A Sustainable 3D-printed casing for Hydro-System Automation Sensing Units

Modern irrigation systems can be equipped with an assortment of automated sensors and actuators which measure the status of crops, water tanks, and various other components and automatically operate valves and pumps to ensure the distribution of adequate water to all parts of the system. In the [IEEE 9th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), 659-665, (2019)] we discussed the design and implementation of low cost, small factor, and sustainable Sensing Units (SUs) which use ultrasonic sensors to measure the available space in a water tank and communicate the water levels to the Actuating Unit (AU) they are assigned to so that the AU can operate the valves and/or pumps necessary to send the exact amount of water needed to restore the water tanks' designated levels. There we discussed the design of the SUs which utilized an off the shelf junction box as its casing and indicated that a next step is to 3D-Print a water proofed, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly custom encasement for the SUs. This paper is to report the achievement of that goal and to provide the exact details of our design. We have made intricate design choices in order to achieve waterproofing, simplification of the assembly of the SUs and of the installation of the SUs on location, and the reduction of raw material used to construct the SU capsules. Furthermore, our design is self contained; as most of it's components are capable of interlocking for assembly without screws. However, we have added screw holes and even 3D-printed perfectly toleranced screws and nuts for added protection.