Saturday, 31 January 2009

Automatic Bucket Filler

It's been a while since my last NXT project, and since i got a week off for CNY so why not do some home improvement to make the home a better place to live in, right ?

In the house i live in, "someone" just have a strange habit where they like to leave the tap dripping all the time and i can never understand the logic or the rationale behind it. So i decided to probe deeper and find out the answer - "Oh, i just leave it dripping all the time so it will fill up the bucket automatically" was the reply i got :S

The problem was the bucket overflows all the time that is a tremendous waste of H2O...Hence, i came up with the Automatic Bucket Filler.

This system consists of one motor and one touch sensor. When the water level is low, the ball drops to a lower level and the touch sensor is released, signalling the NXT to rotate the motor to turn on the tap; when the water level is high, the ball raises due to buoyancy and presses the touch sensor, signalling the NXT to turn off the tap.
The motor turns the tap.
The ball rises and lowers depending on the level of the water, and when the level is high enough the ball will press on the touch sensor to signal the NXT to turn off the tap.

Ok, i know you can't wait to ask me how much can i save with this system and what's the ROI ? After doing some simple calculations,

Annual savings on water bill : RM 5
Cost of Mindstorms NXT      : RM 1400
Return on investment (ROI): RM 1400/RM 5 = 280 years !

Hey, just 280 years only mah, not bad wat... after 280 years can start saving RM 5 every year oredi, so chun !