Final Project
Smart Azolla Multiplier System
{SAMS}
What is Azolla?
Azolla (mosquito fern, duckweed fern, fairy moss, water fern) is a genus of seven species of aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. simply it is nothing but a free floating water fern consisting of a short, branched, floating stem, bearing roots which hang down in the water. It’s kind of green fodder grown on water surface. (Wikipedia)
Why Azolla?
- Azolla is unique because it is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet – yet it does not need any soil to grow.
- Unlike almost all other plants, azolla is able to get its nitrogen fertilizer directly from the atmosphere.
- That means that it is able to produce biofertilizer, livestock feed, food and biofuel exactly where they are needed
- At the same time, draw down large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, thus helping to reduce the threat of climate change.
Why Azolla able to do this?
- Azolla is able to do this because it has a unique mutually beneficial ‘symbiotic relationship‘ with a cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) called Anabaena.
- Each partner gives something to the other in this Perfect Marriage.
- Azolla provides an enclosed environment for anabaena within its leaves. In return, anabaena sequesters nitrogen directly from the atmosphere which then becomes available for azolla’s growth, freeing it from the soil that is needed by most other land plants for their nitrogen fertilization.
- The oldest azolla fossils are more than 70 million years old, representing the remains of plants that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They occur in sediments that were deposited in quiescent freshwater bodies, such as lakes, ponds and sluggish rivers, identical to those inhabited by modern azolla.
- azolla and anabaena have never been apart for 70 million years. During that Immense period of time, the two partners have co-evolved numerous complementary ways that make them increasingly efficient.
- That is why azolla is able to produce large quantities of biofertilizer, food, livestock feed and biofuel without using land needed to grow food and biofuel, or natural ecosystems such as rainforests.
Azolla has enormous potential :
- Its high content in proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B12, Beta Carotene), growth promoter intermediaries and minerals.
- Its ability to proliferate without inorganic nitrogen fertilization.
- Its high rate of growth in water without the need to displace existing crops or natural ecological systems.
Need of this Project
In vigyan ashram , cultivating Azolla as livestock feed,the growth of Azolla is almost double in 3 days in rainy session and winter .In rainy season humadity is almost greater than 70%,its cloudy day,sunlight is not direct and tempeature is less than 25⁰C which is the favorable condition for Azolla growth.In spring & summer season its quite difficult to maintain all these parameter also identify the growth of azolla under different wavelengths of light. So , I decided to make my project on monitoring the growth of Azolla by controlling different essential parameter like light wavelength,intensity,temperature and humidity.
The link of previous work on azolla groth is given below.
Objectives of project
- To optimize the required temperature range,humidity and intensity of light for possible doulble the growth of Azolla under laboratory condition.
- Monitoring the growth of Azolla by controlling parameters like light intensity,Humidity and temperature.
- To study the construction and application of new type of growth chamber.
Fabrication Techniques Involved
- CAD designing using Rhino.6 : Use to design 2D and 3D parts of project assembly.
- Laser Cutting : For cutting acrylic sheet.
- 3D Printing for creating pump net.
- Eagle Software : For making ESP32 MCU board design ,switch circuit board.
- Arduino IDE for programing the micro-controller.
- PCB milling/electronics production
- Embedded programing
- Input devices & Out put Devices : Interfacing and programming BME280( Temperature & humidity sensor ) and BH 1750(light sensor) with ESP32 microcontroller board and use Exahust fan and water pump as output devices.
Benefits
Plan and sketch a final project
What does it do?
As Azolla grow with the intense light source of intensity up to 8000 lux , temperature is in the range of 18 to 28⁰C and humidity is greater than 70%. With the given constrain, I have design a tetrahedron like closed chamber. It consists of lightening source which produced the constant intensity. Exhaust and fan pad system which is used as humidifier as well as cooling system. water pump for circulating water with maintain oxygen in water. It consists of BME 280 (Temperature & Humidity sensor) and BH 1750 light sensor.
Basically, it works like closed chamber, which consist of control light intensity, temperature and humidity sensor. As the temperature of the closed chamber is greater than 25⁰C and humidity is less than 70% the exhaust fan and water pump will be on and off automatically by maintaining the same. The variation in the data values can be recorded and analyzed by sending on cloud. With this condition trying to double the growth of azolla.
Who's done what beforehand?
- Traditionally, azolla is cultivated in paddy fields along as a "biofertilizer” . They grow on the water logged rice fields and help in nitrogen fixation. This helps to boost production of rice.
- Primary work was done by Dr. kamalasannan Pillai . He setup an innovative way to cultivate azolla for farmers to improve the soil nitrogen content. He is also called the the azolla man of India.
- The people of "The Azolla Foundation" have also well documented the way of cultivating azolla. They have proposed ways to grow azolla on their website.
- Azolla is an amazing plant! Climate foundation focused on “How azolla change the earth.”
- In Vigyan ashram lot of work carried out on Azolla, Design Innovation Center (DIC) continuously work on factors affecting the growth of Azolla.
- The present paper "A review of some ecological factors affecting the growth of Azolla spp." gives an overview of some important ecological factors affecting Azolla’s growth over the past few decades. Moreover, for the most ecological variables discussed in this study, the authors refer to their recent publications for the habitat requirements of Azolla in Anzali wetland.
- In the Research Article "Azolla pinnata Growth Performance in Different Water Sources" , Azolla pinnata R.Br. growth performance experiments in different water sources were conducted from May until July 2011 at Aquaculture Research Station, Puchong, Malaysia. Four types of water sources (waste water, drain water, paddy field water and distilled water) each with different nutrient contents were used to grow and evaluate the growth performance of A. pinnata.
Bill of Material(BOM)
Components/Material |
Quantity |
Link of Vendors |
Price |
|---|---|---|---|
ESP32 wroom 32D |
1 |
Amazon |
350 |
BME280(Temperature & Humidity sensor) |
1 |
FAB Inventory |
645 |
BH 1750(Light sensor) |
1 |
Robu.in |
119 |
Power LED |
10 |
FAB Inventory |
400 |
Water Pump |
1 |
FAB Inventory |
100 |
Exahust fan |
1 |
Amazon |
599 |
DC power adapter 12V |
2 |
FAB Inventory |
240 |
Relay 5VDC |
1 |
FAB Inventory |
100 |
N channel MOSFET |
1 |
FAB Inventory |
16 |
BC 548 transistor |
1 |
FAB Inventory |
50 |
Square metal pipe (0.75'') |
20 feet |
Local Vendor |
350 |
Brushless water pump |
1 |
Deltakit |
531 |
Parts and Sysytem were design/made.
I decide to used tetrahedron shape for my project. For designing the structure of project I used the Rhino.6 CAD sowtware. The design basically consist of tetrahedron shape with each side having length of 2 Feets. The sides of the structures is perfect equilateral triangle. On one side it consist of circular hole for exhaust fan and on the side it consist of rectangular cut for fan pad system .The assembly as shown in the image.
3D view of dome design in Rhino.
Final structure of Dome.
I have designed the humidifier box for holding the fan pad the 2d design of the humidifier box is shown below.
2D design of Humidifier made in Rhino for Laser cutting.
Humidifier made by Acrylic.
I have designed the microcontroller box for holding the microcontroller as well as switching circuit the 2d design of the box is shown below.
2D design of box made in Rhino.
Acrylic box cut and Engraved by Laser.
Initially I have used the submersible water pump. For that I have designed the filter and used the 3D printer for the printing. I have replaced the submersible water pump with brush less DC motor so for the that I have design small filter connector.
3D printed net for submersible water pump
submersible water pump with net.
Design small filter connector for Brushless DC pump.
3D printed filter connector.
I have used the ESP32 microcontroller in my project. ESP 32 has special features like in build WiFi and Bluetooth etc. I have used the Eagle software for designing the microcontroller board. The details is given the input devices.
Schematic of Microcontroller board.
Trace of microcontroller board.
Outer trace of microcontroller board
Milled the microcontroller board by SRM-20.
Stuffed and soldered all the components on microcontroller board.
But after the two successful tests with the output devices unexpectedly my ESP 32 chip get shorted.As per my local instructor, this problem was only due to wrong connection so I checked all the connections and were ok. As per instruction due to final project I replaced the microcontroller with new one. The replaced microcontroller board were worked for one day, for next day the board get shorted even with out giving any supply. It’s strange. For identifying the fault, me and local instructor have checked all the peripheral components on the board but all were ok.
Now my local instructor told me, to design new circuit board with reference of Neil’s ESP32 board, even the first board had been designed in the same way. Since, my first microcontroller board get shorted, I have design new one. I have taken all the precaution even as per data sheet of ESP32, I have maintained the soldering temperature up to 250⁰C. The newly design microcontroller schematic and board design is given below.
Newly designed Schematic of Microcontroller board.
Trace of Microcontroller board.
Outer trace of Microcontroller board.
Milled the microcontroller board by SRM-20.
Stuffed and soldered all the components on microcontroller board.
I have used Exhaust fan and water pump as output devices. For switching these I have design the circuit the schematics and board design is given below. For details check output devices assignment.
Schematic of Microcontroller board.
Trace for Switching circuit.
Outer trace for Switching circuit.
Milled the switching circuit board by SRM-20.
Stuffed and soldered all the components on microcontroller board.
In my project I want to checked the humidity, temperature and light intensity maintain in the closed chamber. For temperature and humidity measurement I have used BME 280 sensor and for the light intensity measurement have used BH1750 light sensor. The details are given in the input devices assignment.
Pin out of BME-280 (temperature & Humidity sensor)
Pin out of BH-1750 (Light sensor)
The output devices have been used are the exhaust fan and the submersible water pump for the details go to the output devices assignment.
Exahust fan.
The submersible water pump
There was problem with submersible water pump I have used. The submersible water pump was purchased from local vender which consist simple toy DC motor. Also, it’s not having proper sealing with its opening of shaft and wirings. Due to this when we emersed it in water after few hours of working water get percolated inside the motor and it get shorted. This problem was identified by one of my fab lab collogue Rahul. I replaced the submersible water pump with brushless DC pump which kept outside the water.
Damaged water pump during trial.
Brushless DC pump.
Programming Microcontroller Board.
#include "ThingSpeak.h"
#include "SPI.h"
#include "WiFi.h"
#include "WiFiClient.h"
#include "Wire.h"
#include "Adafruit_Sensor.h"
#include "Adafruit_BME280.h"
#include "BH1750.h"
#include "LiquidCrystal_I2C.h"
#define SEALEVELPRESSURE_HPA (1013.25)
Adafruit_BME280 bme;
BH1750 lightMeter;
LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x3F,16,2); // set the LCD address to 0x27 for a 16 chars and 2 line display
// Data wire is plugged into port 2 on the Arduino
const char* ssid = "Workshop"; // replace MySSID with your WiFi network name
const char* password = "VIGYAN0030"; // replace MyPass word with your WiFi password
#define SECRET_CH_ID 1399588 // replace 0000000 with your channel number
#define SECRET_WRITE_APIKEY "RL5XCYRB4ITPM9PH" // replace XYZ with your channel write API Key
WiFiClient client;// your network password
int keyIndex = 0; // your network key Index number (needed only for WEP)
unsigned long myChannelNumber = SECRET_CH_ID;
const char *myWriteAPIKey = SECRET_WRITE_APIKEY;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600); //Initialize serial
WiFi.begin(ssid,password);
ThingSpeak.begin(client); // Initialize ThingSpeak
delay(1000);
pinMode(32,OUTPUT);
pinMode(33,OUTPUT);
Wire.begin();
lightMeter.begin(BH1750::CONTINUOUS_HIGH_RES_MODE, 0x23, &Wire);
lcd.begin();
Serial.println(F("BH1750 Test"));
if (!bme.begin(0x76)) {
Serial.println("Could not find a valid BME280 sensor, check wiring!");
while (1);
}
}
void loop()
{
Serial.print("Temperature = ");
Serial.print(bme.readTemperature());
int t =bme.readTemperature();
Serial.println("*C");
lcd.backlight();
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print("t=");
lcd.print(bme.readTemperature());
lcd.print("C");
//Serial.print("Pressure = ");
//Serial.print(bme.readPressure() / 100.0F);
// Serial.println("hPa");
Serial.print("Humidity = ");
Serial.print(bme.readHumidity());
int h =bme.readHumidity();
Serial.println("%");
lcd.setCursor(8,0);
lcd.print("H=");
lcd.print(bme.readHumidity());
lcd.print("%");
int l = lightMeter.readLightLevel();
Serial.print("Light: ");
Serial.print(l);
Serial.println(" lx");
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("L=");
lcd.print(l);
lcd.print("lx");
delay(1000);
if (t>25)
{
digitalWrite(33,HIGH);
}
else
{ digitalWrite(33,LOW);
}
if(h<70){
digitalWrite(32,HIGH);
//digitalWrite(33,HIGH);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(32,LOW);
//digitalWrite(33,LOW);
}
// Serial.print("Requesting temperatures...");
ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber,1,t, myWriteAPIKey);
// Serial.print("Requesting humidity...");
ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber,2,h, myWriteAPIKey);
// Serial.print("Requesting light...");
ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber,3,l, myWriteAPIKey);
}
Trials on Prototype.
I have designed the trial prototype by using the TMT bars, and weld it with help of my collogue Pradeep. He thought how welding is done. The protype model is shown in the image.
Trial prototype frame made with TMT bars.
working on Trial prototype.
For trial of Azolla growth in design closed chamber I discussed with Sonal mam, She guided me very well for all this trial. For trail I have considered two trays. One was kept at lab condition and other were kept in closed trail chamber.
- Azolla-10gms
- Water- 5lits Nutrients
- Active soil – 1gms
- PSB – 0.02 gms
- Kh2SO4 – 0.4gms
- MgSO4 – 0.035gms
- FeSO4– 0.015gms
For each tray consider the following contains
With these the trial was started. For initially I kept the conditional temperature 26⁰C and the humidity about 65% and the light intensity of 1600 lux. While the lab temperature was 31⁰C and humidity was 45%. The set up was shown in the image.
Trys were sets for trial
Trials were set in lab.
Now waiting for 3days , the system was contentiously worked only added tap water whenever it required. After three days the result was amazing. In the closed chamber system the Azolla were grow approximately doubled i.e 10 gm turns to approx.23 gm while the Azolla which kept at lab condition it increased by few gm i.e 10 gm turns to 13 gm only. This resulted growth of Azolla clearly indicated that the design system were properly with required condition.
growing azolla in control condition.
10gm Azolla turns to 23gm.
at lab condition azolla grow in few amount.
10gm Azolla turns to 13gm.
Now I had changed the conditional temperature 28⁰C and the humidity about 60% and light intensity remains as. While the lab temperature was 31⁰C and humidity was 45%. The system where achieved the given condition.
After 3 day the result was 10 gm azolla turns to 18 gm its approximately double while the lab condition azolla turns to 9gm from 10 gm. This result was also indicated that the design closed chamber help to maintain the condition for double the growth of azolla.
growing azolla in control condition.
10gm Azolla turns to 18gm.
In second trial at lab condition azolla remains as it is.
no change in growth.
Final Assembly/Trial
Now with above trial I have started working on final assembly as shown below.
Welding final structure with help of Pradeep(Fab-x member)and Laxman(DBRT student).
Sticking the hook strip of velcro on frame structure.
Stitching the loop strip of velcro on plastic film.
Working on lightening system.
screwing and attaching the acrylic plates to the frame.
testing humidifier box.
Testing the circuits and connections.
Testing the sensors readings on LCD.
The final assembly were ready for final trial.
Now I have started the final trails. For final trail the conditional temperature where 25⁰C, humidity about 70% and light intensity of 1600 lux. The trails result where shown below.
Day 1 azolla added in to the closed chamber tray.
Weighting the Added azolla.
Day-3,double the surface area of Azolla.
Weight of azolla were approx. double i.e. incerased by 10gm.
Day-7,Azolla almost covered the surface area of tray.
weight of azolla increased by 29gm.
The data can be continuously sent on the cloud (Thingspeak).The graphical represenrtions for temperature, humidity and light intensity shown in following images.
Graphical representaion of Temperature.
Variation in the Humidity.
Variation in the Light intensity.
Presentation Slide & video
Downloads
SAMS-Smart Azolla Multiplier System by Anand S. Tale is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
