Water Leak Detection System

The water supply shortage has increased in recent years due to overpopulation, climate change and obsolete water facilities, where deteriorated pipes cause most of the water leaks. The problem is not the size of the leak, but the time it takes to detect it. This paper presents the implementation of a system installed in the hydraulic facilities of a residence, to detect water leaks. The system consists of a water sensor installed by a water reservoir of interest, a microprocessor to interpret the data and evaluate whether it is a water leak or not, an SMS alert message, and an electrical actuator to shut off the main water supply to avoid leakage

Integrated Automotive Safety System

Most new cars today come with a host of advanced safety features including automated systems that assist the drive in maintaining control of the car and warning the driver of possible dangers. The problem, however, is that while these kinds of features greatly increase the safety of a car, they are prohibitively expensive and only available in new, high-end cars. The purpose of this MQP is to create a device that would integrate a series of safety features that could be installed in any car on the road at minimal cost to the consumer

Soil Sensor Network

Water management during crop irrigation is a problem for the agricultural industry. To help farmers better maintain water usage, a wireless soil sensor network comprised of a sensor pod and wireless communication has been designed and implemented. It was proven that the sensor pod can be installed 6-8 inches below the ground and communicate up to at least a 6km distance back to the gateway. The senor pod shells have a 2 mm thick shell to prevent the pod from shattering when coming into contact with the ground after being released from the planter, as calculated through the force of impact equations. The sensor pod contains a capacitive soil moisture sensor with an accuracy of 90% and a temperature sensor with an accuracy of ±0.2ºC. Lithium-ion batteries with a 2800 mA-H rating were chosen to ensure the sensor pods would be power-efficient in order to last an entire growing season. The sensor data is transmitted wirelessly through LoRaWAN communication using a RN2903 transceiver and a quarter wavelength, 3” monopole antenna. A Sentrius Laird gateway was used to collect and forward sensor pod data to the Senet dashboard. The Senet dashboard then forwarded the data to a web-based application that farmers can reference to check the status of their fields

Keeping the LEDs on and the Electric Motors Running: Clean Tech in Court After Ebay

The recent rise of non-practicing patentees (NPPs) in the clean technology space comes at a time when the international community is debating the role of intellectual property rights in the deployment and implementation of technologies to combat climate change. While the impact of intellectual property rights on the deployment of clean technology has been studied, less attention has been given to the role intellectual property regimes play in maintaining the operation of those technologies already deployed in the fight against global warming. This iBrief focuses on clean technologies that have already achieved substantial market penetration and observes that recent trends in patent law are, to a large extent, allowing those technologies to continue working to reduce carbon emissions. Specifically, the course correction in the law of patent injunctions brought about by eBay v. MercExchange and the endorsement of court-imposed ongoing royalty payments in Paice v. Toyota demonstrate an important shift in patent law that is tempering the impact of clean tech NPPs in Title 35 infringement actions in federal courts. However, these trends have caused a tactical adjustment by clean tech NPPs—namely, filing suits in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), where the remedy of an exclusion order is available. These ITC cases could adversely affect implemented clean technologies

SMS based Home Automation using CAN Protocol

In this paper a SMS Based Home Automation System using CAN Protocol is presented. To save the much of the electrical energy, implemented this design. By sitting at the same he/ she can control the lights and other devices without putting much effort. The concept is implemented by making use CAN protocol, LPC 2129 etc. The experimental results show that this network system has high safety, stability with practical significance, market value and it is affordable to a common people

Intelligent Lighting System: An Education Kit to Increase the Awareness of Energy-Saving for Primary School Children.

High energy consumption per capita reported in our country has shown a significant issue pertaining to the overconsumption of electricity. This issue has become a problem when the negative effects of climate change are felt by citizens. Thus, public must be taught to be energy-saving conscious, especially from their young age. However, there is a lack of such education material to teach the young generations. Thus, this report presents an education kit, which consists of an education website, a prototype and a case study, which aims to increase the awareness of energy-saving in the young minds of the primary school students. The website acts as an interactive tool for students to learn about energy-saving and how the prototype works. The prototype consists of an intelligent lighting device that uses a combination of sensors, or dual-technology to reduce unnecessary electricity consumption of lighting in a target building. The case study focuses on academic building Academic Building 2 in Univerisiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), where the lighting consumption pattern is studied, and how the intelligent lighting system can help to reduce the unnecessary electricity wastage within lecture room in the campus. The methodology used is Rapid Application Development (RAD) cycle and prototyping, where the website and the prototype are developed and tested on a regular basis. Findings have shown that UTP is consuming a very high amount of electricity, and the intelligent lighting system is estimated to reduce up to 36.58% of electricity spent on lighting in Academic Building 2. In short, the whole package is interactive and educative to the primary school students to learn about energy-saving in an unprecedented way

Greenhouse Monitoring with Wireless Sensor Network

Financially profitable greenhouses are fully automated. The producer defines the monitoring limits for the ideal growth environment and then, the system controls automatically each adjustment to keep indoor climate at the optimal level. Increasing greenhouse sizes have forced the producers to use several measurement points for tracking the changes in the environment, thus enabling energy saving and more accurate adjustments. When each measurement point needs its own wire, the costs and cabling work increase exponentially. Once the measurement spot has been built, it is tedious to be relocated. Wireless sensor networks are gained ground in various industries. Agriculture and especially microclimate monitoring and controlling have many promising targets where the benefits of wireless devices can be exploited. In this M.Sc. thesis we discuss the wireless sensor networks applications for greenhouses monitoring. Moreover, we have built the system practically and assist the applicability of such wireless networks through real-side measurements. Star topology network measured temperature, humidity and irradiance –important developmental factors of the plants in Martens greenhouse research foundation. Test setup greenhouse was divided into vertical blocks and nodes monitor one block at a time. The idea of the vertical distribution was to gather information about the differences occurs in the climate between lower and upper flora. The measurement results proved the functionality and reliability of the wireless sensor network inside the dense and high moisture greenhouse.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Networked Occupancy Sensor System

Energy is often wasted on systems that are used to provide services such as light, heating, air conditioning and ventilation. If these services were intelligently controlled, there is potential for significant improvements in energy conservation. A system including room sensors, database, and webserver was designed, constructed, and implemented over the course of this project. Sensors report occupancy and light status and temperature. Real-time room data is available via the webserver and is archived in the database. The system is networked via Ethernet and powered using the power over Ethernet (802.3af) standard

The programmable logic controller : its prehistory, emergence and application

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are widely used devices controlling industrial machines and processes and many other diverse applications, requiring primarily, combinatorial logic and sequential control. The PLC is a hidden technology, little known by the general public and overlooked in academic historical studies of technology. The research reported in this thesis aims to address this lack of awareness. The thesis explores the development of sequential and combinatorial logic control technologies, the emergence of the PLC, its subsequent development and its industrial applications. Patents and first- hand accounts and experiences from senior industrial engineers in a number of diverse manufacturing industries have been used as the primary research sources since, as a hidden technology, academic historical accounts are sparse. This approach illustrates, through using the PLC as an example, a potential method of studying other, unrelated hidden technologies. The research has revealed the influence of geography, industrial settings and earlier engineering practices on the design, selection and application of PLC control technologies, and comments on the how these influences define specific communities of practice