Funded by an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher, WiSAR began with a full technical review of the client’s current mains-powered system. Firstly, a low voltage dosing pump was selected, and the system specification was designed around that.
The next step was to determine the power source required to power the mobile dosing system. Several options were investigated but it was determined that a dedicated rechargeable battery would be the best option maximise mobility. The energy requirements of the system hardware were then determined to ascertain the battery capacity needed to deliver an operating time of over 5 hours.
With the energy requirements scoped out, a lightweight rechargeable lithium battery was identified that could supply the current capacity required to run the system. The selection of other hardware components such as the LCD, Relay, Flow Meter, Solenoid Gate Valve, microcontroller was completed. A PCB which was then designed and manufactured to connect the power supply, dosing pump, flow meter, LCD, micro-controller and relay.
The final stage of the project was to set up the dosing pump and to develop the firmware to control the signals from both the water meter and dosing pump to accurately control the addition of agents such as fertiliser and other chemicals, to the flowing water. The client created a test rig which allowed WiSAR to confirm the functionality of the components and the overall system, which is now fully operational.
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