Technical Projects

Poster
Final Presentation

Description

The TCNJ Biology Department is always teaching their students about the impacts of certain materials on the environment, and about recycling, reusing, and reducing damage onto the environment. However they use Styrofoam quad planters every year. They are only
used once and then thrown out.

The design must allow small seeds to germinate quickly, in an accurate and precise way, while removing human error within experiments relating to plants. The design also has to allow for a way to be labeled and be put in different grouping for control, variable 1, and variable 2 experiments. This design would have to allow water to be taken in from the bottom of the plants, rather than the top. An added bonus would be something that allows easy relabeling, and something that could be easily cleaned and reusable.

Specifications

The design should not cost more than 10$ to make per item. Meaning it should not exceed $500 per semester. If it costs more, it should be reusable, or have an added bonus to it that may outweigh the price. These added bonuses would be a soil moisture sensor, a light sensor, and an lcd screen. The materials should not deteriorate over time, and should not allow for any algae or mold to grow on it. The design should be easy to clean and be sturdy enough to clean without problems. The design should be able to grow at least 64 plants in total for one large grid. Or 4 in one small grid.  

Target User

Those who would use this product could range from kindergarten students to college students, as well as teachers, professors and professionals who work with plants. Students could be using these within their classrooms for various projects. Teachers could be using these in their classrooms. Hobbyist gardeners may be using these in order to quickly germinate their plants as well. These are often bought in bulk and used in classroom settings all in one go during one specific season.

Interface
The main way that the user will interact with this product, is that they will fill it with dirt, and add a seed, then put it directly under a light to allow and encourage growth for the seed. It will be floating in water to allow quick growth and root growth and extension. The user will also have an LCD they can read the information being read by the sensors on, and a button to press to scroll through the various sensors. This LCD Screen can also display the name of the team or group using the planters.

Price

The estimated selling price of the object, if it is long lasting, will be a little over 15$, however if it becomes one time use, with a numerous amount of other features added to it,  having it stay at the price of 10$ per a grid sounds fair. The reasoning for this is that the college pays $500 per semester for the fast planters.

Timeline
It seems that doing research on how plants might grow, and what sorts of fast planters shapes and sizes and hole sizes might take up a large portion, as well as looking into materials that could both work, and be reusable and/or cleaned easier. I also plan on surveying the faculty and students, on their experiences, and what other things and ideas they may have. This simple research process may take about 2 months, in which case during the research, generating solutions and brainstorming will be taking place.
Prototyping immediately will begin after the 2 months, various different generated solutions will be tested either using 3D Printing, Molds, or Computer Generated Simulations. Prototyping should take about 3-4 months, after which, testing should be done and re-evaluating and improving may continue this design process loop.

Testing in a class or a lab might take up to 2 weeks for a full grown plant to germinate and become a sapling. The plants need to become compared next to the older styrofoam design, and also show that the solution created is better. Insulating methods for heat, light, water consumption, buoyancy and airflow can also be a factor of the different variables to be tested. The working prototype should be done within 5 months after the starting date by the earliest.

Code

//Chervinsky Code for Senior Project
// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

// initialize the library by associating any needed LCD interface pin
// with the arduino pin number it is connected to
const int rs = 12, en = 11, d4 = 5, d5 = 4, d6 = 3, d7 = 2;
LiquidCrystal lcd(rs, en, d4, d5, d6, d7);
int photoresistor = 0;
int threshold = 170; //if the photoresistor reading is below this value the the light will turn on
int light = 0;
int waterlvl = 0;
int watrez =0;
const int button= 7; // the pin for the button is 7
int val = 0; // counter for number of button presses
int buttonState = 0;
int lastButtonState = 0;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600); //start a serial connection with the computer

pinMode(8, OUTPUT); //set pin 8 as an output that can be set to HIGH or LOW
pinMode(button, INPUT); // button is input
lcd.begin(16, 2);
lcd.display();
}

void loop()
{

photoresistor = analogRead(A0);
watrez = analogRead(A1);
light = map(photoresistor , 0, 1023, 100 ,0);
waterlvl = map(watrez, 0, 1023, 0, 100);
Serial.print (“Photo Resistor Number is…”);
Serial.print (photoresistor); //print the value of photoresistor in the serial monitor on the computer
Serial.print (” . “);
Serial.print (“Water Level Is..”);
Serial.print (watrez);
Serial.print (” . “);
Serial.println (buttonState);

buttonState = digitalRead(button);
if (buttonState != lastButtonState) {

if (buttonState == HIGH) {
val++;
}
delay(50);
}
lastButtonState = buttonState;
if(val >=4) val=0;
switch (val) {
case 1:
lcd.print(“Light Sensor:”);
lcd.setCursor(2,1);
lcd.print(light);
delay(100);
lcd.clear();
break;

case 2:
lcd.print(“Water Level:”);
lcd.setCursor(2,1);
lcd.print(waterlvl);
delay(100);
if (waterlvl <= 20) {
tone(8,261);
}
if (waterlvl >=21) {
noTone(8);
}
lcd.clear();
break;

case 3:
noTone(8);
lcd.print(“More functions”);
lcd.setCursor(2,1);
lcd.print(“Soon…”);
delay(100);
lcd.clear();
break;

default:
noTone(8);
lcd.print(“Welcome!”);
lcd.setCursor(2,1);
lcd.print(“Please Read”);
delay(100);
lcd.clear();
break;
}
}

Redesign of a classroom that I was student teaching in, to improve the flow and safety.

Using PTC Creo I had worked on creating a calculator, and used a calculator (TI-30XS) as a reference. I spent about 2 hours using the pattern function, while also having to space out the buttons and sizes to eye, due to there not being specific measurements. I had to make 4 separate buttons and then distribute them evenly throughout the face of the calculator.

The objective of this project was to scale, and create a camera with an LCD display on the back in PTC Creo. I chose a simple Nokia camera I found online. It only took about an hour to create, the hardest part of the project was finding the text that matched the camera.

Using PTC Creo Parametric, I created a toy block. It was my first time ever touching the program.