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== See also ==
== See also ==


* [[]]
* [[http://www.appropedia.org/Gravity_fed_drip_irrigation,_semi-automated This is the original garden]]
* [[]]
* [[globalgoalsclub.weebly.com The Global Goals club page]]
* [[]]
* [[]]



Revision as of 19:41, 16 July 2017

Gravity fed drip irrigation, with hands free, full automation controlled and monitored at the plant.

Welcome, this is the wiki I intend to enter into the Global Goals clubs challenge and ask that you support me. I believe I've found a way to automate a garden for the soul purpose of feeding large amounts of people without spending much money.I propose mixing tech in the form of plastic recycling, making a sustainable plastic reuse or remake, to create the parts required. This especially aims at the 3d print community, since the following 3d printer can be build at a price which makes it interesting for the field.

Mobile Solar powered 3D printer

I want to prove that a group of young engineers can solve a problem which could change the world, yet should be so simple to deploy, that it could be put in place anywhere with a box delivered by a drone. That through the use of simple inexpensive smartphones, with application so simple to use, that even a child could follow the instructions for a garden of anywhere from 30 to 3000 plants, automatically watered through the use of minicomputers such as the Raspberry Pi and some sort of control mechanism at each plant. Electricity can be provided through solar, wind or water, depending on what's available. It's possible that the Internet of Things (IoT) could be used to control an entire garden, each plant with it's own address. I hope you catch my point and welcome any questions you might have, please feel free also to add what you know or what answer you'd like to search for.

This is a team project, please accept that and also that English is used to provide the biggest audience as possible.

If the idea interests you, please feel free to add your part, I need all the help I can get, although for a young engineer, this should be childs play. Pardon the pun! :-). Let it be your playground, here you are welcome to document your experiments, with the end goal of competing in the Zero Hunger challenge to be judged on 1 Jan 2020.

What follows is the beginnings of an outline! Here I've begun with open questions and intend to fill, with your help, from here. This could be the starting point for a school project or just a way to try something new. Please look through what has already been done and try to improve on something. This project is open to all, anyone with ideas can feel free to edit the text below as long as you intend to improve the process.

Here begins the work section!

It begins with a drip system based on the one at the following link: Drip irrigation

I ask you to look at it and find a part that you could play in automating it. To me it's a garden which could be packed in a crate with all parts not made of 3d printable materials, together with instruction built into an inexpensive smartphone, which was so programmed that a child in Africa could open a box delivered by a drone and know exactly what needs to be done. This all seams like a dream, but each of you reading this know a small part of the answer. The Global Goals club and I ask you to help us create it for the big challenge.

This garden is a typical drip irrigation, with the exception that everything is computer controlled and monitored, allowing the garden to go practically unattended for long periods of time. The beauty is that there are very few moving parts and little which can't be made out of recycled plastic, motors out of old CD drives and an inexpensive computer such as the Raspberry Pi. The garden it's based on had 30 plants, but is easily expandable and could include any number of 30 plant systems running off of the same pump.

We begin at the plant:

  • A Stake to hold the dripper and any other components away from the dirt
    • 3d printed to hold all mechanisms needed to manage the water going to each plant
      • possible IoT module This would allow wireless operation
      • cables and electricity planned in Wires are somewhat clumsy, but only need to be laid once
      • A squeeze mechanism To regulate the frequency of drops so the water amount can be accurately managed
      • Drip counter Possibly 2 wires which short when a drop hits
      • Soil moisture Would give the computer an accurate reading of penetration
        • At what depth does the reading provide the most accurate info
        • Is this needed?
    • Have your stake drawn into a printer file here!


  • Drip creation By limiting water flow to drops, irrigation can be accurately measured and controlled automatically
    • Squeeze hose end with motor
    • Muscle like fiber
    • What else could be used? Maybe you have another idea.
    • What works best? If cost didn't matter.
    • What's the cheapest? Effective, yet
  • Sensors at the plant
    • Drip counter
    • Soil moisture
    • Minerals?


  • IoT or cable Interface to computer?
    • Feedback to computer
    • Instructions from Computer


Computer

  • Control everything
    • Drip rate dependent upon feedback from sensors
    • Open windows/doors dependent on air temp/moisture
    • Possibly shade
    • Database or other means of tracking


Networking + interfacing + programming


Recycling

  • Can we turn old plastic into usable parts?
    • 3d printing Make ribbons
    • Molding Tanks, tubing, etc
    • Reuse as it is

External sensors

  • Air temp
  • Rain sensor
  • Weather
  • Humidity
  • Day/night

See also

External links

  • []


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