RevSmoker

Project RevSmoker
Status	In progress
Contact	User:Gori
Last Update	2013-02-24

What

Because smoked dead animals are at least as tasty as BBQed dead animals, we need to have a nice smoker. While the BigGreenEggBBQ can act as a smoker as well, it has a fairly limited capacity. Furhtermore, it can not be electrically operated, which makes temperature control more tricky.

So enter RevSmoker.

Design

The idea is to use a steel drum to build something like this but over 9000 times cooler, with electronics and blinkenlights.

The idea is that there is a electric hot plate/heater in the bottom of the drum, that heats a steel box full of wood chips, generating heat and smoke. A micro controller measures the temperature, and drives the hot plate in order to reach a set temperature, that can bet adjusted using a dial. The target and current temperature are displayed on a LCD display. There is a tray at the bottom of the barrel, allowing the heater/wood box to be can be easily removed for refilling, without removing the smoked items.

Design inspiration :

• Trashcan smoker
• Ugly Drum Smoker
• Alternative, 2 chamber design

Parts

Mechanical

Have

• steel drum that used to hold pineapple juice
  • Inside dimensions: D: 57 cm, H: 85 cm, Volume approx. 218 L

Need

• a wood chip box
  • square is easy / round can hold more wood
  • needs to be created
  • Bonus point if the wood chip box can be retrieved from the side through a drawer or door
• one or two grids to hold the dead animal parts being smoked
  • Yotson may have hole steel plates
• 3 or 4 handles for top/side
• a BBQ thermometer in through the lid

Electronic parts

Have

• an industrial grade brass thermocouple probe keeping track of the temp.
  • needs calibration
  • ask benadski for the type and specs
• an arduino to measure the temperature, display it on a small LCD screen and control the heater using a relay
• a square gourmet set heater element

Need

• a 220V relay
• weather proofed power socket enclosure
• a turn knob to adjust the temp
• a weather proof box to hold the electronics
• rgb blinkelights

Specs and datasheets

• alternative to the large sensor - a TMP36 temp sensor
• SED1531LCD display to show the current / target temp
  • LCD datasheet

Software parts

• PID library relay control example
  • example code
  • LCD wiki