Monitoring and control of systems in a small-scale drinking water factory

Abstract

In the drinking water industry in Ghana, particularly the medium to small-scale factories, there is little or no use of sophisticated automated water treatment or purification systems. Although automation systems in this sector exists, it is only common in larger companies due to the high cost of acquiring these automation systems. Methods of checking the level of water in tanks is inefficient. Operations such as the control of water pumps and performing water quality tests is manual. The lack of automation gives rise to problems such as overflow of tanks and overheating of pumps as a result of running dry. This causes loss of revenue and damage to equipment. In this project, a low-cost automation system was designed using microcontrollers, sensors and relays. The system included the monitoring of water level in the tanks, monitoring of some water quality parameters and the control of water pumps. Data from the sensors were stored in a database. A web dashboard was also created to display data to the user (factory operator) remotely.