Project Team
Students
Jonah Kelley
Electrical Engineering
Penn State Harrisburg
Faculty Mentors
Xinwei Niu
Penn State Harrisburg
Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology
Meng Wang
Penn State University Park
Energy and Mineral Engineering
Project
https://sites.psu.edu/mcreu/files/formidable/2/MCREUPresentation.pdf
Project Video
Project Abstract
Abstract—Aquaponic systems are easier to operate and monitor than conventional agriculture and aquaculture. To put it simply, aquaponics refers to the combination of recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) and soilless organic farming. The reduction in requirements for nutrient input and waste disposal as opposed to the separate applications of these permaculture approaches make this technique viable for consumer ownership and operation. However, operating them efficiently and carefully requires experience with agriculture and aquaculture and necessitates adequate space to operate various tanks, pumps, and biofilters. The environmental factors that affect an aquaponic system are water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration (DO), CO2 concentration, hardness, nitrite concentration, salinity, and alkalinity. To promote plant growth in small scale aquaponics, hardy freshwater fish and leafy plants are placed in a media grow bed (MGB) with consideration for the fish feed rate in order to balance these environmental factors. The consumer-friendly application of aquaponics demonstrated in this paper uses a microcontroller to track the uptime of the system and coordinates various sensors to display data on an LCD display module over the course of an hour. Additionally, the water pump in the fish tank is automated using a digital repeat cycle timer and the fish feeder is automated by the microcontroller. During the month that the system was monitored, the water temperature, CO2 concentration, pH, and DO concentration fell within the target ranges determined by the fish breed and the location of the system. To properly gauge the sustainability and longevity of this system, further monitoring over several months is paramount.
Keywords-aquaponics; automation; LCD display; microcontroller; media grow bed
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