ECE Day '08 - Team 11: The Green Men Group (Part 1)

Solar Powered Automated Drip Line Irrigation Controller

Due to growing populations and aging infrastructure, the public water supply has become or is in danger of becoming overstretched in many communities. Because of this, as well as concerns about overuse of natural resources, many communities restrict the use of water from public water supplies on lawns or gardens. In the future many more homeowners are likely to turn to water harvesting through caches in order to be able to support the lawns and gardens they desire.

Drip line irrigation has become popular in areas where a main water supply is unavailable or in areas where city laws prohibit the use of the city water supply to water shrubs. Drip line irrigation is environmentally friendly, extremely efficient, and inexpensive. Rain water that would have otherwise spilled over sidewalks or into storm drains is collected and used at a later time. The barrels and drip lines that compose this system are easily attainable and inexpensive. However, drip line irrigation is not as widely used as automatic sprinkler systems because the user has to manually open and close the drip line valve.

Our project addresses this issue by designing a completely automated control system that irrigates the soil only when needed, based upon the soil’s moisture level. The user sets a daily time that they would like to water, and the system responds to their input and automatically runs at this pre-defined time. When the user’s preset watering time is reached, the moisture content of the soil is compared to a preset user-selected threshold. If the soil needs additional water to reach this threshold, a valve connected to a water barrel opens, releasing water through a drip line.

Adding to the eco-friendliness, the system is powered by solar energy. Solar panels are used to power the system and additional energy is stored in rechargeable batteries for later use. This system operates with minimal user interaction, and follows a hands off “set it and forget it” approach.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Boston University
• ECE Day 2008
• engineering