Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
75 Plant Hydration and Weather Integration System
Aashish Chaubal
Iker Uriarte
Jaeren Dadivas
Maanas Sandeep Agrawal design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Plant Hydration and Weather Integration System
- Iker Uriarte (iuriar2)
- Jaeren Dadivas (dadivas2)
- Aashish Chaubal (achau7)

Outdoor plant care is challenging due to varying weather conditions and the risk of overwatering or underwatering. There are available automated watering systems that water plants, but they don’t consider the option of saving water by considering upcoming rain. A smarter solution is needed to optimize plant hydration while conserving water. This idea could minimize the risk of overwatering, which some people consider worse than underwatering, and could maximize water usage.

# Solution

Our objective is to design a smart plant-watering system that monitors soil moisture levels and integrates weather forecasting to optimize water usage for outdoor plants. The system will delay watering if rain is forecasted, minimizing water waste. We will use an ESP32 microcontroller capable of requesting an API to a weather forecasting service (such as AccuWeather). Our design will include a motorized water pump whose water flow will be dependent on both weather and moisture sensors. Finally, our system will be powered by rechargeable lithium batteries to provide the user with better long-term sustainability and cost efficiency.

# Solution Components

# Subsystem 1: Control Board
The ESP32 will be the microcontroller for this project. It offers built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality, making the design process more efficient and less risky. Additionally, the ESP32 is a highly popular microcontroller with documentation available, which could be helpful.
The ESP32 will handle receiving soil moisture readings from sensors. If the moisture level falls below a specific threshold (which will be manually set based on the type of plant we choose to use), the ESP32 will use APIs (e.g., AccuWeather) to get real time weather data and check the rain precipitation probability. If the probability is high, the system will delay watering and wait for the rain to moisture the soil. Otherwise, it will activate a water pump to hydrate the plants.
Lastly, the ESP32 will calculate the amount of water saved by comparing moisture levels when watering is delayed due to rain versus manually watering the plant with the water pump. Since the relationship between moisture levels and water usage is not linear, developing this calculation will be a challenging but essential part of the system. These results will be sent to a website that will display a graph showing water savings over time.
### Components Used: esp32-wroom-32 voltage

## Subsystem Batteries
Since our project is focused on targeting outdoor plants, we have to use lithium-ion batteries since they are the most efficient against cold weather and they can be recharged. The problem that these types of batteries tend to have is that they don’t go well with cold temperatures, so that’s why we have to go with lithium-ion batteries that are cold weather resistant. We will connect our battery to a 5V boost converter and connect the converter to the ESP32 5V input.
Components used:
###Components used: 2 Pack 3.7 Volt 18650 Rechargeable Battery 3400mAh 18650 Li-ion Battery


## Watering and Sensors subsystem
We will use moisture sensors pinned to soil in order to actively measure soil moisture levels. These moisture sensors will be SEN0114. SEN0114 will be connected to the 3.3V ESP32 pins.
The moisture sensors will work with our water pump. Our water pump will water plants whenever the moisture levels are low and there is no forecasted rain. Our pump will be a JT-180A.
###Components used:
SEN0114
JT-180A 5V

## Data Subsystem
our ESP32 will collect and upload data to a Firebase database, a cloud-based storage solution that will serve as our repository (data storage). We’ll build a custom website that connects to this database, allowing us to generate plots from the stored data. In short, Firebase will be our dependable “storage box” for all the semester’s data.

## Rain Detection Subsystem
In order for our control board to see if it rains, we will be using a Load Cell + HX711 that will go under a container (i.e. cup) that will, in the case of rain, measure the change in weight of the container including the plant. The weight accumulated due to the added water from the rain can then be used in calculations by the microcontroller to determine the amount of water that was saved by holding back the watering system. This subsystem will also be able to confirm that is raining to our control board.

##Criterion For Success

For our smart plant-watering system to be effective it needs to be able to autonomously sustain an outdoor plant via watering them by doing the following: it needs to be able to accurately monitor the soil moisture levels (and a set moisture threshold) and the real-time weather forecast and only activate the water pump accordingly (when the moisture level falls below the threshold and when there is no rain). Furthermore, it must be able to delay watering when the probability of rain is above a set threshold. The system will calculate and display water savings by comparing the system’s actual water usage and the baseline amount of water used without weather forecast information.

Mushroom Growing Tent

Elizabeth Boyer, Cameron Fuller, Dylan Greenhagen

Mushroom Growing Tent

Featured Project

# Mushroom Growing Tent Project

Team Members:

- Elizabeth Boyer (eboyer2)

- Cameron Fuller (chf5)

- Dylan Greenhagen (dylancg2)

# Problem

Many people want to grow mushrooms in their own homes to experiment with safe cooking recipes, rather than relying on risky seasonal foraging, expensive trips to the store, or time and labor-intensive DIY growing methods. However, living in remote areas, specific environments, or not having the experience makes growing your own mushrooms difficult, as well as dangerous. Without proper conditions and set-up, there are fire, electrical, and health risks.

# Solution

We would like to build a mushroom tent with humidity and temperature sensors that could monitor the internal temperature and humidity, and heating, and humidity systems to match user settings continuously. There would be a visual interface to display the current temperature and humidity within the environment. It would be medium-sized (around 6 sq ft) and able to grow several batches at a time, with more success and less risk than relying on a DIY mushroom tent.

Some solutions to home-grown mushroom automation already exist. However, there is not yet a solution that encompasses all problems we have outlined. Some solutions are too small of a scale, so they don’t have the heating/cooling power for a larger scale solution. Therefore, it’s not enough to yield consistent batches. Additionally, there are solutions that give you a heater, a light set, and a humidifier, but it’s up to the user to juggle all of these modules. These can be difficult to balance and keep an eye on, but also dangerous if the user does not have experience. Spores can get released, heaters can overheat, and bacteria and mold can grow. Our solution offers an all-in-one, simple, user-friendly environment to bulk growing.

# Solution Components

## Control Unit and User Interface

The control unit and user interface are grouped together because the microcontroller is central to the design of both, and they are closely linked in function.

The user interface will involve a display that shows measured or set values for different conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) on a display, such as an LCD display, and the user will have buttons and/or knobs that allow the user to change values.

The control unit will be centered around a microcontroller on our PCB with circuitry to connect to the other subsystems.

Parts List:

1x Microcontroller

1x PCB, including small buttons and/or knobs, power circuitry

1x Display module

1x Power supply

## Temperature Sensing and Control

The temperature sensing and control components will ensure that the grow box stays at the desired temperature that promotes optimal growth. The system will include one temperature sensor that will record the current temperature of the box and feed a data output back into our PCB. From here, the microcontroller in our control unit will read the data received and send the necessary adjustments to a Peltier module. The Peltier module will be able to increase the temperature of the box according to the current temperature of the box and set temperature. Cooling will not be required, as maintaining a minimum temperature is more important than a maximum temperature for growth.

Parts List:

1x Temperature Sensor

1x Peltier module

## Humidity Sensing and Control

The humidity sensing and control system will work in a similar way to the temperature system, only with different ways to adjust the value. We will have one humidity sensor that will be continually sending data to our PCB. From here, the PCB will determine whether the current value is where it should be, or whether adjustments need to be made. If an increase in humidity is needed, the PCB will send a signal to our misting system which will activate. If a decrease is needed, a signal will be sent to our air cycling system to increase the rate of cycling, thereby decreasing the humidity within the box.

Parts List:

1x Humidity Sensor

4x Misting heads

Water tubing as needed

## Air Quality Control

The air filtration system is run constantly, as healthy mushroom growth (free of bacteria) needs clean, fresh air, and mycelium requires and uses up oxygen as it grows. Additionally, this unit is connected to the hydration sensing unit- external humidity is in most cases going to be lower than internal humidity, and cycling in new air can be used to decrease humidity. When high humidity is detected, the air filtration system will decrease the internal humidity by cycling in less humid air.

Parts List:

Flexible Air duct length as needed

1x Fan for promoting air cycling

# Criteria For Success

Our demo will show that each of our subsystems functions as expected and described below:

For the control unit and user interface, we will demonstrate that the user can change the set temperature and humidity values through buttons or knobs.

The humidity sensing and control system’s functionality will demonstrate that introducing dry air into the device activates the misting system, which requires functional sensors and a water pump.

The temperature sensing and control system demo will involve showing that the heater turns on when the measured temperature is below the set temperature.

The air quality control system’s success will be demonstrated as air movement coming from the fan enters the tent.

Project Videos