Final Project Proposal

Project Ideation:

It all started when my father decided to by a farm in the middle of the desert, so I thought of making a smart Despenser that operates on the solar energy.

Part of the farm at preparation stage.

During the summer day it is almost not possible to keep cold water more than 4 hours, so farm workers suffer from drinking hot water, So we need to make a device that supply them with a cold water.

How would it work?

The first idea was to turn a regular icebox into a mini fridge, but due to the difficulty of design I preferred to make a water dispenser where the water is pumped by a small pump to the cooling unit that lower its temperature and make it good to drink.

Talking about the power supply, a light tracking system will be connected to the solar panel base to get the longest charging time during the day.

I already tried to charge a 7AH battery using a 20W solar panel and it was usable, referring to the cooling unit it will work enough time for a prototype testing.

Here is a skitch of the projects parts:

Notice that the icebox will be replaced by a smart water dispenser.

Project Planning:

Technical Modules

Construction Parts

laser cut and 3d printed parts for the dispenser and the solar panel light tracking system.

Input

(Sensing, Tactile Input, and/or Graphical Input)

Ultrasonic sensor, temperature sensor and water level sensor for dispenser.

light sensor for sun tracker

Action

(Physical and/or Graphic)

Water pump works to make water flow.

Cooling unit start cooling the water.

solar panel movement with stepper motor.

Brain

arduino uno

Power Management

9v power supply for the Arduino

12v battery for the cooling unit or 12v power supply.

5- Create a cardboard prototype of your project, demonstrating the project face as well as internal movements and mechanisms. Include a demo video and photos of the prototype.

the green wire acts the role of water pipes.

the front view

power switch, 12v power input & water input.

Arduino serial port.

6- Categorize your project’s User Features into: Minimum, Complete, and Nice-to-have features.

Minimum User Features

water pump works to make the water flow when the user put the cup in it.
- Action1: water pump make the water flow out.
- Sensing1: Ultrasonic Sensor
- Action1:water flow in when the water level is low.
- Sensing1: water level sensor
- User Input: None

Complete User Features

A cooling unit will work to cool down the water to reach the set up temperature by the user. where the user will set the temperature with a potentiometer and the degree will appear on lcd screen.
- Action: cooling unit cool down the water.
- Sensing: Temperature sensor
- User Input: set up the temperature by the potentiometer.