Project Development

 In this page, I will:

1. Briefly describe my team chemical device

2. Show how the team planned, allocated the tasks, and executed the project.

3. Document the entire design and build process of the chemical device and include videos, pictures, and screen captures of the processes.

4. Include “Hero shot” of every milestone of the processes, example the part A that was 3D printed, part B that was laser-cut, electronics components moved/worked according to the program. Hero-shot is taken with the person-in-charge holding/working/making the parts.

5. Include the name of the person who was in-charge of every part of the project.

6. Document my individual contribution to this project.

7. Provide the link to the page of the blog of my teammates.

8. Describe problems encountered and how the team solved them.

9. Include all the project design files as downloadable files.

10. Embed the final prototype design file, i.e., the final fusion360 design file showing the entire prototype.

11. Type my Learning reflection on the overall project development.

1. Our team Chemical Device

• In this section, I will briefly describe my team's chemical device.

• What it is. What problems will the chemical device solve? 

• Below is the hand sketch of the chemical device.

CHEMICAL DEVICE: 

Our team’s chemical device is an automated watering system to water plants. 

BACKGROUND:

Based on the article published in “The Straits Times”, Covid-19 has led to a botanic boom in Singapore as more people become plant parents to relieve stress while working from home. Many people think that plant parenting has been especially helpful during the circuit breaker as more people spend time at home beavering in front of their computers. Hence, planting has given them an extension of their own space into the outside world and a chance to reconnect with nature. 

Plant sellers like Terrascpaes, a nursery specialising in exotic plants, saw a 10% increase in sales. They mentioned that they sold about 1000 plants in the circuit breaker period from April to June after it started retailing its plants online. 

Now, our borders have lifted and people started to travel more frequently as compared to the pre-covid period. HOW are plant owners supposed to water the plant when they are overseas? HOW can we help plant owners from overwatering their plants? HOW can we ensure that plant owners have the time to water their plants, even during their daily busy schedules?

EXISTING SOLUTION:

Plant owners can ask their friends or relatives to look after their plants while they are overseas. However, it may be troublesome to seek help from friends to look after the plants as they might be busy, or they would not know the right amount of water to give. This may do more harm than good to the plant. 

There are many DIY self-watering kit tutorials available for plant owners to construct; however, it can be very time-consuming to build and control the amount of water flowing into the soil. Additionally, plant owners may not have the materials required to build these DIY kits. This may lead to them spending more money than what is needed in order to purchase these materials. 

OUR SOLUTION:

Our SmartPot, named Tod, will solve this issue by providing plant owners with a convenient way to keep their plants hydrated. The soil moisture sensor will sense the moisture level of the plant. If the sensor senses a low moisture level (i.e. < 15%), the sensor will send an output signal to the pump to start the pump. The pump will then be pumping the water to the soil to keep the plant hydrated.  Once the sensor senses a high moisture level (above 15%), the sensor will send an output signal to stop the pump. To let the plant owners know/observe the moisture reading, we also added an LCD screen to display the soil moisture readings to the user. 

This will ensure that plant owners will not have to worry about forgetting to water their plants, or dispensing the right amount of water to them. 

PROBLEMS THAT OUR CHEMICAL DEVICE (SmartPot) CAN SOLVE: 

Problem #1: User overwater the plant

Solution #1: Based on the current soil moisture level of the plant, SmartPot will supply water to the plant to bring the moisture level into the acceptable range. 

Problem #2: User does not have the time to water the plant

Solution #2: SmartPot’s automated watering system can last for 2 weeks. Users will only have to replenish the water tank every 2 weeks. Users will only have to worry about refilling the tank every 2 weeks. 

Problem #3: Existing solutions are impractical, expensive and time-consuming to assemble the components. Hence, reducing the reliability of the device.

Solution #3: Our SmartPot is compact, inexpensive and user-friendly. Users only have to refill the water tank and plug in the power source.

THE ISSUE WE WANT TO SOLVE:

The main issue we want to solve is to find a convenient way to keep users’ plants hydrated with little effort needed. 

PROBLEM STATEMENT:  

How can we enhance the user’s plant parenting experience so that plant owners can save time and cost?

Here’s the link to find out more about the news article: https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/home-design/covid-19-has-led-to-a-botanic-boom-in-singapore-as-more-people-become-plant 

2. Team Planning, allocation, and execution

• In this section, I will list down my team member's name and their respective roles (CEO, CFO, COO, CSO)

• I will show the finalized BOM (BILL OF MATERIALS) table.

• I will show the finalized Gantt chart (planned and actual) and the tasks allocation for each team member.

Fusion team: Hannah, Justin & Keith

Coding team: Jun Hao & En Ting

3. Design and Build Process

In this section, I will provide documentation of my contribution to this project.

Making the hinges in fusion360:

1. Create sketch > create 2 point rectangle > key in 25.75mm by 16mm (create 2 rectangles, each on one end of the box) 

2. Click extrude > operation NEW BODY > extrude by 4mm for BOTH rectangles 

3. Switch to the side view of the rectangle > click create centre diameter circle > enter 4mm >

4. create another centre circle from the same point > enter 8mm

4. Click “sketch dimension” > click the outermost circle’s circumference > key in 8mm

5. Click sketch dimension > click the 2 points > key in a distance of 3mm 

6. Click finish sketch > extrude > select the outer circle > Operation: JOIN > key in a distance of -6mm

7. Click the sketch of the hinge > create pattern > rectangle pattern

8. Click on axes > select the length of the hinge 

9. Key in a distance of 19.7mm and a quantity of 3

How the hinges look like now: 

10. Create another component (hinge), using the same steps from step 7-9

11. Extrude the hinge using offset plane> offset=30mm, distance=30mm> operation=join

12. Make a second sketch for the hinge using 7-9. Use extrude. Under extrude, use offset plane> offset=30mm, distance 30mm> operation join

13. Combine the hinges together by using the move tool.

3D printing of  latch and latch hook:

1. Open one of the files, in this case the latch file and choose the 3D printer that you are using

2. Choose the infill density and infill pattern. I decided to use 15% as the latch and hook may be under high work loads. I left the infill pattern as triangles.

3. After finishing the print settings, click on the slice button to find out how much time it will take to print and save it to a USB drive to import the file over to the 3D printer.

4. With this, the file should be ready to print. More settings can be adjusted on the 3D printer itself, such as the speed and bed temperature! These are the time lapses of the 3D printing:

This is our hero shot after printing the hinges and latch

Part 1. Using Fusion360 to finalise the CAD of SmartPot. (done by Hannah). Link it to Hannah’s blog https://cp5070-2022-2b04-group2-hannah-to.blogspot.com/p/project-development.html 

• Documentation for task 1.

• Hero shot for task 1.

Part 2. Design and Build of hinge, latch and latch hook (done by Justin). Link it to Justin’s blog

https://cp5070-2022-2b04-group2-justinhong.blogspot.com/p/project-development.html

• Documentation for task 2.

• Hero shot for task 2.

Part 3. Laser cutting on SmartPot (done by Keith). Link it to Keith’s blog

https://cp5070-2022-2b04-group2-keith.blogspot.com/

• Documentation for task 3.

• Hero shot for task 3.

Part 4. Programming of pump and soil moisture sensor (done by En Ting). Link it to En Ting’s blog https://cp5070-2022-2b04-group2-yao-en-ting.blogspot.com/p/project-development.html 

• Documentation for task 4.

• Hero shot for task 4.

Part 5. Programming of potentiometer and LCD (done by Jun Hao). Link it to Jun Hao’s blog: https://cp5070-2022-2b04-group2-angjunhao.blogspot.com/p/project-development.html

Part 6. Integration of all parts and electronics, including the assembly of the final prototype (done by everyone)

• Embed the finalized fusion 360 design files.

• Documentation for integration.

• Hero shot for integration.

[DOCUMENTATION]

Alright! Now we are ready to assemble all the components together! 

Step 1, Glue all the acrylic pieces 

We used acrylic glue to glue the acrylic pieces together and used masking tapes to hold the pieces in place. 

video: https://youtube.com/shorts/xV8rZGYjaJw?feature=share (laser cutting)

video: (acrylic glueing) https://youtu.be/H8ElSUJZ7Pc

Step 2, Glue all the 3D printed pieces 

Once the acrylic glue has dried out. We then used super glue to glue all the 3D printed components (hinges, handle & latch) onto the acrylic and the cover respectively. 

video: https://youtube.com/shorts/i7Y5-_O0_Vk?feature=share

Step 3, Create a water tank

Previously, we wanted to laser cut our water tank but we are afraid that our water tank will be not leakproof. We also didn’t want to waste the 3D filament to print our water tank. Hence, we repurposed a plastic bottle into a water tank. We used scissors to cut the plastic bottle. 

Next, we cut a U-shaped slot for the tubes and wire so that we can cover the tank properly. 

video: https://youtube.com/shorts/OKK3Njr5qns?feature=share (testing water pump)

video: (testing dispensing of water) : https://youtu.be/CFKAQmauOQ8

Step 4, Combine all the codes 

We came together to combine all the separate codes for each components (soil moisture sensor, pump and LCD screen) together. 

Here’s the final code for our prototype:

Step 5, Attach the arduino kit & breadboard into our electronic box

We used duct tapes to secure the arduino kit and the breadboard to the wall of the electronic box. We also used zip ties to group the wires to make our wiring system more organised and aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, we also added small tiny tags to label the jumper wires to reduce confusion.

[add pics]

  

Step 6, Cut holes on the tube 

First, we had to find the section of the tube which will be inside the SmartPot. Next, we decided to cut the holes such that they will be facing the plant. At first, we cut a total of 6 holes into the tube, however, through trial and error we found out that using 2 holes were enough to supply the plant with sufficient water. As such, we taped up the rest of the holes using duct tape.

[SOMEONE PLS WRITE THIS PART EXCEPT HANNAH -ET]

Step 7, Transfer the plant into our prototype 

We used a shove to transfer the plant into our prototype. 

HERO SHOT with TOD:

4. Problems and solutions 

In this section, I will describe the problems encountered in the design and build process and how the team solved them.

Problems faced by the coding team (done by En Ting & Jun Hao) 

Problem	How we solved it
Problem #1: Short of components  The pump code could not work with the existing components inside the Arduino kit. We are short of 3 components which are a 9v battery, a transistor IRF520, and a Rectifier diode IN4007.  We needed a 9v battery as the submersible pump used, draws a larger current than the current that the Arduino output pins can supply.  We needed an IRF520 transistor to control the pump from the low-current signals of the Arduino’s digital pins.  We needed a diode which will be added in parallel with the pump to only allow the current to flow in one direction to protect the circuit.	Difficulty level: Easy We went down to Sim Lim Tower to get the IRF520 transistor.  We got the diode from the lab and brought the 9v battery from fairprice.
Problem #2: Used the wrong type of code After copying and editing the soil moisture sensor code we searched online, the sensor wasn’t able to sense any values. The serial monitor was generating small tiny boxes instead of a numerical value.  Capacitive sensor (one probe): Soil moisture sensor (two probe):	Difficulty level: Easy We relooked at the code and realised that the code we copied was used for a capacitive sensor which is also used to measure soil moisture but it is different from the one we got from the lab. The one that we got from the lab was called a moisture sensor module which is a simpler version than the capacitive sensor as does not require a library inside the code.  After identifying the correct type of sensor we are using, we went to search for the code and managed to let the code work.
Problem #3: Overheating of the module board When we were conducting our test run, the module board (also known as the hydrometer) was overheated and started to transmit the wrong soil moisture value to the LCD screen. The sensor was supposed to sense a value of 1% but it sensed a value of 46%.	Difficulty level: Moderate We did a quick search and realised that we might have connected the jumper wires wrongly after we unplug the wires to assemble all the components together.  We connected the VOC pin (module board) to the GND pin (Arduino kit) and the GND pin (module board) to the 5v pin (Arduino kit) which is wrong. This will cause the voltage regulator to overheat Hence, we quickly unplug the USB cable, reconnect the wires and let the module board to cool for a while to bring down the temperature.  To avoid this error, we added tags/ labels to each wire to reduce confusion and efficiency.
Problem #4: LCD Liquidcrystal library was wrong To use a LCD, the Arduino must have a library provide the functionality of the LCD into the code. Arduino libraries are written using C or C++. This means that for our LCD we must have a library known as “Liquidcrystal” downloaded. Fortunately, Arduino provides this library on their website. Unfortunately for us however, this library did not work as there as line of code inside of one of the C++ files that was written incorrectly.	Difficulty level: Easy/moderate/ hard To fix the issue of the Liquidcrystal library being wrong, we had to access the C++ file and change it manually. To do this Jun Hao downloaded Microsoft Visual Studio which is a app that allows the user to code in different languages like C#, C++ and more. After downloading this app, he manually changed the incorrect line of code, however the issue that we had during this process was that for some reason, the code would not save as the correct one. Because of this reason the code had to be delayed until we could ask someone with more knowledge.  The person we asked was Dr. Noel, our lecturer for CPDD. He kindly helped us by downloading a new correctly made library into our computers and now with the correct library, the LCD could work
Problem #5: Potentiometer not working with LCD Our original plan was to make the SmartPot with 2 inputs and 2 outputs. These 2 inputs would have been the soil moisture sensor and a potentiometer that users could use to select the soil moisture level of the soil ranging from 20% to 60%. However, when doing the code for this part, there were many issues with connecting the potentiometer to the LCD. The main one was that the value of the potentiometer, which was supposed to show up on the LCD,  did not update on the LCD when ever it was changed. For some reason the LCD did not detect the change in the potentiometer’s	Difficulty level: Hard To fix this issue we had done a lot of research on this topic and nothing came up. We suspect the reason for this to be that we had actually crafted this portion of the code by ourselves without any references other than the knowledge of how the coding language worked.  Due to this issue, we ultimately decided to cut this part of the SmartPot from our prototype. In the end, we decided that the SmartPot will only have 1 input and 2 outputs. Those being the soil moisture sensor, the LCD and the pump respectively.

Problems faced by the fusion/design team (done by Hannah, Justin & Keith)

Problem	How we solved it
Problem #1: Inaccurate orientation of the pipe The orientation of the pipe in the pot did not ensure that the water will be directly dispensed onto the plant (i.e. the pipe runs along the sides of the pot, but not in the middle where the plant is).	Difficulty level: Hard We decided to tape the tubes together in a way such that the areas where there are holes do not touch the walls, this will ensure that the water coming from the holes does not drip down along the walls but instead goes to the plant directly. We also made the holes facing the plant. This can be seen in the picture below.
Problem #2: Did not consider the placement of the soil moisture sensor The soil moisture sensor was placed at the side of the pot. This means that it will only measure the moisture level of the soil at the sides of the pot. Hence, it will not accurately measure the moisture of the soil around the plant (which is placed in the middle of the pot).	Difficulty level: Moderate We made a hole along the side of the electronic box which gave the soil moisture sensor a shorter route to reach the middle of the pot, due to its short wire length.
Problem #3: Did not consider the possible plant size  The plant we received was extremely small (i.e. only ~2cm across the diameter). This meant that our pot dimensions (15cm x 15cm x 15cm) were extremely oversized.	Difficulty level: Hard We decided to change the dimensions of our pot to 15cm x 7cm x 15cm. This led to us having to redo the CAD design on Fusion360.
Problem #4: Incorrect placement of LCD screen Placing the LCD screen on the cover of the electronic box turned out to be troublesome as the wires that connected the Arduino to the LCD screen were not long enough.  So, it will be a problem when opening the electronic box. Additionally, the placement of the LCD screen may not be very convenient for the user to view the moisture level from.	Difficulty level: Moderate We decided to place the LCD screen on the top of the electronic box, facing upwards. We felt that this was the most logical spot to place the LCD screen as the pot will usually be on the floor and it will automatically be facing the user when checking the soil moisture level. However, it also took us some time to come to a conclusion on where to place the LCD screen as it could have interfered with the latch (our working mechanism).
Problem #5: Estimating and deciding on how we were going to cut the holes along the pipe.  Finding out the number of holes to cut and their placements along the tube	Difficulty level: Moderate We first had to estimate the section of the tube that will be in the SmartPot. Next, we decided to cut 6 small holes that are facing the plant. Through trial and error, we decided that 3 holes were enough to supply the plant with water. As such, we used duct tape to cover the rest of the holes.

5. Project Design Files as downloadable files

In this section, I will provide all the design files (Fusion360 files, .dxf files, .stl files, arduino programs files) as downloadable files. 

(upload these files in onedrive or google drive of your personal account. Each person must have these files. Always check that the links to download the files are working.)

1. overall fusion model

2. 3d print handle file

3. 3d print hinge file

4. 3d print latch file

5. laser cut file

6. final coding file - pump + sensor + lcd

Hyperlink for all the design files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10VrltQO_TXpeELxPgPR7GCSvnjyK6sNl?usp=sharing 

This is the final look for our fusion360 model, showcasing the entire product.

6. Below is my Learning Reflection on the overall Project Development.

After being able sit down and take a break after producing our SmartPot, many thoughts filled my head. Without a doubt, this entire process was extremely hectic but I am glad everything turned out well. Through our journey, there were so many instances where our group faced problems and had to take a lot of time to troubleshoot them. For example, we changed the dimensions of our SmartPot about 3 times. This led to us changing many other things such as our BOM, our fusion files and etc. This took up a lot of time and we ended up having to meet outside of class time to be able to complete our product. Although this may sound like a bad thing, I enjoyed it very much as it shows how much dedication my group has towards the process of making the SmartPot and it also motivates me to put in my very best effort as well.

This also allowed me to strengthen my skills, especially in the CAD design area. Making the hinges were super frustrating, however, with time and patience I managed to somehow make it work, giving me that sense of satisfaction. This also made me feel more confident in using fusion360 and I am more willing to find designs that can give me a challenge in designing them. However, as I was not in charge of any coding in making the SmartPot, my coding is still weak as ever and I am still hoping to find opportunities in the future where I can practice more on this area.

Throughout this journey, it made me feel so appreciative and grateful for my groupmates. As mentioned earlier, seeing them put so much effort into our product also gave me strength to push on and give my very best in designing our product. As we went deeper into designing our product, I felt that we got to understand each other more and became more comfortable with one another. This allowed us to help one another when in need and give each other suggestions on how to improve our product, which made our product what it is today.

Overall, I felt that this journey allowed me to learn many things, such as my strengths and weaknesses, and I look forward to the next time where I will be able to use my skills again. CPDD has really allowed me to showcase my skills that I have learnt over the past few months and I feel very fulfilled with the way everything has turned out.