Wireless Sensing and Control of a Dam

Wireless Sensing and Control of a DamIntroductionCE 1.1I did this regard as a graduate Electrical engineering while pursuing my Bachelor of Engineering in the field of Electrical Engineering from Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology, Balochistan. I wanted to conduct a tramp that would envelop wireless sensing and thence wanted to learn about different galvanising activities that would be needed and thus learn about its design and how to implement it. I was able to improve my written and oral showation skills as hygienic as my interpersonal skills by the successful completion of this project.BackgroundCE 1.2For my final project as an undergraduate in electrical engineering, I wanted to start working on a project in my second year itself. I wanted to learn about the different and commonly employ electrical/electronic components, the working mechanism and the death penalty in complex projects. This motivated me to conduct a project that could control a mechanism outdoor(a)ly. And thus I got the idea of wireless sensing of a dam.I had studied during my bachelors that sensing in the Oil and Gas industry is be advance very important. I had learned that regular sensing of data is demand that ar extracted from the process execution, such as Oil Reservoir Tanks need a pressure let loose valve control and level sensing for the proper daily operations of their machinery, Thus, I concurred that in Water Reservoir Dams where regular recording of water level is required for accurate discharging of water through thoroughfares. And it is due to this reason that I selected the Wireless Sensing Control of Dam for my project.CE 1.3The objective of my project is to design a system, which can sense level, and flow rate of a water reservoir dam, it can also control the channel gates wirelessly.CE 1.4CE 1.5I successfully completed this project by engaging in the following activitiesFor the purpose of Level sensing, I used a small tank for the implement ation and presentation of the prototype. The maximum height of the tank to be measured is 16 inches and the minimum height is 8 inches.For channel gate controlling, I used a system that contains a solenoid valve which is an electromechanically operated valve for the flow of water to be switched on or off.For wireless control, I equipped the remote orders with detectors as well as a wireless module to circularize and receive the information. The range of the wireless module is limited to 10m.I equipped the base station with a graphical user interface prosperousware that is user-friendly.I then mechanically designed the demodulator to operate in all weather conditions.I completed the project within the season frame specified by the university.I conducted detailed literature review on all the components used here.Personal Engineering ActivityCE 1.6I approached a senior professor with an idea of conducting a project with wireless sensing. Along with my group members, I had a lot of brainstorming sessions and review meetings with my project supervisor to select a suitable topic. I suggested that I work on a project that was concerned with designing and manufacturing a system establish on wireless sensing and regulating the process of water present in the dam and the supervisor agreed to this and asked us to begin working on this by first conducting a literature review on all the components we would require and the working of this project and to start working on this project.CE 1.7I used the following components in this project and have explained the reasons whyFor level sensing, I equipped my system with MAXBOTIX LV-EZ1 unhearable transducer that transmit and receive the ultrasonic radiations that are being reflected patronize from the surface of the liquid. I selected this model because it is a very low cost sonar ranger it is also reliable and could be triggered internally or externally.To release water in the channel, I used a solenoid valve which was the only option I had.The micro restraint that I used in the remote station is ATmega16A. I selected this microcontroller because it is a low power 8-bit microcontroller allowing me to optimize power consumption against processing speed.The signal is then transmitted to the RN-41N CLASS 1 Bluetooth module to be transmitted wirelessly. I selected this model because it is cheap and relatively easy to operate. I used a DC power picture of 3-3.6V.The computer interface controller is equipped with MAX232 for serial communication and an internal Bluetooth device which is installed in the laptop for wireless communication. I used the MAX232 circuit because it is a dual driver/ recipient role and I found that it is valuable for implementing RS-232 in devices that generally dont bother with any voltages outside the 0 V to + 5 V extend, as power supply design does not need to be made more confused only to drive the RS-232 in this situation.I used the Development board called AVR-P-40 which supp orts Atmel ATmega16A controller. It is congruous with ICSP 52 pin connector for in-circuit programming.I used ULN 2003 Darlington arrays to withstand peak currents of 600mA.I designed the Graphical User Interface (GUI) using Microsoft Visual studio apartment 2010 with C for user interface.I selected an aquarium shape tank for the project. However, this alternative was very difficult and also had some problems because it was quite complex to put the ultrasonic level sensor inside the tank and calibrate it. Thus, I came across with the development of another mechanical design and observed that there was an apparatus present in the laboratory of the civil engineering department that would work as a prototype of a dam.The working of this prototype would beThe data from the remote station is received by the base station. The base station consists of a wireless Bluetooth receiver and a computer interface controller. The wireless Bluetooth receiver bequeath detect the data coming from t he remote station which is treated to the computer interface controller. The computer interface controller will save the data to a flash drive and also to a computer which can be analyzed using a Graphical User Interface (GUI)The data coming from the remote station is detected by the wireless receiver which is treated to the noise filter circuit to eliminate noise from the signal. The data decoder decodes the future(prenominal) data and removes any errors from this data. This information is send to the computer interface controller.The remote station is consisting of two major parts The Main board and wireless controller. The sensor attached to the main board is Ultrasonic level Sensor. This sensor will relay the information to the main board and is used to control all the sensor information which will be transferred to the wireless controller to send the data wirelessly to the base station. The data from the sensor is directly sent to the microcontroller which is being processed b y it to be transmitted in the form of digital bits.The ULN 2003 is connected to drive the solenoid valve which is normally closed. If the Level increases from its threshold level, the solenoid valve will open automatically and releases the pressure. When the pressure drops back to the threshold, the valve will be closed automatically. The power to all the circuit is connected to the +12 volt DC. After the data is sensed by the sensor, it will be transmitted through a wireless transceiver operating at frequency 2400 MHz. The wireless controller consists of transmitter, power amplifier, control signal receiver and data encoder. The data coming from the sensor is treated to the data encoder and sent to the transmitter. The control signal receiver also operates at 2400 MHz which is used to activate the data encoder to send data to the transmitter module. The power amplifier is used to support larger coverage by increasing the transmitting powerCE 1.8The problems I encountered during thi s project wereI had difficulty with the lengthy procedure to record data which is significant for the project. I offered the idea of installing a dot-matrix printer which will give readings in a hard copy regarding the inflow, discharge and temperature of water.For the project to run effectively, constant data recording was needed, which was a complex task. I came up with a key to crystallise this issue by recording the data in a flash memory which has the ability to save standard information of the parameters in a soft copy and will be accessible anytime, anywhere.I had problems to check the level of water density in concern with the threshold level. It was quiet a godforsaken task to open the regulator when the density of water is high. In order to resolve this problem, I suggested the management with the system design that will operate the channel gate regulator automatically without labor involvement in order to avoid the risk element.SummaryCE 1.9I successfully completed the project titled Wireless Sensing and Control of a Dam along with my team members. I learned how to wirelessly sense and control a prototype of a dam and studied and learned about all the electrical/electronic equipment that I used in this project.I completed this project by taking the help of the Civil Engineering Laboratory and the technicians in the lab. I was able to improve my written, oral and interpersonal skills.