dear in the headlight look.