Solar Powered Watering

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1

Problem:

Problem: Water the plant without water the plants by yourself.

Problem: Less work and don’t need to water the plant everyday by yourself.

Problem: Part of the electricity come from the solar panel.

Name:

Alex Qian, Joe Lyu

School:

Bonita Canyon

Teacher:

Science teacher: Mr.Cady

Classroom teacher for Joe: Mrs.Nazari

Classroom teacher for Alex: Mrs.Arledge

Abstract

There are a lot of ways to water the plants such as people watering the plant. We got an idea to make a small machine that water the plant by using solar energy. It can help the farmers by not needing to water the plants by themselves because the machine will water the plants. Another way is for families because sometimes families go on a trip and their plants will die but if you use this machine the plant’s vacuole will have a lot of water so the plants will be healthy. It has two pipes, one for pumping water and one for carrying it out. First of all, it's because it has a motor with a fan running at the junction of the two. The pipe that pumps the water is directly in front of the motor, so it creates a suction force that pumps the water to its full capacity. The side of the propeller blade of the motor, the side pushes again, and the water is pushed out again with its wind force. If you want to stop it, you can. Turn the power off. To start it, if you want it to use water, turn the power on. Because the water goes into the tub and it transfers the water to the plants and the plant then gets water.

Red=problem

orange=how it work

yellow=why it work or what make it work

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Introduction (Background Research)

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• Almost every time we see a farm we think about how hard the farmers water the plants nearly every day. So we got an idea and it is a thing that can water the plants by itself. Then we searched it on Google and we found out this which is the picture. We will build a thing is similar to this.

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• We got it from Google first and then we watched YouTube. We searched irrigation system project on Google and we found this on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWUoVV1TVbU&t=7s

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• The inventor of converting solar energy into electricity was Nikola Tesla. The first people who invented the irrigation system were the Mesopotamians, but people invented the automatic irrigation system in about 1950.

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The Engineering Solution, Prototype/Model to be tested.

The place we store water is a little leaky so we used glue to stick the plastic wrap under it so it wouldn't leak so much. There were a few spots where we needed to weld it so Alex’s brother helped us a bit and taught us how to do it and now we know how to welding. In the water pump, the “fan” was stuck, and we cut it smaller so that water could go through. Alex knows how to do 3D printing but we don’t know how to make the “map” so Alex’s brother 3D printed the thing we need. Last, we still solve all of our problems.

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Materials

• foam board 43cm x 22cm x 8cm (1)
• Solar panel 5V (1)
• Lithium battery 3.5V (1)
• small motor (1)
• bottle caps (2)
• TP4056 5V 1A Micro USB Lithium Battery Charging Board Charger Module (1)
• switch (1)
• small square pieces of bottle (4)
• straws (7)
• wires (9)
• plastic wrap 18cm x 14cm (1)
• plastic bottle (0.5)
• fake grass 6.5 x 6 (1)

type of materials: green number: blue

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L x W x H

Procedure

1.make the base and decorate it

2.make the farm and the reuse water tube

3.glue the solar panel and the battery

4.weld the part we need

5.make water pump

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There was two problem when we were doing this project. 1:the water was leaking and we change the plastic wrap into plastic and now it is good 2:the water pump don’t have enough power so then we make the fan thicker so it is more powerful and it work

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Results – Data/Observations

• When we are testing we saw there is water leaking and the water is not coming out of the tube so we know the water pump don’t have enough power. After we fix 5 time we made the test.

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• If the water sours is full it will lose about 50% of water and it come back
• last test we made it the water is not leak and the water pump sent the water to the farm then it come it back from the other tube.

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Revised Solution and Prototype/Model

• We change part of it because there were problems. 1: We change the plastic wrap in to the lower half of a plastic bottle because it was leaking we we use the plastic wrap. 2: We made the water pump’s fan thicker so it have more strength on the fans.

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• Our “water source” is now smaller than before because the water bottle is smaller than old one (the box) so the amount of water we store is now about 15% less than before.

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Discussion

• We tested the system six times to ensure it works successfully. The new water source have about 15% less water than before, but it does not leak. Because we are using fake grass, we lose about 30% of water each time. Because, the farm has some leaks, so water may escape through small gaps. Or it will be like 5%. I think if we use real soil and plant it will take 70% water first time and it will be like 20% third time because the soil is already wet.

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• At the end most thing go well as water we expect but the only thing is the farm is leaking.

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Conclusion

• We change part of the foam to a piece of plastic bag and now the water is not leak any more.

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• Because the water got suck by the water pump and then the water pump push the water in to the tube and the water flow in to the farm and the water flow back to the place we store water. So the water is reused and it also water the plants.

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• Farmers can use it so they don’t need water all the plants.

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• If the place we store water have not a lot of water and there are not rains we will add more water in the the “pond”

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Reflection/Application

• We learn how to welding, how to teamwork,and how to make water pump.

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• We will make the place where we store water not that leak.

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• Maybe make one in our house and use it to water plants.

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• It will help people by after building it will water the plants by it self.

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• The water can be reused, and the solar panel can charge the battery.

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• We think team can help by each person have different idea so we can have more choice. But a team might spend a lot of time arguing which choice it better and they might get angry.

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• Alex’s brother teach welding

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• Amazing Solar Power Irrigation System Project Model for school science

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• Joe’s mom bought some materials

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• what we learn for this project learn how to make water pump, welding, practice teamwork, get better at english, and know how to prepare time

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References Cited

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Video

Click that

In side water pump there is the fans.

TP4056 5V 1A Micro USB Lithium Battery Charging Board Charger Module

Solar Panel

Battery

Button

Water pump

Farm

The holes in the farm

The “little pond”