The design and construction of an Automatic Alarm System to monitor the water level is an electronic device which attempt to monitor the flood level/water level and to alert the user to put it off. Being an electronic device, it is Automatic and highly sensitive to water. The system is a network comprising of a Sensor Unit which is a plastic container fitted with Two Probes made of Copper Conductor; Solid State Switch which is a direct coupling of Amplifier using Complimentary Circuits of two Transistors, NPN and PNP. It consists of Oscillator Unit is an Electronic Circuit that use AC output signal without requiring any external applied input; and then the Audio power amplifier which consists of a Darlington Pair in which the Emitter of one is connected to the base of the other directly. It’s a rugged device and can be used under diverse conditions. With the low power consumption of the device, it can function for a very long time before it calls for a battery replacement. This is due to the fact that the Oscillator is in a standby mode when Flood or spillage due to over-drainage does not occur. It can withstand Mechanical Vibrations when moving it from one place to another as well as adverse condition of water (Non-distilled) be it rain, river or pond.

The Switching unit is responsible for switching ON/OFF of the buzzer when actuated; the Sensor unit normally senses the water level, indicating and sensing the water level from the designated point and Buzzer unit which is responsible for activating an Audio sound (Alarm) when the water level fills up the tank.

With the low power consumption of the device, it can be used under any condition and it can function for a very long time before the need will arise for battery replacement.

This project comprised of five chapters; Chapter One deals strictly with the Introduction which includes: Statement of the problem; Significance of the Study; Background of the Study; Scope of the Study; and Limitations of the Study.

Chapter Two contains the review of related literature; and the theory of components. Chapter Three has the Design Analysis and Block diagram. Chapter Four accounts for the construction stages, Materials used and Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation. Chapter Five contains the Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation.

TABLE OF CONTENT Page â„–

ABSTRACT-------------------------------------------------------------------------- vi.

TABLE OF CONTENT------------------------------------------------------------- vii.

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION------------------------------------------------------------ 1 - 7
2. THE BASIC FEATURES--------------------------------------------------- 7 - 8
3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM--------------------------------------- 8
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY---------------------------------------- 8 - 9
5. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY---------------------------------------- 9
6. SCOPE OF THE STUDY---------------------------------------------------- 9
7. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY------------------------------------------- 10
8. DEFINITION OF TERMS-------------------------------------------------- 10 - 11

CHAPTER TWO

2.0. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE-------------------------------- 12 - 13

2.1. THEORY OF COMPONENTS-------------------------------------------- 13 - 31

CHAPTER THREE

3.0. DESIGN AND ANALYSIS------------------------------------------------- 32

3.1. BLOCK DIAGRAM---------------------------------------------------------- 32

3.2. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM-------------------------------------------------------- 33

3.3. PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION-------------------------------------------- 34 - 35

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0. CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES/DESCRIPTION-------------------- 36

4.1. SOLDERING TECHNIQUES------------------------------------------------ 36 - 43

4.2. STEPS IN SOLDERING------------------------------------------------------ 43 - 47

4.3. TOOLS USED IN CONSTRUCTION-------------------------------------- 47 - 48

4.4. MATERIALS USED----------------------------------------------------------- 48

4.5. BILL OF ENGINEERING MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION-- 49

4.6. TESTING------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50 - 51

CHAPTER FIVE:

5.0. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION----------------------------------------- 52

5.1. RECOMMENDATION-------------------------------------------------------- 52 - 53 REFERENCES------------------------------------------------------------------ 54 - 55

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Generally, in most countries, houses and buildings tend to have two water tanks, one situated on the roof and other on the ground or sometimes underground. The received water supply is allowed to fill the lower tank first, and a water pump motor is then switched ON manually so that the water from the lower tank is pumped and shifted into the upper tank on the roof. Once the water from the lower tank is completely transferred into the upper tank, the pump is again manually switched OFF. This process may have to be repeated quite regularly and at times may become a bit of a headache. Moreover in case, one may forget or fails to do the manual switching in time, it may result in an overflowing of water and wastage.

As the name depicts, an Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level is an automatic device used to monitor a particular level of water (for example in an overhead tank) and restrict it from exceeding a certain limit. The simple circuit design for such a controller is easily built and installed and may relieve you of the trouble of manually operating the water pump in time.

The problem of lack of adequate and integrated water management has made it necessary for researchers in the field to look for a way of cushioning the effect of water spillage and wastage. Water is commonly used for Agriculture, Industry, and Domestic consumption. Therefore, efficient use and water monitoring are potential constraint for home or office water management system.

Last few decades several monitoring system integrated with water level detection have become accepted. Measuring water level is an essential task for government and residence perspective. In this way, it would be possible to track the actual implementation of such initiatives with integration of various controlling activities. Therefore, water controlling system implementation makes potential significance in home applications.

The existing automated method of level detection is described and that can be used to make a device ON/OFF. Moreover, the common method of level control for home appliance is simply to start the feed pump at a low level and allow it to run until a higher water level is reached in the water tank. This is not properly supported for adequate controlling system. Besides this, liquid level control systems are widely used for monitoring of liquid levels, reservoirs, silos, and dams etc. Usually, this kind of systems provides visual multi level as well as continuous level indication. Audio visual alarms at desired levels and automatic control of pumps based on user’s requirements can be included in this management system. Proper monitoring is needed to ensure water sustainability is actually being reached, with disbursement linked to sensing and automation. Such programmatic approach entails an Automatic Alarm based automated water level sensing and controlling.

Flood and Water scarcity is considered as one of the biggest problems that is gripping the major metro cities of the world like the case in Nigeria between 2011 and 2012. Most of the people who have easy access to resources like water have careless attitude towards issues of water scarcity and wastage, but people who face this problems knows what it takes to have water.

For us to overcome the problem of water scarcity and manage our water resources very well, we are faced with an important task of preventing wastage of water through monitoring. This can be achieved by the use of an Automatic Alarm System to monitor the water level. This is a unique but simple device that is designed to be used to measure the water level in a Tank, Fish Pond, and swimming pools thereby preventing wastage and overflow of water.

Basically, the unit of this water level indicator is made up of four sensors acting as a switch in the tank, fish ponds or pools. These set of sensors as connected to a circuit works in this way: As the water level starts to rise up, the sensors gets activated when placed at different levels in the water tank indicating the level of water in the tank. When the water level finally reaches the top most sensor, the light operating Diode is activated in the circuit as there will be a visual display as well as a sound (Alarm) from the buzzer showing that, the water is filled up in the tank and one can be alerted that the water is filled up and the water source has to be disconnected or switched off (in case of a pump) thereby saving electrical energy as well as preventing an overflow of water from the tank.

1.1 THE BASIC FEATURES

The technique of an Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level is concentrated with some basic parts which are softly aggregated together in our proposed method. Basic descriptions of some parts are described below.

Water Level Indicator

For water level indicator unit we used some LED light which work for water level indication. By touching different water levels through water level sensor, LED should be indicated as ON/OFF (i.e. ON: yes sensor senses water).

Sensor Unit

To make water level sensor we used some convenient materials such as; Iron rod, nozzles, resistance wire, rubber etc. A connecting rod made of iron and steel which was connected with ground and need at least four nozzles which are connected with +5V via a 1kΩ resistance. We need to bind them together and put a rubber at their joint point which will act as an insulator for every nozzle. When the sensor comes in contact with water, nozzles and connecting rod get electric connection using water conductivity.

The sensor unit consists of two parts namely; the rod and the nozzle. Rod is made by iron and steel, that is connected with ground. Nozzles are connected with +5v. Iron rod and nozzles are binding together via a rubber. Rubber is used to make the electrical connection of iron rod and nozzles separate. Due to water conductivity 22kΩ resistance has been used. The basic operation is, when one nozzle of the sensor is drawn into water, nozzle and rod becomes connected due to water conductivity. Then nozzle gets ground signal (0v) which is connected with input of the inverter. The output of inverter is connected as the input of microcontroller which makes LEDs on/off, acts as user display unit.

The circuit part

It comprises the electrical system where all point connections are arranged for effective output which controls the functionability of the whole system.

The power supply

It is the part that supplies a regulated 9Volts power to the circuit.

The buzzer part

It is responsible for activating an Audio sound (Alarm) when the water level fills up the tank.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Today, most of the Water tanks and fish pond users have replaced conventional pumps with Electrical pumps, but they found it inconvenient due to the conditions of water pumps because there is no effective water level indicator.

As a result of this, if the mechanical sensors fail, there will be plenty of water wastage as well as wastage in terms of power consumed by the motor pump.

It is therefore pertinent to avoid flood and water wastage by introducing this device which is an Automatic Alarm System that monitors the water level and gives an Audio-Visual display Alert System for the users.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

A water level indicator employs a simple mechanism to detect and indicate the water level in an overhead tank or any water trough.

An Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level is a simple device because it is easy to operate. It is also economical because, it prevents scarcity and overflow of water. This simple but versatile device indicates the level of water in the tank and gives an Alarm when the water level is below the lowest set level and also when water just touches the highest set level.

This device is designed to display four different levels. However, these display levels can be increased or decreased depending on the level resolution required. This can be done by increasing or decreasing the number of level detector metal strips and their associated components.

1.4 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In most houses, water is first stored in an underground tank (UGT) and from there it is pumped up to the overhead tank (OHT) located on the roof. People generally switch on the pump when their taps go dry and switch off the pump when the overhead tank starts overflowing. This results in the unnecessary wastage and sometimes non-availability of water in the case of emergency.

The simple Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level circuit here makes this system automatic. i.e. it switches on the Alarm when the water level in the tank goes low and switches it off as soon as the water level reaches a pre-determined level. It also prevents spillage in case the tank fills up.

In this project, the introduced Automatic Alarm System of monitoring water level and management is within the context of electrical conductivity of the water. More specifically, we investigated the Transistor based water level sensing and controlling switch system in a wired environment. Water Level management approach would help in reducing the home power consumption and as well as water overflow.

1.5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

An Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level is designed for both large and small water reservoir. The device must be installed by a trained professional.

This device consists of Resistors, Transistors, Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s), Beaker, IC CD 4066 and switch.

1.6. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In the course of designing this project, we encountered problems like inadequate materials, time management due to other vigorous academic engagements and also financial restrictions as factors that limit this work in the sense that, all stages of this work are affected by cost as all the information gathered are dependent on the amount of money available. With this in mind, we have decided to limit our research work on an Audio-visual alert System which is an Automatic Alarm System to monitor water level.

1.7. DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Resistors: A resistor is an electric component that has the property of opposing the flow of current.

Transistor: A transistor is a semi-conductor device that can either amplify an electronic signal or act as an electronic switch.

LED’s: These are semi-conductor devices that emit visible light when an electric current passes through them.

Beaker: This is a simple container for stirring, mixing and heating liquids. It also holds liquid quantity of solution as used in many laboratories.

ICCD 4006: This is an IC device that contains four analogue bilateral switches, each with an active-high enable input (A) and two input/output.

Switch: This is a device that allows current to flow through a circuit when it is closed and when it is opened, current drops to zero.

Cable: This is a metallic conductor made of two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted and braided to form a single assembly.

Speaker: This is an electromagnetic device that converts electrical energy and magnetic energy into mechanical energy in form of sound i.e. translate electronic signals stored in tapes and DVD’s into audible sounds.

Battery: This is a device containing electrolytic cells which stores electrical charges (energy) in form of chemical energy i.e. it converts chemically stored energy into electrical energy