Civil Engineering

Beginning tenth grade, I took civil engineering first semester. The course offered an honors option with the additional requirement of watching videos and taking quizzes on study.com, building a wind turbine, and building a solar cell. I opted to take the honors version and built a wind turbine and solar cell upon completeing my final project. After learning the schematics of structural bridges and building one, we got into groups with other people and began generating ideas for final projects. My partner and I decided on an automated planter, inspired by a project we found on FabAcademy. The goal of the original project was to create a planter that was self-sufficient and output the data gathered through an LCD. The inputs were soil moisture, temperature, humidity, water level, and a clock module. The data was displayed onto an LCD. Additionally, there were two motors that supplied and drained the water going to the plants and a grow light that would aid the plants growing in the absence of natural light.

Final Project

Due to time constraints, my partner and I decided to limit what we would incorporate into our personal project to a soil moisture, temperature, and humidity. In this way, it measures the environment. It also helps the environment by taking care of itself, absorbing the abundance of carbon dioxide in the air, and releasing oxygen for humans to breathe. It does not use solar energy.

Design Specifications:

Aesthetics ~ our original design for the planter included three pots encompassing the water source cup. The box would be triangular and made out of plywood. After some research, I found that plants that are high oxygen producers and are suitable for home settings are the snake plant, peace lily, spider plant, money plant, and Areca palm. These plants are very green, bright, and effective. They are also moderately low maintenance, so an automated planter would be perfect for growing them.

Target Audience ~ the target audience for this project is people that like plants and want to grow them at home, but are not the most responsible and forget to water them. It is an efficient solution for people that want the addition to their homes but do not have time or forget to water them

Function ~ the purpose of the planter is to measure environmental factors, display them, and automatically water the plan in accordance to a set schedule.

Materials ~ below is the final list of materials and costs that were involved in the creation of this planter.

Final Project Materials

Size ~ the goal is to make a small planter initially to learn how it works and make sure it functions properly on a small scale before making a larger one. The dimensions of our final planter was 11 in x 11 in x 4 in.

Quantity ~ we ended up making a small planter with one pot and one water source.

Project Management:

My partner and I made a list of what we needed to do to complete our project and divided up our jobs so we could finish what we needed to within the given time. In the FabAcademy project documentation our project was inspired away, the man who created his planter made small circuits to build up to the one that would contain everything. We decided to follow these and get the separate components to function before putting them all on one board. Ultimately, we used the Epilogue laser cutter to cut our sample base out of cardboard (settings: 15s, 100p, 500f) and our final base out of 1/8" plywood (settings: 20s, 100p, 500f). Additionally, we used TinkerCircuit to design our circuits and test code before physically building them, Arduino to power our circuits, and Corel Draw to design the base.

Original Plan

To the left is a quick sketch of our initial plan for the planter. Though we did not have time to completely fulfill some parts of it (the grow light and fan), in the future I hope to work more on this project.

led 1 vid

LED 1

Our first circuit was very simple: getting an LED to blink using a push button (on while being pushed, off when not being pushed). Though we did not ultimately use a push button in our final project, it was good to start with the basics.

led 2 vid

LED 2

The second LED circuit also involved a push button, having it turn on and stay on when pushed once, then turn off when pushed again.

LCD

The next circuit we made used an LCD. After completing the circuit and altering the code on TinkerCircuit, I built the physical circuit and had it display my name and my partner's. This LCD would be used in the future to display the input values read from the environment.

ldr vid 1

LDR 1

After creating the LCD circuit, we made a circuit involving a photoresistor. The purpose of the circuit was to have it read the values of light onto the serial moniter. Though we ended up not using the photoresistor in our project, it would be used to measure light to control when to turn on the grow light.

ldr vid 2

LDR 2

The next circuit used the photoresistor and an LED. The level of light the photoresistor was exposed to lit up the LED that same amount. When we shaded the photoresistor, the LED dimmed, and when the shined a flashlight on the photoresistor, the LED got brighter.

dht11

DHT11

After making some basic circuits, we began playing with input devices that we would use in the planter to measure environmental factors. The first one was a DHT11--a temperature and humidity sensor. Though we had some issues with the libraries and code at first, we soon were able to have the serial monitor properly display temperature and humidity values.

pump vid

Water Pump

While my partner was working on combining codes for our LCD portion of the electronics, I worked on setting up a water pump to deliver the water from the cup to the pot. I found a very helpful tutorial on Instructables that guided me in setting up the water pump.

final vid 1

final vid 2

final vid 3

Finished Project

After putting all the separate components together, our project was complete! On one Arduino Uno board, the soil moisture, temperature and humidity sensor, and LCD were powered by a battery pack. The water pump had to be plugged in as it used 9V. The videos above show the inside of the box, the water pump supply water to the pot, and the values displayed on the LCD. The pot was purchased at Lowe's for $2. I decided to buy two and stack them, just in case the water leaked, so nothing would spill onto the electronics. I designed the box in Makercase, then edited it in Corel Draw to include spots for the pots, water cup, tubing, sensors, and battery pack. Additionally, I put a coffee filter on top of the tubing carrying the water in so no soil would get into the tube but the plant would still be able to absorb the water. Overall, I'd say the project was a success! In the future, I would like to add a fan for ventilation, a grow light, and perhaps a way to control the watering and see the values displayed by the LCD on your phone. I would also like to increase the amount of pots.

I learned how to use a soil moisture sensor and DHT11 in this project. I also learned a bit more in depth about LCDs and photoresistors. Though this project did not end up involving as many components as my parnter and I had hoped it would initially, the things that it did include functioned the way they should, which was good. This project was a bit more advanced than my final project from last year, revealing my continuous input of knowledge about engineering and ability to display what I learn.

The main challenges in this project were the electronics (code) and lack of time. Personally, my partner and I were unaware of the final due date until two weeks before. This caused some mild panic, though we did ultimately finish our project. In addition, it was difficult piecing together different codes and combining all of the sensors onto one Arduino. If I did add more components to the project as previously mentioned, I would consider milling my own board.

Daily Journal

Throughout the project, my partner and I wrote summaries of what we accomplished each day. Below are our daily journal entries over the course of the project.

10/28 - created basic design (design 1) & wrote steps of process

10/29 - getting parts ordered from Amazon. Creating Task analysis. Learning about electronics. Finding remaining parts.

10/30- Learning about the Electronic we will need to use. Created a corel file with the approximate sizes so that we can see how big we will need to make things in order that they fit together.

10/31- attempting to create model electronics on tinker circuit (lcd & push button)

11/1- Learned about bluetooth sensors on Blynk. imported code into tinker circuit and got lcd to function. next step will be to build the physical circuit. I was able to figure out the code in week 12 for the LED and Photoresistor. I learned about how the water level and moisture will be measured.

11/4- Gathered electronic materials that were in the lab and started making the LED. We are working on getting the LED light to work with the button. Right now the LED is turning on but not with the button. It should stay turned off until the button is pressed and then turn on when the button is pressed.

11/5- got led button 1 to work. we swapped out the resistor and ensured all the components were in the right place. (photo & video) We were able to finish the first 2 LED codes with few problems and will continue for the next few days.

11/6 - today we reviewed some of the basics of electronics. We worked on the LCD and water and soil sensor. I was not able to get the 3rd LED code to work.

11/7 - got the LCD to work. were able to physically display our names and the default from the pre-written code, in addition to dimming the screen with the potentiometer.

11/8 - We got the LCD to work and checked the code for the photoresistor and LED 3 both work on the code but we will have to check it tomorrow.

11/9 - Today we got the Photoresistor and LED to work together. And seperate.

11/11 - Got the soil moisture sensor to work and tested it in water. Now we have to start to put all the pieces onto the same arduino. Started Digital portfolio to put all the stuff we are doing and have a pace to record the process.

11/12 - attempted to get humidity/temperature sensor to work

11/13 - Having problems with the Humidity sensor. There is a compile error and it says that there is something missing but we do not know what. Also started setting up the water level sensor but ran out of time to run the code. Ordered relays and a few more parts that we need for the final parts of the electronics. Hopefully we will be able to figure out the code tomorrow.

11/14 - Today we found the library we were missing and were able to get the code to work for the humidity sensor. Now we are having problems getting the outputs to come through. It keeps reading nan% humidity. Alex worked on the water level sensor but we are not sure how it is supposed to work because there aren’t very specific pictures about how he set it up or how it works.

11/16 - There was still no luck being able to get the humidity sensor to work. The code is working but we are getting readings of “nan.” I have tried to change the wiring, wires, changing the sensor, changing the arduino, and added a resistor. I have also tried to look at other peoples problems but haven’t found a definite solution that I have not tried. Hopefully we will be able to figure out what is wrong with the sensor and get it to work soon. We also need to figure out the relays to work but they have not arrived yet. Once we figure out these last few electronic components we should be able to get the design process and start making the rest of the project.

11/18 - We think that we were able to get the water level sensor to work. There isn’t a lot of description on how it works and what it is supposed to do but when the top wire is touched it turns on and we think that is what it is. I seems that when you touch both sensors at the same time the LED will stay on for a longer amount of time. When you just touch the top sensor as soon as you let go it turns off. However, sometimes the LED turns on and off randomly and we can’t figure out why. We figured out the the DHT22 code isn't working because we had a DHT11instead. They look very similar and we were able to find the right code for a DHT11. The code worked with a little bit of editing but it is giving really high amounts on the serial monitor that doesn't make any sense so we are going to have to figure out what to do with it.

11/19 - we are worried about the deadline for this project because we have not figured out some of the components. We are planning on continuing this project later and are going to do a proof of concept. We got the relays but the problem is that we are not milling our own board and need to figure out what he did with his board. We still need to figure out why our sensor is giving such big values on our DHT!! Because we don’t have the right board.

11/20 - Today we finally got the sensor to work and give actual amounts now we should be able to get the final electronics components to work. We are working on our final design because that will be used for a proof of concept in the end.

11/21 - designed on corel and laser cut pieces for basic planter base. will put them together tomorrow and confirm measurements.

11/22 - We figured out what we are finishing and are working on the final design and electronics.

11/26 - put the box together and altered the final code to get the LCD to read the soil moisture sensor values

11/27 - we printed the box and were able to get the LCD to switch but we are having trouble getting it to read the values on the DHT11.

12/2 - We are working on the motors and are almost done with the LCD. The LCD and soil moisture are working but the DHT11 is reading really high values and we cannot figure out why. We are hoping that we can fix that tomorrow and set it up. The motor is going well we just need to make sure we have all the parts so that it will start working.

12/3 - We are trying to get the sensors to work but the arduino code keeps coming up with mistakes about things that we have already done and had work. The code had extra semicolons, which are used to end a statement. You can only have 1 void setup and 1 void loop in a code so you have to combine them. There were extra quotation marks making it a string of letters which means it was not reading our values. Syntax matters. The motor also works.

12/4 - the project was due!

Here is a link to a folder containing all the codes my partner and I used for this project.

Wind Turbine

With the remaining time in Civil Engineering, the students taking the Honors options of the class were tasked with building a wind turbine and a solar cell. After some research about wind turbines, I found two tutorials that provided inspiration for my personal wind turbine. The first was an Instructables about how to make a windmill school project. The second was a Thingiverse that ended up providing me with a blade hub and blades for my wind turbine. Concerning materials, I used a small DC motor, 3D printers, and PVC pipes for this project. The short process to build the turbine went as follows:

3D print the blade hub & attach it to the motor
3D print the blades and secure them to the blade hub
Construct a base for the wind turbine
Test the wind turbine to ensure that it is producing current

I ultimately made the base out of PVC pipes, which did not take long and was effective.

wind turbine 2

wind turbine 3

Though my turbine did not produce a lot of voltage, it did produce some. This can potentially be attributed to the fact that the blade hub was not securely attached to the motor, so it wobbled a bit. Despite this, the turbine was a success! In the future, I would like to make the base more sturdy and make the turbine larger so that it would able to generate more volts and actually power things. One of the original tutorials connected the wind turbine to an LED to show voltage being produced. There was not nearly enough produced from my turbine to power an LED, so I just used a multimeter to show that there was actually voltage being produced.

Solar Cell

The last project for the Honors version of Civil Engineering was creating a solar cell. I found a tutorial on Instructables. The steps seemed pretty simple: acquire two copper sheets, burn one of them in order to produce cuprous oxide, make it into a semi conducter, solder wires to both sheets, and put them in salt water. The materials needed for this project were: copper sheets, a container, salt water, alligator clips, and a light source.

Step 1

I had to hunt around for some copper sheets at several Lowe's before finally finding what I needed. I was only able to get one copper sheet, so the first step was to split it in half.

Step 2

Burn one of the pieces of copper for around 20 min. My classmates and I used the Bunsen burners in our chemistry classroom to do so.

copper 4

Here is the piece of copper in the process of being burned.

Once it began cooling, the copper started cracking and flaking. The top layer was literally popping off at is cooled.

copper 5

Step 3

Once the copper cooled completely, I wiped it off and put the burnt and normal piece in a small container filled with salt water. To the left is a picture of my setup, with the black wire connected to the normal copper plate and the red wire connected to the burnt copper. When I shined a light on the copper, specifically focusing it on the burnt copper, voltage was produced. The solar cell worked! Below are the videos.

solar cell 2

solar cell 3

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