Final Project

Final Project

Slide

Video

What will it do?

A buoy that allows knowing the conditions of the state of the lake water (temperature, waves…), either to enjoy the beach or the sports that are practiced on it with information on the waves as well.

Who’s done what beforehand?

There are commercial products, with an amount of €10,000 to €20,000.

The measurements that commercial buoys usually incorporate are height, period and direction of the waves, compass, GPS, speed and direction of the wind, tide and water quality.

One of the commercial buoys is the one made by Darrena.

There is a DIY project on Instructables that is very interesting too Smart Buoy

What will you design?

The buoy to be manufactured almost entirely in 3d printing, and some parts with laser and CNC cutting, and the electronics to send data through Lora and a console to display real-time data on the state of the water. In addition, a website where you can consult the data from any device.

What materials and components will be used?

Material Amount Vendor Cost
PETG Giantarm 4x Amazon 90 €
Duttek Cable micro USB  1x Amazon 12 €
Cable Gland, PG13.5  3x Amazon 3 €
Solar panel 90x60cm 4x Amazon 14 €
M4 Brass Threaded Insert 1x Amazon 10 €
Castropox 4307/1209 Resina Epoxi 1x Castro Composites 37,15 €
Micro USB 1x Amazon 12,17 €
EVA Foam 50x50cm 1x 2 €
Dome 4,5' 1x Aliexpress 14 €
Temperature sensor DS18B20 1m 1x Aliexpress 1 €
Arduino Nano 33 Iot 1x Arduino 20 €
ATTINY1614 1x Mouser 1 €
Methacrylate tube ø90/84mm - 200mm 1x Mucho Plástico 25 €
SMA Cable RF 30cm RG316 1x Amazon 6 €


Where will come from?

Most of the material has been purchased from Mouser, Aliexpress, Castro Pomposites, local shops and Amazon.

How much will they cost?

Manufacturing each buoy has a cost of about €350.

What processes will be used?

3D printing for the buoy and the system integration.

Laser cutting for sealing parts in EVA foam and metatrilate.

Vinyl cut project graphics and stickers.

CNC machining for the buoy support.

CNC milling of electronic board.

Embedded programming for the controller and console.

Epoxy sealing of the entire structure of the buoy, to give it rigidity and make it more watertight.

What questions need to be answered?

1- Will it withstand waves and storms?

2- Will it work?

3- Will it be useful?

4- Will the solar power system work for the months with less sun?

How will it be evaluated?

As the project is planned as a spiral development, the evaluation must also be spiral, depending on the different steps:

1- The prototype of the buoy will initially implement all the sensors, but we will have to analyze if the values are close to reality.

2- A second larger prototype will be manufactured, to see which one behaves better.

3- It will be supported by a website, with environmental information from the lake, history, and news made with it and the activities that are carried out.

License

Creative Commons-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

You are fee to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

Many assignments I did during the Fab Academy focused on my project, to move forward with it and eliminate spirals.