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  • Author Author: jmbranco76
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Modular Farm Blog: Post 11 - Automatic Nutrient Dispenser Part III

jmbranco76

Hi vertical farmers,

 

In the previous post we discussed our power source and energy storage system and how we intend to supply our Modular Farm taking the most energy out of a solar panel while keeping the battery charge under control.

 

We will go back in time now to complete our Automatic Nutrient Dispenser topic (discussed on post 3 and post 4). Just to recapitulate, we discussed different possible implementations for our nutrient doser and decided to use a magnetic based implementation to reach a high resolution level detector. We also simulated its operation while waiting the delivery of solenoid valves. In this post we will show our nutrient doser functional prototype, and show how we can programmatically control it.

 

The Implementation

As you may remember we will use 4 reservoirs containing 2 concentrated nutrient components, water and a pH corrector (typically an acid). Sequentially the buffer reservoir, a tube, is filled with each of the 4 liquids while its volume is controlled via the magnetic sensors. The sensors (Hall sensors connected to the eight channels of EZR32WG ADC) were placed linearly to have a resolution of 2 milliliters of liquid in the tube.

 

The Automatic Nutrient Dispenser starts its operation pouring water into the tube to avoid contamination. It proceeds pouring the nutrient into the tube and deploying the solution into the reservoir. Next, it fills the tube with water and pours into the reservoir, cleaning the tube.

 

The system works using solenoid valves for filling and emptying the tube.

 

On the following video we show the operation of our Automatic Nutrient Dispenser with only one reservoir and simulating the measurement of water and one nutrient.

 

Inside the tube there is a floating container filled with air and a neodymium magnet.

 

The module receives commands and executes them according to the following program:

 

image

Figure 1. Automatic Nutrient Dispenser operation flowchart.

 

Also pH readings and control needs to be implemented. We will come back to this topic later.

 

Feel free to put any questions or share your thoughts and suggestions on our design and methodologies.

 

Keep in touch!

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