IK SEMINAR MAIN

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND STUDY From time immemorial humans used the sun to dry many things, which is a process known as sun drying. Sun drying is carried out in the farm, home, industry, laboratory, hospitals and other institution for number of reasons. (Oyubu A.O, 2015). These reasons ranges from totally driving out water molecules from the things being dried, outright drying, like clothes, some farm produce, during building work, and in sculpture to exposing certain electronic materials/components directly to the sun so that the ultra- violet rays from the sun can cause some changes in the component, and in pharmaceutical/chemical industries where certain plants are used for pharmaceutical purpose/chemicals are exposed to direct sunlight for a while to cause some chemical changes in them and even at home sometimes when we open our windows to allow the sun rays to fall into our rooms to eliminate dampness, and allows for proper aeration( P. Campbell, et al 2005). When rain falls, it will cause a setback to all the reasons for sun-drying enumerated above due to the inability to detect the time it starts to rain, especially when the materials being sun dried are not retrieved quickly. The presence of rain is a meteorological phenomenon that is of great importance in weather and climate, and its presence and severity has greatly affect human activity. The ability to detect rain, is of great important in many fields and applications. The wireless rain detector with notification can help us live with the inconvenience brought to us and also improve your lifestyle gives by giving one a heads-up the instant it starts to rain hopefully giving you time to retrieve the materials being sun dried, close your windows, and bring in possession which is absolutely imperative. Also, since it can rain at any time without any warning, clothes in a clothe line outside the house that are almost dry may get wet if we do not realize it is raining on time. Some may ask why we detect rain. We detect it in order to take necessary action and to manage the inconvenience brought to us by rain. Fig 1 DIAGRAM OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM 1.2 PROMBLEM STATEMENT Rain is a natural phenomenon that occurs in our everyday life, it has an element of disaster due to the rate of damages that occur to our industries and home possessions whenever it is raining. The rate of damages that occurs, due to the inability to detect whenever it is raining, has caused a lot of setback in very one’s life. Housewives or other users may not be aware of the presence of rain when they are busy doing something else. It may cause the clothes hanging on the clothesline outside the house and other materials to get wet again due to slow ability to detect the presence of rain on time. It will rain at any time without realizing it. In a firm, certain people inside may not be aware of what is happening outside in order to protect rain damaging materials. The solution to the above problem is by having an automated rain detector, which can automatically send out a notification about the incoming rain when there is a need. The device will help prevent the disadvantage that occurs by alerting people in general to be on the safer side and other users when it rains. Thus, the problem of not knowing when it is raining can be eliminated by having a wireless rain detector with notification which can evaluate the existing problem by detecting the presence of rain and altering the user on time when it starts to rain. 1.3OBJECTIVES The aim of the study is to review a reliable, scalable and cost effective Wireless rain detector system that will be able to solve the problems listed in (1.2) above. The following activities will be undertaken to achieve the main objectives: 1 To investigate the practicality of the theoretical knowledge about these components to be used. 2 To review on the compatibility of the working relation between components to be used. 3 To investigate the extent to which the control unit can be useful to mankind. 1.3 JUSTIFICATION This system is significant because looking from an environmental perspective it could help reduce the damage that occurs to our possession during rain fall, in particular this study could benefit future researcher as it may serve as a reference for further studies about the system. 1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT WORK The Wireless Rain Detector System that will serve as an improvement to the society by detecting the presence of rainfall. The device cannot predict or forecast the actual time it will rain but made to detect the presence of rain at a particular time. This work cover’s the aspect of using hardwire approach to establish a wireless rain detector with an indicator, the wireless rain detector comprises of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter channel is made to detect the presence of the rain and to transmit is to the receiving channel which is made to receive the information been transmitted. The wireless aspect is a radio telemetry which specializes on a short distant communication, it is a close range wireless system which involve point to point network. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 REVIEW OF RELATED WORKS For a number years Research and development for raindrop detection started a long time ago, but became more popular around 1970 (H. kajioka et al 1989). Some works on Rain water detection have been done by electronic designers/hobbyist. These works range from the application of rain detector circuit/device in irrigation, collecting rain water for domestic and industrial use a process known as rain water harvesting to using rain detector/Sensor in automobiles to control the power windows and roof whenever it senses moisture a design known as automatic rain sensing windows. REVIEW OF A RAIN WATER DETECTOR-ALARM SYSTEM. In June 2015 OYUBU A.O work on the design and implementation of a rain water detector-alarm system. The project was design principally on the knowledge of digital circuitry. The design has a sensor that detect the presence of rain, and an indicator to notify the user about the rain by using an alarming circuit. In year 2005 (P. Campbell, et al,) in their work they incorporated a rain detection system into an Automatic Rain sensing windows to create a device that will allow car windows to roll up automatically when it rains thereby preventing the interior from getting destroyed. The design was essentially used with automobiles. Campbell scientific (2005) built a rain detector which functions to detect whether it is raining or snowing, and the output used to control another circuit. Mohammed Hadi Ismail 2008 incorporated a rain detector in his work designed to harvest rain water automatically and store same in reservoir for domestic use. Other electronic hobbyists have designed one form of rain detector/sensor in the past but the main objective of this work which is detecting rain and alerting the user was never considered. Review of Rain Detection System for Power Windows (2015) They have presented automatic wiper system during rain, rain detection system proposed by them by incorporating a rain detector system. The rain detection box contains a series of rain sensors. The data processing unit contains the microcontroller. The motor control module is composed of the motor and its control circuit. The rain detection unit uses two types of sensors whose outputs are normalized by an input signal module. The data processing is performed by a microcontroller and its results are fed into an output signal module which is the input to the motor control box. The two signal modules were needed for interfacing between all the units. Some work has been done as (I.A. Khan et al. 2015). They have presented zone wise vehicle parameter control. There are various parameters which have been discussed in this paper like speed, horn, wipers and window pane. In 1958, the Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors experimented with a water sensitive switch that triggered various electric motors to close the convertible top and raise the open windows of a specially-built Eldorado model, in case of rain. The Earlier Technology is based on the Automatic Rain Detection System which automatically starts window wipers whenever rain is detected. The device is fitted on the windshield which senses rain and starts the wipers. The automatic wiper activation system consists of sensor modules, wires, wiper module and controller module. When rain falls on the car, the signal is sent to the moisture impedance sensor which is located at the top. It sends the signal to the controller module and then the signal is send to the wiper motor which closes the glass. The limitation is base on the reliability of the system the grid sensor is effective at detecting rain, but it does a poor job relaying how much water is on the windshield glass at any point in time. Also the downfall is that, the rain threshold for the sensor was lowered and it was not as easy to determine when moisture was present MARE Windshield Wiper System The primary goal of MARE is to automatically detect rainfall and activate the windshield wipers without driver interaction. This system should respond to rainfall in a similar manner as if the driver were manually controlling his or her windshield wipers. In the project proposal, the team included a voice-activation feature as a project goal. During prototype development it became evident to the team that the inclusion of the speech recognition feature would require more development hours than available, thus adversely affecting the project deadline; therefore, this feature was not included in the prototype. There are products similar to the MARE system that is currently on the market. Existing comparable products on the market include the Rain Tracker system by Opto-Electronic Design, Inc. and the TRW rain sensor. Both the TRW rain sensor and the Rain Tracker detect rain through IR sensors that are located behind the rear view mirror and interpret changes in light patterns that are caused by the precipitation on the windshield. The improvement of existing windshield wiper systems is still an area of interest for researchers. In 2001, researchers presented a report at an IEEE conference that concentrated on the design and implementation of a rain sensing system. In 2005, they proposed a windshield wiper system that used small cameras installed in cars’ windshield to detect rain. The limitation is base on the reliability of the system the grid sensor is effective at detecting rain, but it does a poor job relaying how much water is on the windshield glass at any point in time. Also the downfall is that, the rain threshold for the sensor was lowered and it was not as easy to determine when moisture was present. The Detection System for Power Windows is said to be activated when car ignition is off which can been seen as the limitation because when the car ignition is on and the device detect rain, the system cannot prevent the interior destruction that may occur, because the system can only be activated only when the car ignition system is off. 2.2 FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAIN, THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SENSOR USED IN THE DETECTION OF RAIN WHICH INCLUDE Resistive Rain Sensor. Capacitive Rain Sensor. Mechanical Rain Sensor. Optical Rain Sensor. Car Optical Rain Sensor. Sound Rain Sensor. Weather Sensor, Cloud and Rain Detection Resistive Rain Sensor The sensor works base on the resistance of the water. you can visually see the expose copper strips from this sensor. The running copper strip in proximity is exposed on the surface of the PCB board. They look like crossing fingers and basically form two point of contact. fig2. Resistive Rain Sensor When the sensor is dry, the resistance between both contact is very large (open circuit). When there is water on the surface of the board (touching the expose copper), the water forms a resistive connection across the 2 copper strip, this change in resistance allows the circuit to detect rain. Capacitive Rain Senor This Capacitive has a top plate which detects the change of capacitance when the water is on the plate. Fig3. Capacitive Rain Senor Mechanical Rain Sensor This is very clever design rain sensor from rain-bird that uses the principle of mechanical weight to activate a switch inside as a means to detect rain water. Fig4.Mechanical Rain Sensor Optical rain sensor It works by detecting the IR light intensity reflected on the transparent top. When the water gets on the surface, some of the light gets refracted out. less light gets reflected internally. The reduced in the intensity detected indicates the presence of water. The rain detection response from this optical rain sensor is fast. Fig5. Optical rain sensor Car optical rain sensor They are designed to be small and usually fitted behind the car’s front window (usually right behind the car’s rear mirror). fig6. Car optical rain sensor Sound rain sensor This sensor detects the sound of the dropping rain. The rain will hit on the platform which will generate vibration which will be picked up by the sensor. Fig7. Sound rain sensor Weather sensor, cloud and rain detection This is an advance environmental sensor which can detect the cloud and sky condition. It can also measure wind speed temperature, etc… This sensor can detect dark cloud and coming rain. It is commonly used for astronomy observatory. Fig8. Weather sensor, cloud and rain detection Table1 Example in Nanyang polytechnic in Singapor School of electronic/electrical Engineering, the system was used in astronomy telescope to detect the rain in order to send an alert to the computer system which will trigger the dome controller to close the dome preventing the expensive telescope and computer system from getting damage by the rain (PIC-CONTORL.COM 2015). CHAPTER THREE MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.1 MATERIALS Introduction to some of the materials used Transistor Resistors 555Timer (etc) 3.1.1 TRANSISTOR A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier or an electrically control switch. The transistor is the fundamental building block of the circuitry in computers, cellular phones, and all other modern electronics because of its fast response and accuracy, the transistor is used in a wide variety of digital and analog functions, including amplification, switching, voltage regulation, signal modulation and oscillators. there are two main types, NPN and PNP Fig9. SYMBOL OF A TRANSISTOR 3.1.2 RESISTORS The resistor is one of the most and common yet important components Used in electronics. Its primary function is to resist the flow of electricity In a defined manner. The resistance of a resistor is specified in ohms Named after the physicist ohm Fig10.THE RESISTOR 3.1.3 TIMERS Timer integrated circuits could be realized using the 555timer IC. The 555timer is a highly stable device for generating accurate time delay or oscillation. Additional terminals are provided for triggering or resetting of desired. The 555timer can operate in mono-stable mode as a one shot timer Fig 11 T=1.1RtC 3.2 METHOD The method adopted in this the system is called the hardware. The hardware section consists of the power supply unit, and the audio output unit which functions to alert the user of the presence of rain, the 555 timer and also the sensor. The 555 timer is essentially made the controller, it control the whole operation of the project which is also known as the heart of the project. The sensor carryout the specific functions of sensing the minutest drop of rain water and alerting the user of the presence of rain by triggering ON the audio output (Buzzer). There are many methods of designing a wireless rain detector with an indicator The approach used in this work is the modular design approach. The overall design is broken into function block diagrams, where each block in the diagram represent a section of the circuit that carries out a specific function. The device are divided into two part namely the transmitter and receiver transmission Fig12 .BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE TRANSMITTER CIRCUIT SENSING UNIT TRANSMITER PLANE 433MHZ PHASE INVERTER/TRANSISTOR INTERFACE LEVEL-SHIFTING POWER UNIT Fig13.BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE RECIEVER CIRCUIT BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION 3.3.1 WIRELESS DETECTION MODULE The wireless detection module is used to transmit the acquired values as detected by the sensor. These physical parameters or value will be converted from analog signal to digital data for further processing. The digital data after been processed is then transmitted into the air by an RF. module. At the receiving end, the job of the RF. communication module (receiver unit) is to detect those incoming digital values from the air and demodulate (transform) the signal into sound. The output sound produced is by an output transducer called buzzer. A buzzer is an electrical component that converts electrical signal into sound. The most fundamental choice to be made in the design of the wireless detection module is the selection of its operating frequency. The RF. signal must comply with government regulations and wireless standards. Currently, frequencies used for wireless systems include 315 MHz, 433 MHz, 868 MHz (for Europe and Nigeria), 915 MHz (North America), and the 2.45-GHz Industrial-Scientific- Medical (ISM) band. Power supply unit The power supply unit consists of a 12V Transformer for powering the circuit. The 12V supply is however regulated for use with the by regulating it to 5Vdc supply for the 555TIMER using a fixed voltage regulator LM7805. Fig14: LM7805 This device appears to be a comparatively simple device but it is actually a very complex integrated circuit. A regulator converts varying input voltage and produces a constant “Regulated” output voltage. Voltage regulators are available in a variety of output, typically 5 volts, 9 volts and 12 volts. The last two digits in their respective name indicates the output voltage. Examples of regulator are listed below; Table 2 The “LM78xx” series of voltage regulators are designed for positive inputs while “LM79xx series are used for negative input. Sensing unit The sensor is essentially made up of a Vero-board which will receive the droplets of rain water and send signals to the for processing. The verobaord’s multiple interfaces which are also in close proximity with each other plays a vital role here. The board’s stripes of interfaces were wired alternately such that all odd lines of stripes are linked, the even lines are also linked in same way. While the odd stripes are connected to the level shifting which is then passed to the MMV, the even stripes are connected to Vcc. This is so done so that whenever the veroboard receives even the minutest drop of rain water, both terminals are easily shorted and signal is then sent .The output of the MMV which becomes high on receiving the signal drives the NPN transistor to saturation which consequently switches ON the audio output to alert user of the presence of rain. Fig15. Sensing unit ALARM UNIT The alarm unit of this device is a buzzer connected to the output of the MMV module. When the base voltage (Signal from the MMV) appears at the base of the transistor, the transistor is driven to saturation and allows current to flow in the buzzer thereby turning it ON {Buzzing to alert the user of the presence of Rain}.The Buzzer used in this work is the 9V, 4KHZ, 17MM H8MM PCB mount Piezoelectric type.. A 4.7K and 2.2k resistor is used to bias the base of the transistor. The collector of the transistor is connected to the positive supply through the buzzer, while the emitter terminal is connected to the- negative terminal Fig16. Shows the connection of the resistors and buzzer. NE555 MMV   CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 SUMMARY The rain water detector-alarm system will be useful in both domestic and industrial applications. It alerts the user(s) of the presence of rain when it is just about to rain as even the minutest droplets of water triggers it ‘ON’ thereby giving the user time to retrieve possessions, shut windows, and in some cases prepare to harvest rain water. The device when properly placed to receive the first set of droplets of rain water can save the user from damaging possessions that were being sundried/prevent rain from entering homes, offices, and silos to mention but a few. 4.2 CONCLUSION From the research been conclude, the wireless rain detector system is a self-simple system, use to limit the damages that occurs to our possessions when it rains. We can easily use in home, office and wherever it can be used based on our requirement .So it makes life easy to our next generation 4.3 RECOMMENDATION I will recommend that this system is implemented for detecting rain either in domestic area such as places of educational institutions, residential and industrial areas which avoids endangering of human possession. This system provides quick response. 18 20