16. Applications and Implications¶
Learning outcomes¶
- Define the scope of a project
- Develop a project plan
Objectives¶
- What will it do?
- Who has done what beforehand?
- What will you design?
- What materials and components will be used?
- Where will they come from?
- How much will they cost?
- What parts and systems will be made?
- What processes will be used?
- What questions need to be answered?
- How will it be evaluated?
What does it do?¶
The system will be used to automate the watering of crops in a greenhouse or small scale farm system using a microcontroller board designed using the attiny 1614.The system will be used to control soil moisture and when the soil is dry a buzzer will be trigerred to notify and a pump will be turned on.A secondary system will also be incorporated to control the temperature and humidity in the system.
What will you design?¶
I will design the model of a small greenhouse which incorporates a small system to hold plants.I will also design a microcontroller board to control the operations of the system and also some 3D printed mounts and boxes to house components and electronics.
What materials and components will be used?¶
To create the greenhouse:
- Plexi
- MDF
PLA filament will be used to create the following :
- connectors
- door hinges
- electronic housing
- LCD mount
For the electronics the following components will be used:
- 1 attiny1614
- capacitor 1uf
- 2 resistors
- LED
- pin headers
- button
- 9V power supply
- 5V power supply
Where will they come from?¶
The plexi and mdf will be sourced from a local hardware,where as the electronic components was sourced online from digikey and amazon.
How much did they cost?¶
| ** Item ** | ** Quantity ** | ** Supplier ** | ** Cost(USD) ** |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCD display with I2C communication | 1 | amazon | $9.99 |
| Buzzer | 1 | amazon | $5.13 |
| DC 3-9 V Mini Micro Submersible Water Pump | 1 | amazon | $5.09 |
| Relay 5V | 3 | amazon | $5.89 |
| LM393 3.3V-5V Soil Moisture Detect Sensor | 1 | amazon | $5.99 |
| PLA black | 1 roll | amazon | $20.00 |
| I2C OLED display(SSD1306 128x32 3.3V/5V ) | 1 | amazon | $6.49 |
| 12V dc brushless fan | 1 | amazon | $9.00 |
| DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor | 1 | amazon | $5.99 |
| Attiny 1614 | 1 | digikey | $0. 90 |
| Tactile switch smd | 1 | digikey | $2.61 |
| Resistors smd | 2 | digikey | $0.03 |
| Capacitor smd | 1 | digikey | $0. 05 |
| LED smd | 1 | digikey | $0.92 |
| FR4 copper clad | 1 | amazon | $6.99 |
| Pin headers | 1 | amazon | $5.49 |
| 5/8” MDF Board | 1 | Local hardware | $18.00 |
| 1/8” clear Plexi | 1 | Local Hardware | $36.00 |
| Total= | $144.57 |
What parts and systems will be made?¶
- greenhouse structure(base,walls,doors.etc)
- system to hold plants in place
- electronics and electronic housing
What processes will be used?¶
- 2d and 3d design which will include additive and subtractive manufacturing
- electronics design and programming
- Use of the CNC machines at the lab to produce electronic boards and base of project
What questions need to be answered?¶
Is it possible to use the soil moisture sensor to control the water content in the soil of a given area?
How will it be evaluated?¶
The system can be possibly evaluated by comparing it to the manual watering of plants which would have to be tested over a period of time.This will determine the growth capacity of the plants in the automatic system as compared to manual watering of plants.Also the functionality of the system design and its components.