An ocean probe that can detect oil leaks on surface.
Refer to CTC IoT Teacher Guide #6.
Material:
- Arduino Yún
- Jumper wires
- 10k resistor (The colors on it are brown , black, orange and gold)
- Long wires
- Breadboard
Concept
Create a network of probes that can detect oil spills. This is a small scale simulation that could be adapted work on a larger scale.
Instructions for MDF parts
-
Punch small holes in bottom edge of cap across from each other
-
Punch small holes in side wall of cap near bottom holes
-
Insert wire through bottom hole
-
Continue threading wire through the side, making sure to expose the part with solder and twist to secure.
-
The end result should look in the following way.
How it works
The probe consists of two exposed wires placed at the bottom of a float that can measure the resistance values of whatever the wires touch by measuring the flow of the electrical current. If placed in saltwater, the probe will show that it has a low resistance/high conductivity.This is due to the salt and and other contaminants in the water. Conversely, oil has high resistance/no conductivity and also floats on water. When there is an oil spill, the float be lifted from the water and into the oil. Since the two exposed wires will only touch the oil, the probe will detect the change in resistance.
- Construct the parts needed to make floats to hold the sets of sensor wires.
- Open the “ex_oil_probe_test” from the experiments
- Upload the sketch to the Yún
- When the onboard LED L13 is on, the Yún is ready.
- Open the Serial Monitor and test each sensor probes. If not touching anything, the probe should read 0 (min value). When placed on a metal object like a coin or aluminum foil and it should read 1024 (max value)
- Open the “ex_oil_probe” from the experiments
- Make sure, that the group variable is the right number for your group
- Upload the sketch to the Yún
- When the onboard LED L13 is on, the Yún is ready
- Place each one of your probes in its own cup of water
- Add oil to some if the cups and go to this URL: http://verkstad.cc/iot/mmx/GROUPNUMBER/index.php to see if your probe have detected anything. Don’t forget to the change this URL to have your group number in it
- Check the values on the API and see what you probes have detected
Tips
- Double check that the connections are placed correctly and secure. Use the test code to check each probe’s functionality.
- Always wipe the probe clean of any water or oil before placing it back into another sample.
- Once the final code is uploaded and no data or incorrect data is coming through the Url, check the code to see if the proper group number is referenced.
Experiment further
- Try placing the float in other liquids or touch it against other objects to see how that effect the resistance.
- Using this principle of resistance detection, what else could it be used for?