Auto Regulating Soil Doser Tyler Baldwin Project Mentor(s): Lad Holden
The world’s soil is in a state of constant degradation and as a result, farmers are finding it more difficult to produce crops and end up spending more money on fertilizer. However, only a small fraction of farmers have automated soil dosing systems that introduce the correct amount of nitrogen and phosphorus into their soil. In order to narrow the large gap of farmers with and without automated soil doing systems, an affordable, accurate, and efficient system needs to be developed to meet the market needs. To meet these affordability requirements, parts including sensors, wires, pumps and microcontrollers were sourced from large online marketplaces where prices were compared with parts of similar design. To meet the accuracy requirement, sensors and pumps were vigorously tested and the results of which were documented to ensure the proper amount of chemicals and nutrients would be added. Finally, to meet the efficiency requirement, a microcontroller was used to monitor and sensors and control the pumps. Unlike a system that has no feedback loop, this system constantly monitors soil conditions and prevents over/under dosing by regulating the flow of a liquid concentration of minerals and chemicals. Once wide implementation takes place, farmers will have better yields on crops, more awareness of soil conditions, and reduced costs. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation (May 21, 9:30am–3:00pm) Keywords: Soil Degradation, Dosing, Regulating SOURCE Form ID: 83 Thermal Conductivity Meter Isayah Bannister Project Mentor(s): Jeunghwan “John” Choi, PhD; Charles Pringle, PE; William Reichlin A demonstrative aid for Heat Transfer lab use was necessary to assist MET students in understanding thermal conductivity, a material property which is essential in conductive heat transfer analysis. A lightweight, simplistic, and duplicatable system was developed to fit the demand. The system uses a heater near a thermistor, a resistor whose resistance value changes with change in temperature, to measure thermal conductivity. Both heater and thermistor were connected to an Arduino microcontroller which powers and controls the components, along with executing the measurement sequence. As energy is applied through the heater, the thermistor measures the change in temperature. The microcontroller takes the change in resistance over the specified time frame into account, alongside the distance between the elements and the total heat energy emitted and calculates the thermal conductivity of the material. Single dimension steady-state conduction was assumed and applied to the Fourier heat transfer equation ( 𝑄𝑄 = −𝑘𝑘𝐴𝐴 �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� ), which allows for analysis that is simpler and more approachable for students. Experimental data measured by the system is visually displayed and stored in tabulated form. The primary metric for project success was the capability to conduct measurements within 5% of the reference thermal conductivity of the material. The device was tested using the following materials: room temperature water, near-freezing water, an apple/potato/sausage item at room temperature, and a reference material from the list of solid metals/nonmetals and their properties in Appendices A-24/A-25 of the Cengel Fundamentals of Thermal-Fluid Sciences text at a known temperature.
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation (May 21, 9:30am–3:00pm) Keywords: thermal conductivity, heat transfer, measurement, Arduino SOURCE Form ID: 24
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