The nominations for the2021 3D印刷行业奖are now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this year’s show? Have your say now.
Researchers atSanta Clara Universityhave used 3D printing to build an upgraded version of the hydration sensing units deployed in agricultural irrigation systems.
通过重新设计,3 d打印技术和迭代部分of these sensors, the engineers have been able to improve their thermal detection capabilities, and shrink their overall size. In doing so, the team has also managed to reduce their cost, thus farmers could now feasibly use such sensors on a broader scale than before, to ensure that valuable vegetation or exotic herbs are watered sufficiently to flourish.
“By upgrading to more efficient components, creating a compact and modular design, and crafting a custom 3D printed shell, our Sensing Unit (SU) was upgraded into a much more powerful hardware system,” said the researchers in their paper. “Our hydration automation system has been adapted to be a much more capable and widely-applicable Internet of Things (IoT) solution.”
探索农业自动化
当部署在室外设置,所谓的国际米兰net of Things (IoT) systems such as agricultural automation technologies, effectively enable farmers to monitor their crops from afar. In practise though, such setups require the use of small-but-sensitive nodes, capable of detecting how much moisture a given plant needs, and relaying this information back to a controlling server.
During usage, these sensing units are often left exposed to direct sunlight, meaning that they’re subject to humidity and extreme temperature fluctuations, which can affect their performance. Back in 2019, the Santa Clara team attempted to overcome these potential issues by creating their ‘AB’ in-house routing protocol, which allowed units to interact with servers through a more robust subsystem.
However, the team found that their sensing device itself still “had room for improvement,” thus they’ve now turned to 3D printing as a means of realizing a more compact design, optimizing their unit’s detection capabilities and making it energy-efficient, as well as cheaper to manufacture and ultimately more scalable than existing alternatives.
Sensing a market opportunity?
Nicknamed Sensing Unit 2.0 or ‘SU 2.0,’ the researchers’ upgraded device features a node board, communications module, ultrasonic sensor, thermal sensor, voltage regulator, battery and solar panel. Housed within a 3D printed capsule, the SU 2.0’s components are divided up by printed separators, which allow users to upgrade parts where desired, without risking damage to any surrounding compartments.
According to the team, their device’s voltage regulator has also become critical to the unit’s design, as is enables the unit’s battery to operate at 3.6v and its ultrasonic sensor to run at 5v, and through sheer rejigging ingenuity, the engineers have been able to make the SU 2.0 operate around 15% more energy-efficiently than the SU 1.0.
In terms of hardware additions, one of the biggest upgrades the researchers have made to their device is the introduction of a thermal module. Working in tandem with the SU’s algorithm, the sensor can now relay any weather or temperature-related information to a central server, where this can be analyzed and used to recommend potentially crop-saving actions to farmers.
同样，鉴于他们的SU可能会在户外部署（除非种植某些草药疗法），因此3D团队从防雨的PET中打印了其套管。传感器还设计为侧面的悬垂物，作为缩小设备插槽所需的间隙，同时将其内部电缆抬起，以防止它们在沉重的淋浴期间弄湿。
In order to put all these upgrades to the test, the team eventually subjected their device to power and waterproofing evaluations. Although initial results showed that no water was able to contact the capsule’s circuitry, it was able to run on stored power for over a week without sunlight, and it cost just $62 to build, the researchers have now identified further performance enhancements for their farming system.
除了将其单位与Wi-Fi和磁连接器一起安装而不是螺钉外，研究人员还调查了将数据趋势和天气监测时间表借鉴作物的可能性。不过，总的来说，他们认为SU 2.0是其先前设计的明显改进，并且由于其3D打印的外壳，他们说它甚至可能具有大众市场的潜力。
“SU 2.0 has improved upon many limitations of the previous iteration such as energy efficiency and size, while offering new features such as improved waterproofing,” concluded the team in their paper. “The SU improvements have enabled the mass-production, real world deployment, and utilization of small form factor and cost-effective-yet sustainable IoT SUs for hydration automation.”
3D打印气候传感器
奇怪的是，由于农业初创公司Dragontech最近采取了类似的方法，因此圣塔克拉拉（Santa Clara）团队的传感器并不代表3D打印第一次使用3D打印。使用Makerbot机器，该公司现在为其设计和原型零件drone data gathering platform，这可以帮助农民确定其领域中的任何潜在问题。
Elsewhere, such 3D printed sensors have often found pollution-detection applications. In September 2020, for instance, the法国国家发展研究所(IRD) usedformlabs’technology to produce an ultra-low-cost device for underwater environmental detection, which allowed it to accurately survey the country’s water quality.
同样，基于新加坡Sensocore以前曾宣布转向加成式制造，以此来简化其生产Aquafarm水传感器系统. The firm’s detection devices are designed to pick up temperature and acidity changes in water-based farms, before alerting farmers to anything that seems fishy.
The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “SU 2.0: A Marketable Low-Power Wireless Sensing Unit for Hydration Automation”，由Navid Shaghaghi，Nicholas Kniveton，Jesse Mayer，Will Tuttle和Peter Ferguson合着。
The nominations for the2021 3D印刷行业奖are now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this year’s show? Have your say now.
To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, don’t forget to subscribe to the3D打印行业newsletter或跟随我们Twitter或喜欢我们的页面Facebook.
For a deeper-dive into additive manufacturing, you can now subscribe to ourYoutubechannel, featuring discussion, de-briefs and shots of 3D printing in-action.
Are you looking for a job in the additive manufacturing industry? Visit3D Printing Jobsfor a selection of roles in the industry.
Featured image shows the contents of the researchers’ 3D printed hydration sensor casing. Photo via Santa Clara University.
