Electronic Faucet

[onurco]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

 

[Frank Bemelman]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

Search your own house. Good chance you find a machine that
somehow takes water, all automatically. Next step is to find
some screwdrivers and explore the inside of the machine.

 

[Kryten]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but I don't have an idea how to control the
water.

Visit your local scrapyard and have a rummage around.

Take some old washing machines or dishwashers to bits - they have to switch
the flow of water on and off, so they should be useful.

You will have to do some thinking to find how they work, but that should be
educational or at least fun.

 

[Si Ballenger]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

Junk washing machines water valves and lawn sprinkler control
valves would probably be the inexpensive things to check.

 

[Keith]

Junk washing machines water valves and lawn sprinkler control
valves would probably be the inexpensive things to check.

It would be more interesting to make them more "linear", (i.e. regulating
temperature). Digital is so obvious. ;-)

 

[spinning]

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/SV-2/search/24_VAC_SOLENOID_VALVE_.html

 

[Robert Baer]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

Make sure you use a grid leak detector before calling the plumber but
after using the bit bucket.

 

[Ross Herbert]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I
have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

Just get one of these and copy it

http://www.bradleycorp.com/prodinfo/techdata/3048.pdf

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

It would be more interesting to make them more "linear", (i.e. regulating
temperature). Digital is so obvious. ;-)

They make regulating faucets, however they don't have any of your
electronic gimcrackery and LED/LCD gewgaws. I think they use a bimetal
to work the mixing valve. No electrical power required, in any case.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Zak]

They make regulating faucets, however they don't have any of your
electronic gimcrackery and LED/LCD gewgaws. I think they use a bimetal
to work the mixing valve. No electrical power required, in any case.

Probably a wax cartridge?

Anyway there are faucents that detect hands coming nearby. The
interesting thing is the low power: they are battery operated. One
claims a 1 year running time running on 4 AAA batteries and 4000
operations per month.


Thomas

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Probably a wax cartridge?

Anyway there are faucents that detect hands coming nearby. The
interesting thing is the low power: they are battery operated. One
claims a 1 year running time running on 4 AAA batteries and 4000
operations per month.


Thomas

My wall switch timer for electric lights uses a tiny electric motor
and a gear train and cam to operate a microswitch. A single AAA
alkaline battery powers it for something like a year. It will switch
120, 240 or whatever, the microcontroller and all runs from the single
cell, so the microswitch is the only thing that needs to be connected
to the outside world. The circuitry wouldn't even have to be hot if
they didn't use the NC contact of the microswitch to tell the micro
the switch state.

It also turns the lights on at a calculated dusk time based on the
calendar and approximate latitude. Not bad for $35 US.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Keith]

Probably a wax cartridge?

Anyway there are faucents that detect hands coming nearby. The
interesting thing is the low power: they are battery operated. One
claims a 1 year running time running on 4 AAA batteries and 4000
operations per month.

They're installing proximity sensors on the toilets/urinals at work. I
was wondering if this was a ploy by the plumbers' union. ;-)

 

[Fred Bloggs]

I am an undergrad student at electric and electronics engineering.I

have a course project at analog electronics which is to make an
electronic faucet with photo transistors.I have an idea how to operate
while hands come close but i don't have an idea how to control the
water.
Any help will be grateful.Thanks anyway.

The electronics is only 1% of it, the rest is manufacturing, regulatory,
and practical ( such as single IR beam does not work too well on
detecting hands with too much pigment). Some context background:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/29267-6.4.pdf
Also, see Economy Solenoid Valves Series 11 http://www.bcvalve.com/ .
Looks like most products assume single line feed from remote temperature
regulating manifold.

 

[spinning]

Forgive me for being brutally honest, but has anyone actually used an
electronic faucet? They're horrible! They're very unreliable. They
often are either slow to react, or they don't turn on at all, or they
stay on after you've left and waste a lot of water. The sensor design
sucks big time.

To improve reliability may require a far IR (motion) sensor, as apposed
to a near IR sensor. It also instead of trying to sense the hand in
the sink and having to deal with water and dirt, it might be easier to
sense the person's body or arm or the area around the sink. Failing
that, a better choice might be a non-optical sensor, like ultrasound,
or a capacitve sensor, or an electric field sensor, which as I
understand it, senses capacitance to ground by driving an antenna with
a 100 kHz sine wave.

But what is an electronic faucet supposed to achieve anyway? It seems
like an aweful lot of trouble just to save one twist of the wrist, and
they're probably more expensive than a standard faucet. Any
engineering school worth a damn ought to teach how to ask these
critical questions about design!

Why not just use a normal faucet, or maybe use one that can be operated
with a foot pedal?

good luck.
Sincerely,
M

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Forgive me for being brutally honest, but has anyone actually used an
electronic faucet? They're horrible! They're very unreliable. They
often are either slow to react, or they don't turn on at all, or they
stay on after you've left and waste a lot of water. The sensor design
sucks big time.

To improve reliability may require a far IR (motion) sensor, as apposed
to a near IR sensor. It also instead of trying to sense the hand in
the sink and having to deal with water and dirt, it might be easier to
sense the person's body or arm or the area around the sink. Failing
that, a better choice might be a non-optical sensor, like ultrasound,
or a capacitve sensor, or an electric field sensor, which as I
understand it, senses capacitance to ground by driving an antenna with
a 100 kHz sine wave.

But what is an electronic faucet supposed to achieve anyway? It seems
like an aweful lot of trouble just to save one twist of the wrist, and
they're probably more expensive than a standard faucet. Any
engineering school worth a damn ought to teach how to ask these
critical questions about design!

The link that FBloggs posted indicated a quick ROI (6 months) and
continuing savings on water and water heating costs. People don't
(can't) leave the taps on, they can't easily fill the sink with water
and shave, they can't pick how hot the water should be, overshoot and
have to waste all kinds of hot water.

Why not just use a normal faucet, or maybe use one that can be operated
with a foot pedal?

good luck.
Sincerely,
M

I suspect a button which gives you an ADA-compliant 10.01 seconds of
dribbling lukewarm water would do as well or better. Just have to make
the actuator wheelchair accessible and they can eliminate those long
paddle handles on the taps.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

They're installing proximity sensors on the toilets/urinals at work. I
was wondering if this was a ploy by the plumbers' union. ;-)

Don't be silly! Its the toilet scrubber's union who's behind this
scam. ;-)
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Fred Bloggs]

They're installing proximity sensors on the toilets/urinals at work. I
was wondering if this was a ploy by the plumbers' union. ;-)

Nah- it means they're tired of dealing with your sh_t.

 

[Joerg]

Why not just use a normal faucet, or maybe use one that can be operated
with a foot pedal?

That would be way too practical. Like the stick shift in a car (I'd
never buy anything else...).

Regards, Joerg

 

[Joerg]

Hello Kryten,

Take some old washing machines or dishwashers to bits - they have to switch
the flow of water on and off, so they should be useful.

Fridges with ice and cold water dispensers are easier. They have two
valves as a paired assembly and those are right on the back. Takes about
30 seconds or so to remove. Been there, done that after ours quit
working and a neighbor had to pay almost $150 for that repair. Cost me
$43 plus tax for the part and considering the cheesy plastic
construction I thought even that was outrageous.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Jim Thompson]

That would be way too practical. Like the stick shift in a car (I'd
never buy anything else...).

Regards, Joerg

You don't have to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

...Jim Thompson