Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | Predictive Plant Care |
Charlotte Fondren Thomas Wolf Tom Danielson |
Selva Subramaniam | design_document2.pdf final_paper1.pdf photo1.jpg photo2.jpg photo3.jpg photo4.jpg photo5.png presentation1.pdf proposal2.pdf video |
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| # Predictive Plant Care Team Members: - Charlotte Fondren (fondren3) - Thomas Wolf (tpwolf2) - Tom Danielson (tsd3) # Problem Plants can be a great decoration, giving life to any room they are in and making the room more homely. However, plants have a wide variety of factors that impact how well they grow such as amount of water, light, soil pH, and nutrients in the soil. Moreover, each plant requires a different amount of these different factors. This can make taking care of a plant difficult, especially for those that might forget to water the plant as needed. # Solution A device that takes care of the plant on its own would eliminate the need to depend on somebody to remember to take care of the plant. By measuring the previously mentioned factors (water, light, soil pH, and nutrients in the soil), a plant can be taken care of and live without the need for somebody to act. This would not only provide the plant with required nourishments on a set rate, but also keep a record of how the plant uses its nutrients and use that past record to predict an optimal replenishing cycle. Through the use of a PID controller, water can be administered to the plant predictively. # Solution Components ## Microcontroller The microcontroller is the key component of this system. All sensors will feed back into this and the microcontroller will tell which subsystems when to dispense their respective resources. For water, a PID controller will be implemented such that a signal to dispense water will be sent out predictively instead of relying just on the moisture sensor. Light will be on or off based on a timer and natural lighting, and fertilizer will be dispensed at specific times dependent on the plant’s recommended care. Any other resources such as the pH corrector will be dispensed when the sensor reading goes below a certain threshold. ## Water Dispenser The first part of this consists of a moisture sensor. This sensor will update the microcontroller with the amount of moisture in the soil, and a signal from the microcontroller will allow a valve or some mechanism connected to a water tank to briefly open and give the soil moisture when the soil moisture goes below a certain threshold. ## Light This subsystem will be controlled by the microcontroller. The light will receive a signal that will tell it when to turn on and off. The duration of the time can be edited as needed. A low wattage light bulb and a 2-pin adapter will be used to allow this to connect directly to our device and not need to be plugged into the wall. We will test the lightbulb before using it in the device to see how much light the bulb will give the plant and adjust the duration based on each plant’s needs. A light-detecting circuit will also be built such that if there is a significant amount of natural light, the device will adjust the light duration so as to not overwhelm the plant with light. ## Nutrient Dispenser Fertilizer containing essential nutrients such as Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium will be dispensed to the plant on a regular basis, which will be tailored to each plant’s specific needs. Generally, fertilizer should be administered to potted plants monthly. ## pH Corrector We want to have a pH sensor that is checking the pH of the soil often (could be continuous or every hour or so) and constantly giving back a pH value. If this value is too low (i.e. 7.5 for most plants) during a given test, the soil will be supplemented once again with the right chemicals or nutrients to change the pH (reduced with elemental sulfur, sulfuric acid or aluminum sulfate, and raised with dolomite lime or agricultural lime) until the soil is at a good pH once again. These materials to help alter the pH will be available on hand and will be added in automatically by the system. ## Power Supply The power will come from being plugged into a wall and providing power to the microcontroller. The microcontroller will then provide power to all of the other components. A power converter will allow us to obtain power from any standard outlet and supply it to the system. # Criterion For Success - Water is able to be administered predictively - Nutrients, water, and pH-adjusting compounds are administered on their own - Light level is able to be detected and adjust based on the presence of natural light |
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