University of Twente Student Theses
Sustainability Improvement through Instrumentation of Water Distribution
Aarts, Bart (2024) Sustainability Improvement through Instrumentation of Water Distribution.
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| Abstract: | Onderhoud Enschede BV wants to optimize water usage, reduce reliance on potable water, and decrease CO2 emissions during maintenance operations. More data on their water distribution process should be obtained to achieve this. This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a non-disruptive logistical data collection system aimed at gaining data insight into the water use of water-based maintenance tasks conducted by Onderhoud Enschede BV. The corresponding research question this study aims to answer is ”How to develop a non-disruptive logistical data collection system for vehicles used for water-based maintenance tasks by Onderhoud Enschede BV?”. This report provides an analysis of the current water-based maintenance tasks and identifies opportunities for improvement. The primary focus will be on the watering of trees and plant beds. Following this, various methods for monitoring the water level in tanks stored on vehicles used for watering these trees and plant beds are evaluated. Based on these findings, ideas that align with Onderhoud Enschede BV's operational procedures are developed to keep track of water usage when providing water to young trees and plants. The most feasible solution for this project is to track the rotation of an axle connected to a float mechanism, which correlates with the water level inside the tank. This rotational data will then be converted to determine the water volume. Additionally, this data is combined with GPS information to provide a detailed log of water usage, location, and time. A prototype system is made and deployed on a vehicle utilized for tree and plant watering. By tracking the weight of the tank while water flows out and simultaneously measuring the rotation of the axle to the tank’s float mechanism, a conversion function is developed to translate the rotation angle into water volume. After functionally testing the prototype in a real-world scenario, the location tracking successfully indicated the points where trees received water. However, the water volume accuracy is less than desired due to water sloshing and vehicle tilt impacting the float mechanism. Therefore, future work will focus on investigating other possible concepts to keep track of the water volume inside the tanks of the vehicles used for water-based maintenance tasks at Onderhoud Enschede BV. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Programme: | Creative Technology BSc (50447) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/101760 |
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