Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
57 Solar Scrubber
 Jonathan Sengstock
Sandra Georgy
Yehia Ahmed
 Chihun Song other1.pdf
Team:
Yehia Ahmed (yahme6), Sandra Georgy (sgeor9), Jonathan Sengstock (jms32)


Problem
Keeping solar panels clean is crucial to their operation; if panels are obscured by dust, dirt, snow, or bird droppings, their power output is critically reduced. Additionally, solar power installations are in difficult-to-reach or remote locations such as rooftops and fields; this makes frequent cleaning of the solar panels difficult.

Solution
Our solution, which we call Solar Scrubber, is a robot that navigates on a 2-axis linear guide rail system. The guide rails will be mounted on the top and bottom of the solar array. The main body of the robot will contain the circuitry and electronics, cleaning module, and motors to navigate the guide rail system. Additionally, the Scrubber will have a module connected to the output wires of the solar panel to measure its power output. If a section of the panel is outputting lower power than the rest, the Scrubber will automatically clean that section of the panel.

The cleaning module will be a rotating cloth (similar to a mop head), and a water or cleaning solution dispenser.

We will be designing our project with the ECE building solar panels as the primary use case.

The system is composed of several integrated subsystems, including a rail-based locomotion unit for travel, an MPPT algorithm for power analysis, a cleaning module for scrubbing and fluid delivery, an ESP32 control unit for managing the Finite State Machine and Bluetooth communication, a power conversion system to step down 120V wall power to usable DC voltages, and the solar panel itself which serves as the operational surface.

Locomotion/Movement
The locomotion subsystem enables movement across the solar panel through vertical and horizontal drive components powered by 12V DC motors and drivers that interface with the microcontroller to ensure full coverage of the cleaning area. We aim to use linear guide rails, similar to how a 3D printer navigates.

MPPT and Algorithm
The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) component extracts maximum power from the solar panel and detects the power losses caused by dirt. The MPPT analyzes the I-V characteristics of the solar panel to identify a group of cells that aren’t meeting expected performance. The MPPT measurements will help us perform target cleaning rather than cleaning the full solar array. In addition, the MPPT measurements can be used to compare the output power before and after cleaning to determine the efficiency of the Solar Panel Cleaner.
Key components include ADC input (MCU), current sensor, perturb-and-observe algorithm in firmware (runs on STM32), and data logging for power measurements.

Cleaning Module
The cleaning module features a 12V DC motor with a rotating towel and a 12V water pump for fluid delivery. To bridge the gap between the 120V wall power and the 3.3V logic of the ESP32, the system uses an AC-DC power adapter and an L298N motor driver. The adapter converts the high-voltage wall power into a steady 12V supply, while the motor driver acts as a high-speed electronic switch. By receiving low-voltage commands from the ESP32, the driver directs the 12V power to the scrubbing motor and pump, allowing the Finite State Machine to control the rotation and spraying sequences based on the cleaning path.

MCU
The ESP32 Development Board acts as the robot's brain and was chosen because it has built-in Bluetooth to allow for manual control and data monitoring. The system uses a Finite State Machine (FSM) which is a logic map that tells the robot whether it should be in Auto mode to clean the panels, Manual mode to respond to your Bluetooth commands, or Idle mode when at the home position. The Bluetooth capability is especially important for the MPPT algorithm, as it allows the robot to wirelessly transmit real-time power data to a phone or tablet so you can see if the cleaning is actually improving efficiency.

Power Conversion
The power conversion subsystem supplies and regulates the voltages to all electronic components. Key components include a AC–DC converter (120V AC from the building grid to 12V DC), and DC-DC stepdown converters to supply the motors with 12V and the ICs with 3.3V and 5V.

Solar Panel
The solar panel we will be using is targeted for the panels on the roof of the ECEB. The dimensions of these panels are not posted online, but each panel outputs about 280 Watts. Our project will aim to function on existing solar panels, so purchasing a panel should not be necessary.

Criterion For Success
To ensure the Solar Scrubber is effective, the following goals will be tested:
The cleaning module must be able to detect the cells with dirt or debris, enable targeted cleaning, and should be able to tell the difference between dirt and shading/lack of sun. Upon cleaning the panel, it should be able to remove the majority of debris (more than 75%).
The cleaning module should be able to perform a full panel sweep every 2 hours autonomously.
The entire module should be able to function in a variety of conditions, including temperatures between 0° F and 100° F, and weather between sunshine, light rain, and snow.
The electronics and movement units should show little to no sign of breakdown or failure after 50+ uses.

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