16-05-2012, 11:32 AM
Microcontroller Based Automated Water Level Sensing and Controlling: Design and Implementation Issue
[attachment=22108]
Abstract
In this paper we introduce the notion of water level monitoring and management within the context of electrical conductivity of the water. More specifically, we investigate the microcontroller based water level sensing and controlling in a wired and wireless environment. Water Level management approach would help in reducing the home power consumption and as well as water overflow. Furthermore, it can indicate the amount of water in the tank that can support Global Water types including cellular dataloggers, satellite data transmission systems for remote water monitoring system. Moreover, cellular phones with relative high computation power and high quality graphical user interface became available recently. From the users perspective it is required to reuse such valuable resource in a mobile application. Finally, we proposed a web and cellular based monitoring service protocol would determine and senses water level globally.
I. INTRODUCTION
Sustainability of available water resource in many reason of the word is now a dominant issue. This problem is quietly related to poor water allocation, inefficient use, and lack of adequate and integrated water management. Water is commonly used for agriculture, industry, and domestic consumption. Therefore, efficient use and water monitoring are potential constraint for home or office water management system. Last few decades several monitoring system integrated with water level detection have become accepted. Measuring water level is an essential task for government and residence perspective. In this way, it would be possible to track the actual implementation of such initiatives with integration of various controlling activities. Therefore, water controlling system implementation makes potential significance in home applications. The existing automated method of level detection is described and that can be used to
Manuscript received July 26, 2010. S.M. Khaled Reza is with the International Master Programs in Computational Engineering (Distributed Systems Engineering), Department of Computer Science, Dresden University of Technology, Nötnitzer Straße 46, D-01187 Dresden, GERMANY (phone: +4917687240068; e-mail: khalednub[at]yahoo.com). A. S. M. Tariq was with the University of Trento, ITALY. He is now with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Dresden, Friedrich-List-Platz 1, D-01069 Dresden, GERMANY (e-mail: ahsanuzzaman.tariq[at]gmail.com). S.M. Mohsin Reza is with the International Masters Program in Computational Engineering (Distributed Systems Engineering), Department of Computer Science, Dresden University of Technology, Nötnitzer Straße 46, D-01187 Dresden, GERMANY (e-mail: smmohsin.reza[at]gmail.com).
make a device on/off. Moreover, the common method of level control for home appliance is simply to start the feed pump at a low level and allow it to run until a higher water level is reached in the water tank. This is not properly supported for adequate controlling system. Besides this, liquid level control systems are widely used for monitoring of liquid levels, reservoirs, silos, and dams etc. Usually, this kind of systems provides visual multi level as well as continuous level indication. Audio visual alarms at desired levels and automatic control of pumps based on user’s requirements can be included in this management system. Proper monitoring is needed to ensure water sustainability is actually being reached, with disbursement linked to sensing and automation. Such programmatic approach entails microcontroller based automated water level sensing and controlling. This paper is organized in the following ways. Chapter two concentrated with the basic concepts of the system design. In chapter three we described the concrete idea of PIC16F84A. Design and Implementation part is described in chapter four. Chapter five describes about our proposed monitoring and controlling network. Chapter six deals with the conclusion and future works.
II. BASIC CONCEPTS
The technique of water level monitoring and controlling system concentrated with some basic parts which are softly aggregated together in our proposed method. Basic descriptions of some parts are described below.
A. Water Level Indicator
For water level indication unit we can use some LED light which will work for water level indication. By touching different water levels through water level sensor, LED should be indicated as on/off (i.e. on: yes sensor senses water).
B. Water Level Sensor
To make special water level sensor we would like to introduce some convenient materials such as Iron rod, nozzles, resistance, rubber etc. A connecting rod made by iron and steel which should be connected with ground and we need at least four nozzles which should be connected with +5v via a 1kΩ resistance. We need to bind them together and put a rubber at their joint point which will act as an insulator for every nozzle. When the sensor touches water, nozzles and connecting rod get electric connection using water conductivity [3].
Microcontroller Based Automated Water Level Sensing and Controlling: Design and Implementation Issue
S. M. Khaled Reza, Shah Ahsanuzzaman Md. Tariq, S.M. Mohsin Reza Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2010 Vol I
WCECS 2010, October 20-22, 2010, San Francisco, USA
ISBN: 978-988-17012-0-6
ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
WCECS 2010
C. Water Pump Controlling System
We can control the water pump by connecting it with an output pin of microcontroller via a motor driver circuit. When microcontroller sends a positive signal (+5v) or a ground signal (0v) to the motor driver circuit, then the water pump become on or off respectively. We also would like to use a manual switch on the motor driver circuit which is supposed to use for controlling it manually. It makes this system more users friendly.
D. Microcontroller
Microcontroller is a computer on a chip that is programmed to perform almost any control, sequencing, monitoring and display the function. Because of its relatively low cost, it becomes the natural choice to the designer. Microcontroller is designed to be all of that in one. Its great advantage is no other external components are needed for its application because all necessary peripherals are already built into it. Thus, we can save the time, space and cost which is needed to construct low cost devices [1].
E. Others
To control some high power devices such as lights, heaters, solenoids and motor with a microcontroller we need interface devices between the microcontroller pins and the high power devices. Mechanical relays sometimes called contactors are available to switch currents from milliampere to several thousands of amperes. In this system we should use a relay circuit with the water pump to adapt with high voltage ac current. The output of relay circuit should be connected with motor’s negative side of the cable. The positive side of the cable should be connected with 220v ac current. So, we can use electromagnetic relay as an electrical amplifier.
III. PIC 16F84AMICROCONTROLLER
PIC is a family of RISC microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology which is derived from the PIC1650 that is originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. PIC is the integrated circuit which was usually developed to control peripheral devices and alleviating the load from the main CPU. Compared to a human being, the brain is the main CPU and the PIC is equivalent to the autonomic nervous system. Therefore, we propose a low cost 8-bit PIC 16F84A microcontroller as a central controller of our system [1].
A. PIC 16F84A Block Description
The PIC 16F84A belongs to the mid-range family of the PICmicro® microcontroller devices. The program memory contains 1K words, which translates to 1024 instructions, since each 14-bit program memory word is the same width as each device instruction. The data memory (RAM) contains 68 bytes [1]. Data EEPROM is 64 bytes. There are also 13 I/O pins that are user-configured on a pin-to-pin basis. Some pins are multiplexed with other device functions.
B. Memory Organization
There are two memory blocks available in the PIC 16F84A which are program memory and data memory [14]. Flash memory is used to store the program. The size of program memory is 1024 locations with 14 bits width. Flash memory can be rewritten large amount of times for updating purpose. Even if power is switched off the contents of the flash memory will not be lost because of having EEPROM. Data registers are generally used to keep numeric values such as integer and floating-point values. It can work as accumulator of the memory. Data memory has been partitioned into general purpose registers and special purpose registers which are used to store data address etc. and hold programs state respectively.
[attachment=22108]
Abstract
In this paper we introduce the notion of water level monitoring and management within the context of electrical conductivity of the water. More specifically, we investigate the microcontroller based water level sensing and controlling in a wired and wireless environment. Water Level management approach would help in reducing the home power consumption and as well as water overflow. Furthermore, it can indicate the amount of water in the tank that can support Global Water types including cellular dataloggers, satellite data transmission systems for remote water monitoring system. Moreover, cellular phones with relative high computation power and high quality graphical user interface became available recently. From the users perspective it is required to reuse such valuable resource in a mobile application. Finally, we proposed a web and cellular based monitoring service protocol would determine and senses water level globally.
I. INTRODUCTION
Sustainability of available water resource in many reason of the word is now a dominant issue. This problem is quietly related to poor water allocation, inefficient use, and lack of adequate and integrated water management. Water is commonly used for agriculture, industry, and domestic consumption. Therefore, efficient use and water monitoring are potential constraint for home or office water management system. Last few decades several monitoring system integrated with water level detection have become accepted. Measuring water level is an essential task for government and residence perspective. In this way, it would be possible to track the actual implementation of such initiatives with integration of various controlling activities. Therefore, water controlling system implementation makes potential significance in home applications. The existing automated method of level detection is described and that can be used to
Manuscript received July 26, 2010. S.M. Khaled Reza is with the International Master Programs in Computational Engineering (Distributed Systems Engineering), Department of Computer Science, Dresden University of Technology, Nötnitzer Straße 46, D-01187 Dresden, GERMANY (phone: +4917687240068; e-mail: khalednub[at]yahoo.com). A. S. M. Tariq was with the University of Trento, ITALY. He is now with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Dresden, Friedrich-List-Platz 1, D-01069 Dresden, GERMANY (e-mail: ahsanuzzaman.tariq[at]gmail.com). S.M. Mohsin Reza is with the International Masters Program in Computational Engineering (Distributed Systems Engineering), Department of Computer Science, Dresden University of Technology, Nötnitzer Straße 46, D-01187 Dresden, GERMANY (e-mail: smmohsin.reza[at]gmail.com).
make a device on/off. Moreover, the common method of level control for home appliance is simply to start the feed pump at a low level and allow it to run until a higher water level is reached in the water tank. This is not properly supported for adequate controlling system. Besides this, liquid level control systems are widely used for monitoring of liquid levels, reservoirs, silos, and dams etc. Usually, this kind of systems provides visual multi level as well as continuous level indication. Audio visual alarms at desired levels and automatic control of pumps based on user’s requirements can be included in this management system. Proper monitoring is needed to ensure water sustainability is actually being reached, with disbursement linked to sensing and automation. Such programmatic approach entails microcontroller based automated water level sensing and controlling. This paper is organized in the following ways. Chapter two concentrated with the basic concepts of the system design. In chapter three we described the concrete idea of PIC16F84A. Design and Implementation part is described in chapter four. Chapter five describes about our proposed monitoring and controlling network. Chapter six deals with the conclusion and future works.
II. BASIC CONCEPTS
The technique of water level monitoring and controlling system concentrated with some basic parts which are softly aggregated together in our proposed method. Basic descriptions of some parts are described below.
A. Water Level Indicator
For water level indication unit we can use some LED light which will work for water level indication. By touching different water levels through water level sensor, LED should be indicated as on/off (i.e. on: yes sensor senses water).
B. Water Level Sensor
To make special water level sensor we would like to introduce some convenient materials such as Iron rod, nozzles, resistance, rubber etc. A connecting rod made by iron and steel which should be connected with ground and we need at least four nozzles which should be connected with +5v via a 1kΩ resistance. We need to bind them together and put a rubber at their joint point which will act as an insulator for every nozzle. When the sensor touches water, nozzles and connecting rod get electric connection using water conductivity [3].
Microcontroller Based Automated Water Level Sensing and Controlling: Design and Implementation Issue
S. M. Khaled Reza, Shah Ahsanuzzaman Md. Tariq, S.M. Mohsin Reza Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2010 Vol I
WCECS 2010, October 20-22, 2010, San Francisco, USA
ISBN: 978-988-17012-0-6
ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
WCECS 2010
C. Water Pump Controlling System
We can control the water pump by connecting it with an output pin of microcontroller via a motor driver circuit. When microcontroller sends a positive signal (+5v) or a ground signal (0v) to the motor driver circuit, then the water pump become on or off respectively. We also would like to use a manual switch on the motor driver circuit which is supposed to use for controlling it manually. It makes this system more users friendly.
D. Microcontroller
Microcontroller is a computer on a chip that is programmed to perform almost any control, sequencing, monitoring and display the function. Because of its relatively low cost, it becomes the natural choice to the designer. Microcontroller is designed to be all of that in one. Its great advantage is no other external components are needed for its application because all necessary peripherals are already built into it. Thus, we can save the time, space and cost which is needed to construct low cost devices [1].
E. Others
To control some high power devices such as lights, heaters, solenoids and motor with a microcontroller we need interface devices between the microcontroller pins and the high power devices. Mechanical relays sometimes called contactors are available to switch currents from milliampere to several thousands of amperes. In this system we should use a relay circuit with the water pump to adapt with high voltage ac current. The output of relay circuit should be connected with motor’s negative side of the cable. The positive side of the cable should be connected with 220v ac current. So, we can use electromagnetic relay as an electrical amplifier.
III. PIC 16F84AMICROCONTROLLER
PIC is a family of RISC microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology which is derived from the PIC1650 that is originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. PIC is the integrated circuit which was usually developed to control peripheral devices and alleviating the load from the main CPU. Compared to a human being, the brain is the main CPU and the PIC is equivalent to the autonomic nervous system. Therefore, we propose a low cost 8-bit PIC 16F84A microcontroller as a central controller of our system [1].
A. PIC 16F84A Block Description
The PIC 16F84A belongs to the mid-range family of the PICmicro® microcontroller devices. The program memory contains 1K words, which translates to 1024 instructions, since each 14-bit program memory word is the same width as each device instruction. The data memory (RAM) contains 68 bytes [1]. Data EEPROM is 64 bytes. There are also 13 I/O pins that are user-configured on a pin-to-pin basis. Some pins are multiplexed with other device functions.
B. Memory Organization
There are two memory blocks available in the PIC 16F84A which are program memory and data memory [14]. Flash memory is used to store the program. The size of program memory is 1024 locations with 14 bits width. Flash memory can be rewritten large amount of times for updating purpose. Even if power is switched off the contents of the flash memory will not be lost because of having EEPROM. Data registers are generally used to keep numeric values such as integer and floating-point values. It can work as accumulator of the memory. Data memory has been partitioned into general purpose registers and special purpose registers which are used to store data address etc. and hold programs state respectively.