Universal liquid level maintaining system for overhead tank

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Universal liquid level maintaining system for overhead tank.

INTRODUCTION:
Many times we forget to switch off the motor pushing water into the overhead tank (OHT) in our households. As a result, water keeps overflowing until we notice the overflow and switch the pump off. As the OHT is usually kept on the topmost floor, it is cumbersome to go up frequently to check the water level in the OHT.

Our goal of this project is to develop a water-level controller-cum-motor protector to solve this problem. It controls on and off conditions of the motor depending upon the level of water in the tank. The status is displayed on a Seven Segment display module.

Automatic pumping control Illustration Many techniques can be employed for the solution of problem such as resistive sensor, capacitive sensor, pressure sensor, ultrasonic, laser etc to sence the liquid level in overhead tank. However the capacitive and pressure type are liquid dependent, while ultrasonic and laser are too costly. REQUIRMENTS OF THE MODULE:
1- The Module should provide continuous water level information on the LED i.e. how much percent tank is full at the moment. 2- The module should automatically turn the motor ON when the water level is lower than the preset value and continue pumping water 3- The module should Turn the pump off when the preset high level is achieved and keep the pump off until water level is dropped to low level 4- The Module should allow the user to set his desired value for low level and high level as well. I.e. at what level user wants to refill the OHT and how much water the user wants to fill in the tank.

SOLUTION FOR REQUIREMENTS:

The system takes upper and lower level requirement and maintain the liquid level in-between it. The variable resistor float moves with the liquid level and hence it resistance is changed this gives us a range of varying voltage. The change of resistance is independent of liquid type and only depends on the level of liquid. This is the reason it is named as universal liquid level maintaining system. The user input at low level and high level switch also provide system certain values of voltages. Two comparators, one for low level and another for high level compares voltages from float and user input. We have developed two solutions for the above mentioned requirements 1- Digital Control circuit 2- Analog Control Circuit

WORKING OF DIGITAL CIRCUIT:

First of all, sensor with sense the water level at the OHT, since it is a variable resistor this will be supplied to ADC. ADC is capable of generating binary code till 256 if 5 volt is supplied on the input. The Binary code generation is limited to 100 by adding a 150 Ohm resistance before ADC input. ADC provides 8-bit data which will be supplied to two paths, One for display and second part for pump control circuit. Display circuit is connected with binary to BCD converter which converts the data into BCD format. The BCD data is then input to seven segment display interfacing IC. After the interfacing IC seven segment display is installed which then displays the water level on the OHT continuously.

Block Diagram for Digital Solution

Block Diagram for Analog Circuit

The 8-bit output data for ADC is then supplied to comparator, one comparator is for sensing high level and second comparator is for sensing low level. Two dip switches are installed to set high level and low level. The low level comparator compares low level set on the dip switch and output from ADC, if condition is true then the output is supplied to inverter and after inverting the output is supplied to flip flop which in turns latches the relay and motor is started, the motor is kept started until high level is achieved The high level comparator compares the high level set on the dip switch and output from ADC, if condition is true then the output is supplied to the inverter and after inverting the output is supplied to flip flop which in turn unlatches the relay and hold the state and keep the motor off until low level is achieved.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM: COMPONENT LIST:

12345678910111213Level Sensor (Resistive) = Analog to Digital Converter= Comparator= Dip Switch= Inverter = Flip Flop= 555 timer = Binary to BCD Converter= Seven segment display interfacing= Seven segment display= Power supply (5 v)= Resistors Capacitors 01 01 02 02 01 01 01 01 01 03 01

DIFFICULTIES IN DIGITAL CIRCUIT:

Major difficulties in this circuit is the output is not stable from ADC, simple ADC is not available in the market, Binary to BCD converter IC is not available the market due to which display is not possible. Incorporating a single microprocessor can solve the above problems

WORKING OF ANALOG CIRCUIT:

The level sensor will sense the water level at the OHT, since it is a variable resistor therefore a variable voltage will be generated and this will be used for display and pump actuation. The resistance of our sensor varies from 0 Ohms to 10 kiloOhms where, the later denotes lower level and the former denotes higher level of tank. Hence the voltage varies accordingly generating electrical signals from measurand . This analog voltage is provided to IC, ICL 7017 a 3 digit display IC and comparators simultaneously. The circuit it expressed in detail in the circuit diagram. The ICL7017 is capable of direct output for seven segment display. The output from comparator is provided to flip flop and subsequently to relay which turns on and off the pump. The lower level comparator will trigger the pump on but as the level of liquid will raise the lower level, the condition for comparator will become false and the comparator output will become low which will delatch the relay and pump will turn off. To solve this problem a circuit is required to start the pump when the output of lower lever comparator is high and run the pump continuously until the high level comparator output is high. This is achieved through flip flop circuit. The clock to flip flop is supplied through another circuit consisting of LM555 timer. The following truth table is applicable to flip-flop:

INPUT OUTPUT CLR J K Q

H H H L L H L L H L H L

The user input to comparator is provided through variable resistor volume time. The levels are interlock and lower level setting cant go above 50 % while the higher level setting cant go below 50%.

DIFFICULTIES IN ANALOG CIRCUIT:

Major difficulty lies in the integration of float switch within the circuit therefore a potentiometer of 10 kohms is being modified as float switch.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM: Detailed circuit diagram is provided however for display following circuit has been used:

100
Components details: C1 = 0.1 F C2 = 0.47 F C3 = 0.22 F C4 = 100 pF C5 = 0.02 F COMPONENT LIST: R1 = 33k R2 = 47 k R3 = 100 k R4 = 10 k R5 = 1 M

123456789-

Level Sensor (Resistive) = ICL 7017 = Comparators= Potentio meter volume type= Flip Flop= 555 timer = Power supply (5 v)= Resistors Capacitors

01 01 02 02 01 01 01

Analog Circuit

Digital Circuit