A NOVEL MICROCONTROLLER-BASED PRESSURIZED FLUSHING SYSTEM FOR WATER CONSERVATION IN SMART HOMES AND PUBLIC SPACES. Masters thesis, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

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Arabic Abstract

تعتبر ندرة المياه من المشاكل الخطيرة التي تؤثر على العالم بأسره وبالذات في المناطق الجافة مثل المملكة العربية السعودية. وبالتالي لابد من اتخاذ العديد من التدابير للحد من استهلاك المياه. تستهلك عملية شطف المرحاض من اجل التخلص من الأوساخ كمية كبيرة من الماء لأعتمادها على الضغط الجوي. ولكن يمكن تقليل كمية المياه اللازمة لإنجاز نفس المهمة اذا تم ضغط المياه ضغط عالي. لا يمكن لنظام الشطف التقليدي التعامل مع هذا الضغط العالي وبالتالي لابد من استخدام الميكروكنترولور من اجل توقيت العملية كلها وحتى يمكن استخدام صمامات الكترونية ذات سرعة مناسبة. يقوم النظام المقترح بتوفير كمية كبيرة من المياه مع الحفاظ على مستوى الخدمة. أنه يوفر النظام المقترح حوالي ٦٢ لتراً يوميا للشخص الواحد مقارنةً ب 74 لتراً تستخدم حالياً في الأنظمة التقليدية.

English Abstract

Water scarcity is a serious problem that affects the entire world and in particular countries in dry regions such as Saudi Arabia. Appropriate measures have to be taken to minimize the usage of water. Toilet flushing consumes a significant percentage of water in domestic use. Water should be conserved without compromising the hygienic function of this process. In this thesis, we propose a microcontroller-based pressurized flushing system that significantly reduces water consumption when compared to the conventional gravity-based flushing system. The newly proposed system enables a dual flushing option, where the quantity of water flushed depends on the type of waste. The proposed system is a Cyber Physical System (CPS) that contains a microcontroller, various sensors and pumps to perform the physical process, which is controlling the flushing of the pressurized water. The microcontroller can process various analog and digital signals, along with many other functionalities which helps to build the proposed system. The new system, basically uses compressed air to pressurize the water which is used for flushing. Water that comes under high pressure is more effective in clearing the contents of the bowl. Thus, less amount of water is needed. The process is too fast for manual operation; hence the need for a microcontroller based approach. Typical flushing time is 300-800 milliseconds for a pressure range of 4-8 atmospheres. The gravity-based system takes approximately 5 seconds for a pressure range of 0.05-0.2 atmospheres. The process requires timed steps where both sensor inputs and actuation actions are monitored and controlled by a microcontroller. This system is designed to use lesser amount of water than the present day scenario, while maintaining the efficacy of the flushing system. The system is also simulated to check the efficiency of the system in a multi-user environment as in public spaces. The proposed system provides significant water savings with adequate quality of service. It saves around 62 liters per day per person out of 74 liters used in conventional systems i.e. 84% of water is saved using this CPS when compared to the conventional technique.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	Computer Mechanical
Department:	College of Computing and Mathematics > Computer Engineering
Committee Advisor:	Osais, Yahya
Committee Co-Advisor:	AlSadah, Jihad
Committee Members:	Sheltami, Tarek and Mahmoud, Muhammad and Mokheimer, Esmail
Depositing User:	WISAM WAHID (g201310410)
Date Deposited:	15 Jun 2016 09:54
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2019 16:34
URI:	http://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/id/eprint/140023