For this week we were asked to answer this set of questions in order to properly plan the production and integration of our final projects.
My final project will be an automated hydroponic pot for urban agriculture with a design you can set up on any wall.
It will measure:
-Electrical Conductivity
-Temperature
-Water height
I'll be able to control:
-An LED light
-2 Pumps for dosing nutrients
I got inspired by a visit to a friend's countryside house where he had a huge greenhouse with a hydroponic system he could control manually so I thought it would really come in handy its automization to have much easier access to the state of his plants and he could take decisions faster to improve their growth aside from collecting data and improving his technique as a whole.
The MDF, acrylic and metal bar can be aquired in a hardware store thats close to the lab. All the electronic components can be bought at very competitive prices in the central district of Lima.
My project will cost about 80 USD (The ORP sensor available is very expensive(30$=37.5% of the total cost!)).
Ill be making the MDF structure, the main tank(plantpot), supports for the nutrient containers and main tank, the drivers for the pumps and a modified satchakit as the brain of the project.
The tank or plantpot will be made using 2D design in Fusion and the Epilog Laser Cutter while the MDF structure will be made by the Multicam router.
I'll 3D design and print the supports and tightening devices for the hoses and of course i'll be fabricating my microcontroller board and both pump drivers by designing both board and schematic on Autodesk Eagle, getting my G-Codes through Fab Modules, milling them on the Modela MDX-540, soldering will be done with flux and a heat gun and programming with windows 10.
1. Modified Satchakit Version 2.0 and 3.0
2. 3D designing and printing the tightening mechanisms for the hoses.
3. Making the supports for the Nutrient and Warm water tanks.
4. 2D Designing and laser cutting the Tank Lids.
5. 2D/3D Design and print/mill a nice box for electronics.
6. Acquire acid substance to control PH, volcanic rocks and sponge.
7. 3D Design and print the small pots for the germinated seedlings to be placed.
8. Finish writing the code for the automated hydroponic grower(already 80% acomplished).
9. Assemble the project as a whole and make it work.
1. What equation should I use for the ORP sensor to read PH.
2. What are the specific requirements(Light, Electrical Conductivity, Temperature, Nutrients, Water consumption + evaporation) for my plant?
3. What time interval should I choose to maintain water in the heater at 25 degrees celsius(Temp control mechanism).
Tasks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 will be acomplished on June 11th.
Questions: 1, 2, 3 will be answered through contacting experts in on hydroponics and through testing on June 11th.
Tasks: 5 and 8 will be acomplished on June 12th while task 9 will be done on June 13th .
First and foremost the true test would be if the plants grew but since we are pressing on time I can only verify that the parameters stay within the optimum range for plant growth, once that is done its a process of trial an error to optimize the growth rate and yield.
That being said I'll evaluate my project based on:
- No leakage from my containers.
- The structure sustains the weight of everything on it.
- Temperature stays between 16-30 Celsius.
- Electrical Conductivity stays between 300-500.
- Light turns on and off at set times to imitate the solar cycle.
- Electrical Conductivity regulator and temp regulator dosages work properly.
If all of this points are covered that means I successfully controled the variables needed for a DWC hydroponic plantpot.